Roger That: Food vendors might not deliver to Illinois veteran homes due to budget

SPRINGFIELD — The Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs said some food vendors for the agency’s veterans homes may have to suspend deliveries because of the state’s ongoing budget problems, according to the State Journal-Register

Veterans’ Affairs spokesman Ryan Yantis said the department has identified alternate companies willing to supply the homes with food products in event service is disrupted, according to the newspaper.

The state operates veterans homes in Anna, LaSalle, Manteno and Quincy. The state's backlog of unpaid bills has been growing as it continues to spend money faster than it is collecting taxes to pay the bills.

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Both of the Veterans Affairs hospitals in St. Louis inappropriately marked treatment appointments complete before even seeing the patients that booked them, according to the department's inspector general, according to a story in Federal Times.

The report examined the records of the John Cochran and Jefferson Barracks VA Medical Centers from between October 2013 and June 2014, after receiving allegations that the facilities reported mental health consultations as complete before patients were seen and that doctors received performance pay as a result.

The OIG found that out of 20 completed consults reviews, 60 percent had been marked complete before mental health treatments were finished.

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The United States is stepping up its effort to stop the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) from ransacking and profiting from antiquities, as well as oil, by offering a $5 million reward for information that disrupts such activities, according to The Hill newspaper.

“ISIL’s damage and looting of historic sites in Syria and Iraq have not only destroyed irreplaceable evidence of ancient life and society but have also helped fund its reign of terror inside those countries,” the State Department said in a press release, using an alternative acronym for ISIS.

ISIS makes millions of dollars off trafficking oil and antiquities to fund its operations, U.S. officials have said.

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The US Air Force is still working through the details of a contract award for the next-generation bomber, and expects an announcement on the final downselect in the next few months, according to Defense News.

“My hope is within the next couple of months, but we still have details that we still haven’t worked through,” Lt. Gen. Arnie Bunch, the Air Force’s deputy assistant secretary of acquisition, said on Tuesday in response to questions on the timing of the contract announcement from House Armed Services seapower and projection forces subcommittee Chairman Rep. Randy Forbes, R-Va.

Bunch’s remarks come as a surprise to some in the aerospace community, who had expected a contract award for the Long Range Strike Bomber first this summer, then early fall, and most recently in mid-October. The Pentagon is still deciding between proposals from Northrop Grumman, builder of the B-2 stealth bomber, and a Boeing-Lockheed Martin team.

This story was originally published October 1, 2015 at 11:03 AM with the headline "Roger That: Food vendors might not deliver to Illinois veteran homes due to budget."