News & Opinion

New details released by a U.S. House committee late on Friday on show the Veterans Affairs Department spent almost $3 million on one conference in Orlando, Florida last year, with over $370,000 spent on food and refreshments for the four day event. Read more »

Here's a stiff jolt to wake you up. The Department of Veterans Affairs spent $90,747 on coffee and refreshments during morning and afternoon breaks at a pair of training conferences in Orlando last year. Read more »

Nearly $100,000 worth of "coffee break refreshments" was among the itemized expenses revealed Friday from two controversial Veterans Affairs conventions, whose combined price tag topped $5 million. Read more »

We are happy to see Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Chumuckla and chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, demand detailed records of Veterans Administration expenses for the past three years, specifically regarding multimillion-dollar conferences. Read more »

Spa treatments, concert tickets, plus helicopter and stretch limo rides — the initial details in a Veterans Affairs' Office of the Inspector General investigation could overshadow the General Services Administration conference spending scandal.... Read more »

Having been briefed already by Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki regarding excessive spending on training conferences, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) has more questions. In a letter sent the day of Shinseki’s briefing -- Aug. 10 -- the ranking member of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee requested the spending details on two VA training conferences held in Orlando, Fla., in 2011, and an analysis of how the costs compare to similar VA conferences. She’s also asking if the planners of the two conferences plan other conferences. Read more »

The Veterans Affairs Department, rocked last week by a scandal concerning excessive conference spending, hopes to skirt the fate that befell the top leadership at the General Services Administration four months ago. Read more »

Spa treatments, concert tickets, and helicopter and stretch limo rides — the initial details in a Veterans Affairs' Office of the Inspector General investigation could overshadow the General Services Administration conference spending scandal Read more »

Veterans in Central Florida may see their long-awaited VA Medical Center open for patients in 2013 after all — only one year later than planned, according to testimony delivered at a congressional field hearing Monday in Orlando. Read more »

Vietnam Veterans of America has thrown support behind a congressional effort to loosen a rule that governs service-disabled veteran-owned businesses working for the Veterans Affairs Department. Read more »