dav, you know leadership. and i hope that you will support this bill and work with us to empower the secretary to lead va into the future. i also want to comment on something from your written remarks. you noted that the department, specifically, the veterans' benefits administration, has exhibited reduced transparency and openness of late. i can assure you that this shift has been noted by this congress. i will underscore these ongoing concerns to the secretary. the va is to effectively to carry out its duties, the department as well as congress and veterans' service organizations must be open to candid and honest conversation. i will be paying close attention to the matters of transparency as vba pushes towards 2015, and i encourage you to continue your dialogue with congress and va to the maximum extent possible. i look forward to hearing your testimony today, and i am certain that we will work together over the coming months on many items that are on your list of legislative priorities. before i yield my t

credited by dav. during 2013 dav's 276 national service officers interviewed over 117,000 veterans and their families. reviewed more than 313,000 va claims files. filed over 215,000 new claims for benefits, and participated in more than 272,000 va rating board actions. in addition, our national appeals officers provided representation in almost a third of the appeals decided before the board of veterans appeals. our transition service officers conducted some 1400 briefings to groups separating servicemembers. 54,000 total participants in those sessions. counseled almost 31,000 persons and in individual inter views, reviewed military treatment records of 13,316 individuals and submitted applications for 19,000 personal to dav vsos for filing with the va. our mobile service officers traveled almost 90,000 miles to 833 cities and towns and met with more than 20,000 veterans and other potential claimants to offer our assistance. about 17,000 dav and auxiliary volunteers donated more than 1.8 volunteer, mi

susan miller was elected to the office of national commander of the dav auxiliary. ms. miller previously served as registered nurse with the veterans health administration, and i note that ms. miller's son, trent, is a member of the united states army, recently serving in his second deployment to afghanistan. gentlemen and ms. miller, thank you for your leadership and for your service. i look forward to working with each of you in your new roles, continue to work with those of you that are continuing and the roles that you've had for a number of years but i would also like to recognize the dav members from my home state of florida who may be with us today but if you could just raise your hand out so we can say hello. isn't this just like home? this is just like him. [laughter] welcome to those from sunshine state but we are glad to have your. each of you are a credit to our state of florida and to your communities and i'm proud to have you here in your nation's capital. .. capital. thank you for your military service and for our ongoing service to veterans. commander jo

as commander, i want to thank you for your leadership for the dav. i want to briefly tell you a very quick story about how much i appreciate why you're here and about a year and a half ago i got to back to korea where i was stationed and colonel, mine is still straight after 40 years, people as civilians might not understand that, you do. i got a chance to go back to korea. and i was there in 1973. and i saw a country that was digging its way out of a war. they were never recovering from one end to the other. in 1960 they the fourth poorest economy in the world. today because of what you men and women did and people like you, there are 50 million free people and the leadership of that country said every time you get in front of a group of veterans, you thank them for us and we're doing that today. you're seeing the largest christian church in the world in seoul, korea. it's a methodist church. thanks to what the american people did, saw what happened after world war 2 roemtz. i cannot thank you enough for what you've done and made us a free nation. i

and i understand that the dav hosts a miracle on the mountainside event. and it sounds like a really wonderful event and i'm curious to know from your perspective, are there other alternative forms of therapy that the dav has found to improve psychological well being of veterans who are suffering from post-traumatic stress. >> i serve as cheer operating officer in my full-time job at the largest mental health agency in cincinnati. yes, there are many things that are done and many things that the dav funds that are alternative therapies through our charitable service program and staff can tell you what some of those are. but it can be swimming with dolphins and it can be horse back riding or something as simple as growing a garden. all of those things are important to people that are reaching out because they have a mental illness, all be it depression or severe mental illness. the normalization of their lives is an important function of that. and we believe that and we do what we can do to fund those types of programs and i defer to the staff. >> and we ag

