Denton Record-Chronicle (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 110, No. 288, Ed. 1 Saturday, May 17, 2014 Page: 3 of 22
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STATE/NATIONAL
3A
Denton Record-Chronicle
Saturday, May 17, 2014
Top VA health official resigns under fire
BRIEFLY
ACROSS THE STATE
Austin
State jobless rate slips
to 5.2 percent in April
had surfaced at other VA hospi-
tals and clinics after the Phoenix
allegations came to light. At least
10 new allegations about manip-
ulated waiting times and other
problems have surfaced in the
past three weeks, he said.
Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., chair-
man of the House Veterans’ Af-
fairs Committee, mocked the an-
nouncement of Petzel’s resigna-
tion, calling it “the pinnacle of
disingenuous political double-
speak” since Petzel had been
scheduled to retire this year any-
way. The American Legion,
which has called for Shinseki to
resign, said pretty much the
same thing: “This move by the
VA is not a corrective action but a
continuation of business as usu-
thority to fire or demote senior
executives and administrators at
the agency and its 152 medical
centers.
When senior leaders in the
VA “fail the men and women
who have put their lives on the
line for our country, they deserve
a pink slip — not abonus,” House
Speaker John Boehner said Fri-
day. While some Republicans in
Congress have joined the call for
Shinseki to resign, Boehner is
not among them.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.,
has backed Shinseki but ap-
peared to waver after Shinseki
came before a Senate committee
this week.
“If he doesn’t give abetter an-
swer, then I’m not sure how he
wouldn’t have to do anything but
resign,” McCain told Fox News
Channel on Thursday night.
tions that veterans have died
while awaiting VA care have cre-
ated an election-year uproar. A
former clinic director at the VAs
medical center in Phoenix told a
House committee last month
that up to 40 people may have
died while awaiting appoint-
ments and that VA officials kept
a secret appointment list to mask
the delays.
Shinseki asked the VAs in-
spector general to investigate the
clinic director’s charges. An ini-
tial review of 17 people who died
while awaiting appointments at
the Phoenix hospital found that
none of their deaths appeared to
have been caused by delays in
treatment, acting inspector gen-
eral Richard Griffin told senators
Thursday. But he also said new
complaints about wait lists and
falsified patient appointments
Shinseki’s decision on Petzel and
thanks Petzel for his service. ‘As
the president has said, America
has a sacred trust with the men
and women who have served our
country in uniform and he is
committed to doing all we can to
ensure our veterans have access
to timely, quality health care,” ac-
cording to a White House state-
ment.
By Pauline Jelinek
and Matthew Daly
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - The top
official for the health care of vet-
erans resigned Friday amid a
firestorm over reported delays in
care and falsified records at vet-
erans hospitals.
Veterans Affairs Secretary Er-
ic Shinseki said he has accepted
the resignation of Robert Petzel,
the department’s undersecretary
for health care, effective immedi-
ately. Shinseki had asked for the
resignation, a department offi-
cial later said on condition of an-
onymity because he was not au-
thorized to speak for attribution.
Reports of long waits for ap-
pointments and processing ben-
efit applications have plagued
VA for years. The agency has
shortened backlogs but allega-
The Texas unemployment
rate has fallen to 5.2 percent,
marking the second straight
month it’s declined.
The Texas Workforce Com-
mission on Friday announced
the seasonally adjusted unem-
ployment figure for April, which
represents a drop from 5.5 per-
cent in March. The rate in Janu-
ary and February stood at 5.7
percent.
A year ago the state unem-
ployment rate was 6.4 percent.
Texas employers in April
added 64,100 jobs to their pay-
rolls.
The announcement of Pet-
zel’s resignation came a day after
Shinseki and Petzel were grilled
at a four-hour hearing of the
Senate Committee on Veterans’
Affairs, where lawmakers and
veteran groups expressed exas-
peration of long-standing prob-
lems at the department.
Meanwhile, House Republi-
cans scheduled a vote for
Wednesday on legislation that
would give Shinseki more au-
Commission officials say
eight of the 11 leading industries
in Texas experienced growth last
month. Private businesses add-
ed 20,100jobs in April, the larg-
est monthly increase ever re-
corded for this sector of the
al.’
The White House said Presi-
dent Barack Obama supports
Arrest made as probe of wildfires continues
economy.
The Midland area had the
lowest jobless rate across Texas,
at 2.3 percent. Commission fig-
ures show the McAllen-Edin-
burg-Mission area had the
state’s highest rate at 8.6 per-
cent.
to see if arson might have had a
role.”
By Julie Watson
and Elliot Spagat
Associated Press
SAN DIEGO - A 57-year-
old man was charged with ar-
son Friday in one of at least 10
wildfires that erupted in South-
ern California this week, and in-
vestigators were working to de-
termine whether other blazes in
the unusually early and intense
outbreak were ignited by some-
thing as ordinary as sparks from
cars or something more sinister.
State fire officials said the
first blaze that erupted between
Tuesday and Thursday was
caused by a spark from mal-
functioning
equipment. But it could take
months to get to the bottom of
the most damaging fires.
Alberto Serrato pleaded not
guilty to arson in connection
with one of the smaller fires — a
105-acre fire in suburban
Oceanside that started Wednes-
day and is fully contained. Bail
was set at $250,000.
Tanya Sierra, a spokeswom-
an for the San Diego County
district attorney’s office, said
Serrato wasn’t seen igniting a
fire but witnesses saw him add-
ing dead brush onto smoldering
bushes that flamed up. He has
not been connected to any other
fire, Sierra said.
Serrato was booked into jail
Wednesday, according to the
San Diego County Sheriff’s De-
partment website, but his arrest
wasn’t announced until Friday.
