Obama to announce committee to improve VA News
Obama to announce committee to improve VA

[JURIST] President Barack Obama [official profile] on Friday will release details [The Hill report] about the creation of a new advisory committee in efforts to improve conditions in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) [official website] as he visits a VA facility in Phoenix, Arizona. The committee will consist of business leaders, members of veteran organizations and health science professionals experienced in customer service, organizational change and veteran advocacy. Obama is also meeting [Bloomberg report] with VA employees and veteran groups while in Phoenix to give recommendations for the new committee. The VA facility in Phoenix was the focus of criticism of medical treatment provided by the VA, long wait times and management failures.

The VA has been heavily criticized for its ability to provide adequate medical care to veterans. Last August Obama signed [JURIST report] the Department of Veterans Affairs Management Accountability Act of 2014 [text] to allow veterans to seek private care outside the VA facilities and provide money for the VA to hire more doctors and nurses. In March of 2014 five veterans of the Vietnam War filed a class action lawsuit [JURIST report] in the US District Court for the District of Connecticut [official website] accusing the military of failing to upgrade the discharges of veterans who developed post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In November 2013, a report released [JURIST report] by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) [advocacy website] said the VA grants disability claims for PTSD caused by in-service sexual trauma at significantly lower rates than it has granted claims for PTSD arising from other causes

THIS DAY @ LAW

Pope Urban II sparks First Crusade

Pope Urban II threw his support behind what would become the First Crusade on November 27, 1095 during the Council of Clairmont. The Pope urged the council's participants to render aid to the Byzantine Empire, which was being attacked by the Seljuks. Pope Urban called for a wide coalition of rich and poor to combat the threat, which eventually resulted in the conquest of much of the Muslim-controlled Levant by the Crusaders and the establishment of the Crusader States. Read Pope Urban's address.  

Catholic Code of Canon Law revised

On November 27, 1983, the revised Code of Canon Law of the Roman Catholic Church went into effect. Learn more about the history of Canon Law from Professor Kenneth Pennington of the Catholic University of America's Columbus School of Law.

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