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dav dav david, we have right, left, center. we have one guy i know of who seems to have a ballistic purpose, the blow up his political party. rand paul wants to move it to the right. we know that. he may succeed. this guy wants to take it apart starting at the top. >> i think the way to understand ted cruz is to realize he believes he is leading a crusade. there is a theology to this and political calculations but he believes that republicans if they do anything, if they let the obama budget pass they are enabling what he sees as the destruction of the united states and he is taking it, self appointed. >> the function of the american government is his enemy. >> self-appointed to be the one to say no to this gives him part of the tea party base. i come to the conclusion that he believes he is the conservative savior. if that means electing peep folks to believe obama is like nazi. >> he is out to knock off mitch mcconnell, knock off roberts, knock off cochran. he is going down a whole list of republicans he has lunch with every

>> well, i mean, everybody who is outside of the courthouse right now is supporting jordan dav davis. so i have to tell you that it is a one-sided conversation that you are going to have. and i think that people, one, they have been surprised. what is taking so long? how is it possible that this decision could have any way taken four days, and then on top of that, how could anybody be hung up on the issue of murder? that is the conversation that you will hear from the people demonstrating outside of the courthouse, and they are here supporting jordan davis and his family. and michael dunn, you won't will find or i have not found those to talk to get their version. >> marty, standby, and we are going to need you, because there are going to be developments as we know that the jury is in the jury room with the instructions from the judge, and deliberating again saying that they cannot come to an agreement on the most important one of the charges, count one which is the murder of jordan davis. the parents of trayvon martin sent a message to the parents of jordan davis condemning, condemni

dav david. >> thank you. halfway through the games to the tall lay board. the u.s. is now tied for second in the medal count overall russia still leading. >>> we turn at home to two separate storms. a blizzard delivering a new round of fierce wind and heavy snow. and the storm in the north west and the scene in indiana stretching all the way to new england. and albany. new york digging out. and this woman in pennsylvania shoveling her roof top. so many families concerning about the weight on their mes. gio. >> reporter: we are stuck in gridlock traffic. we have seen several accidents on the road and we're trying to get our our massachusetts hotel as soon as we can. the governor has asked everybody to stay off the road. it's just too dangerous. tonight massachusetts governor with that warning. >> under these conditions, it really isn't possible for us to keep the roads clear and safe given the rate of snow fall. so we are asking people to stay off the roads. >> reporter: snow falling today on the pennsylvania turnpike. 24 hours after this 100 car pile-up with linzie

it was dav wildstein who referred to the director as a piece of crap. holy crap, that's embarrassing. up next. another big setback for obamacare. are the media falling for the administration spin? >> with all our gadgets, is it possible to go through digital detox? >>> just when obamacare was indicating from the pages came the law that they were changing it again. it was delayed until 2016 for companies with 50 to 99 workers. this after the mandate for larger companies had already been put off until next year. joining us to talk about this is elise bee back, reporter who covers health care for the hill. >> did the media overplay or underplay this delay? >> there was a range of coverage options for the media. they underplayed it. >> because? >> itwe're talking about what i means for the white house, for politics, what it means for congress, what it means for the rollout of the health care law overall. >> one of the needs for politics seems to get a lot of attention. the more complicated questions are hard to answer, correct me if i'm wrong, seem to get l

tonight reporter dav louie gives you an inside look. >> reporter: from the outside it bears some resemblanceized fire rig except for the neutral gray color. but the comparison ends when you step inside. there are three rooms outfitted with 27 flat screen monitors, modems and public safety radios and a massive plotter for printing maps and diagrams. >> that's why it needed to be modular and configureable. based on the department, based on the task at hand. >> reporter: homeland security picked up 70% of the cost. with that is the expectation that this unit will be shared with other bay area cities in emergencies. fremont paid the other 30%. it replaced the one that was clearly outdated. >> it was between the police and the fire department. we came together in the very beginning to help design a vehicle that would truly fit the needs to meet emergencies in fremont. >> reporter: the fire department came up with the early layout and got input from police. the van was then built by a maker of firefighting apparatus in wisconsin. >> where you would normally have the fire pump and fire hose, take t

