PTSD E-MAIL: An e-mail written by a Veterans Affairs Department employee suggested avoiding a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder for veterans and instead considering a diagnosis that might result in lower disability payments. VA Secretary James Peake issued a statement calling the suggestions in the e-mail — exposed Thursday by the groups Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington and VoteVets.org — “inappropriate.”
SEA LION DEATHS: The deaths of six sea lions found in traps on the Columbia River in Oregon earlier this month were likely caused by heat stroke and not by gunshots as officials first suspected, the National Marine Fisheries Service said. Oregon and Washington officials had been trapping the animals as part of a federally approved removal process because the mammals feast on salmon at the Bonneville Dam.
———-
Page compiled from Tribune news services