dav damion tis there. >> reporter: there have been several burglaries and robberies and it was one cop and his bod buddying trying to break the chain of violence. >> i remember being a little kid and going to the playground are somebody got stabbed. >> reporter: he walks the streets of his old hood realizing the violence he was surrounded by as a child hasn't gone away. >> sure enough he died right there on the spot. >> reporter: they haven't solved the 20th homicide of last year, an innocent bystanders shot from across the street from his old school. today, armed private security guards patrolled the streets to help keep residents safe. >> you'll be the defender. you're the bully, and you're the victim. >> reporter: he is now back inside his old classroom at santee. the police department launched this project to put uniformed cops in the classroom and teach fifth and sixth graders about gangs, billionlying and self-esteem. >> it's something we're starting here at santee but we would like to bring throughout the city. >> reporter: officer phil white leads the class engaging students. >

power of the vfw of which i'm a member, the american lee i don't imagine of which i'm a member, the dav wiped them. even the sponsors headed for the rat hole. neil: you know, it's interesting you mention that because almost any time anyone tries to remind people -- in your case that it was a 1% under the cost of living adjustment, not the end of the world and not something that could throw someone out on a food line, but that every time we make even the most minor adjustment or some republicans raise their hand and say, you know, do one out of three in this country need some food assistance? is that a little extreme? they're portrayed as heartless, as callous, as just the worst of human scum. [laughter] right? i mean, that's what happens. so republicans get nervous, they sign onto these budget extensions, they sign onto these debt extenders that keep the ball bouncing, right? >> they're going to continue to do it. but, look, the reason health care will fail, forget all the nasty stuff about it, it can't work because every bit of cost containment is down the road. well, every time you do

the power of the vfw of which i'm a member, emerican lee i don't imagine of which i'm a member, the dav wiped them. even the sponsors headed for the rat hole. neil: you know, it'snteresting you mention that because almost any time anyone tries to remind people -- in your case that it was a 1% under the cost of living adjustment, not the end of the world and not something that could throwomeone out on a food line, but tha every time we make even the most minor adjustment or some republicans raise their hand and say, you know, do one out of three in this count need some food assistance? is that a littlextreme? they're portyed as heartless, as callous, as just the worstf human scum. [laughter] right? i mean, that's what happens republicans getervous,hey sign onto these budget extensions, they sign onto these debt extenders that keep the ball bouncin right? >> they're going to continue to doit. but, look, the reason health care will fail, forget all the nasty stuff about it, it can't work because every bit of cost containment is down the road. well, every time you do it, you've got to go do

power of the vfw of which i'm a member, the american lee i don't imagine of which i'm a member, the davthey wiped them. even the sponsors headed for the rat hole. neil: you know, it's interesting you mention that because almost any time anyone tries to remind people -- in your case that it was a 1% under the cost of living adjustment, not the end of the world and not something that could throw someone out on a food line, but that every time we make even the most minor adjustment or some republicans raise theihand and say, you know, do one out of three in this country need some food assistance? is that a littlextreme? they're portrayed as hrtless, as callous, as just the worst of human scum. [laughter] right? i mean, that's what happens. so republicans get nervous, they sign onto these budget extensions, ey sign onto these debt extenders that keep the ball bouncing, right? >> they're going to continue to do it. but, look, the reason health care will fail, forget all the nasty stuff about it, it can't work because every bit of cost containment is down the road. well, every time you do it,

dav davis's best friend leeland brunson among those that testified. >> do you love jordan davis? >> yes. >> are you lying for jordan davis? >> no. >> reporter: he was sitting next to davis in the back of a red suv when an argument over loud music broke out at a jacksonville gas station. >> it's fair to say he asked for a common courtesy just to lower the music, correct? >> yes. >> reporter: kevin thompson says dunn parked next to them asked them to turn down the music. thompson described it in court as pretty loud and said dunn told them -- >> turn your music down. i can't hear myself think. >> reporter: everyone agrees the music was turned down, but that's when things escalated between davis and dunn. >> isn't it true that jordan davis said to you, [ mute ] that turn it back up. >> yes, sir. >> reporter: thompson testified he did exactly that, and that he turned the music back up. 's at that point the timeline gets fuzzy. dunn told investigators he heard threats, then saw a weapon. >> i saw a barrel come up on the window. luke a single shot shotgun where there's a barrel. and se