Sierra didn’t know if he had an
attorney.
All together, the wildfires
have raced through an estimat-
ed 20,000 acres about 30 miles
north of San Diego, causing
more than $20 million in dam-
age. One burned body was
found in an encampment of
homeless people. At least eight
houses and an 18-unit condo-
complex
Pr
Investigators will visit each
burn site and go down a list,
marking what they know and
don’t know.
Is it near a road? That raises
the possibility that the flames
were ignited by a hot tailpipe,
sparks from a catalytic convert-
er or a discarded cigarette from
a motorist. Is there a railroad
nearby? Are there any power
lines?
Unemployment rates fell in
nearly all U.S. states last month,
and half the states now have
rates below 6 percent. The fig-
ures are a sign of widespread, if
slow, improvement in the na-
tion’s job market.
Unemployment rates fell in
43 states in April, the Labor De-
partment said Friday, rose in
two states and were unchanged
in five.
Investigators will also study
the ground for footprints or tire
tracks and analyze the burn pat-
tern.
Two of the blazes broke out
at military bases, where train-
ing exercises with gunfire have
been known to spark flames.
A 2003 wildfire in Southern
California that killed 15 people,
destroyed more than 2,000
homes and blackened 300,000
acres in October and November
was caused by a lost hunter who
set a signal fire. Sparks from
power lines were blamed for
wildfires in the San Diego area
in 2007 that left five people
dead and burned down about
1,500 homes.
This time, the hardest-hit ar-
eas were in the cities of San
Marcos, where a college campus
shut down and canceled gradu-
ation ceremonies, and Carls-
bad, where the Legoland
amusement park was forced to
close.
Austin
Patrick acknowledges
depression treatment
construction
An already rancorous Re-
publican primary runoff for
Texas lieutenant governor con-
tinues escalating with leaked
court documents showing that
state Sen. Dan Patrick was hos-
pitalized for depression in the
1980s.
I
I
I
i 1
r
_
Patrick in a statement ac-
knowledged voluntarily admit-
ting himself but said he hasn't
needed additional treatment or
medication in three decades. He
slammed his opponent, Lt. Da-
vid Dewhurst, for stooping “to a
new low” just before early voting
starts Monday.
The San Antonio Express-
News reported that the court
transcripts were released by
Land Commissioner Jerry Pat-
terson. He finished a distant
fourth in the March primary for
lieutenant governor and has
since endorsed Dewhurst.
Patrick finished 13 points
ahead of Dewhurst in the March
primary and has been the favor-
ite to deny the three-term in-
cumbent another four years.
The runoff is May 27.
Gregory Bull/AP
Chase and Brittany Boslet take pictures of smoke from the Las Pulgas fire burning on the
Marine Corps’ Camp Pendleton base Friday from a highway rest area near Oceanside, Calif.
San Diego County officials said Friday five wildfires have been 100 percent contained. Still,
crews were focusing efforts on two large fires, one in the city of San Marcos and two blazes at
Camp Pendleton.
destroyed, and tens of thou-
sands of people were warned to
leave their homes.
Eight of the blazes popped
up between late morning and
sundown on Wednesday, rais-
ing suspicions that some had
been set.
The region has become a tin-
der box in recent days because
of conditions not normally seen
until late summer — extremely
dry weather, 50-mph Santa Ana
winds and temperatures in the
90s. On Friday, though, cooler
weather aided the 2,600 fire-
fighters, and thousands of peo-
and 19, for investigation of arson
in connection with two small
pie began returning home.
In one of the hardest-hit cit-
ies, Carlsbad, investigators fin-
ished examining the burn site
across the street from a park
and focused on interviewing
people who called a hotline that
was set up to report any suspi-
cious activity.
“Do people have suspicions?
Yes,” said police Capt. Neil Gal-
lucci, noting there has been no
lightning that could explain the
blazes. “But can we confirm
them? The answer is no.”
Police in the city of Escondi-
do arrested two people, ages 17
fires that were extinguished
within minutes. But they found
no evidence linking the suspects
to the 10 bigger wildfires.
The list of possible causes is
A dozen wildfires popping
up in a single day is not unheard
of in the drought-stricken state,
but it’s a phenomenon usually
seen during the dog days of
summer.
‘What makes the San Diego
area fires so unique is that we
had tinder-dry conditions and
Santa Ana winds in the month
of May, and that’s unprecedent-
ed,” state fire spokesman Daniel
Berlant said.
long.
“Our investigation might be
over quickly for some of these
fires — say, if we find a piece of
metal nearby from a catalytic
converter that backfired,” the
sheriff said. “But others might
not be so easy to determine.
We’ll be talking to people in the
areas to see if they saw anything
— The Associated Press
minium
were
If there
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AAA says Americans ready
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Americans in many parts of the
country,” said AAA’s Chief Oper-
ating Officer Marshall Doney, in
a statement. “The winter blues
appear to have given Americans
the travel bug.”
Of the total travelers, 31.8
million are expected to drive, up
1.3 percent from 31.4 million last
year. Gas prices are less of a con-
cern for drivers, since they are
expected to be lower than last
year’s average of $3.63, thanks
to rising supplies, AAA said.
Airports will be busier, with
2.6 million people expected to
fly this year, up 2.4 percent from
last year. And 1.7 million people
will take a cruise, train or bus, a
6.5 percent jump from a year
ago.
in personal income from last
year should help cover those ad-
ditional costs, the auto club
said.
By Joseph Pisani
AP Business Writer
NEW YORK — A strong
case of cabin fever and a little
more money to spend should
inspire a greater number of
Americans to hit the road this
Memorial Day weekend.
That’s the forecast from auto
club AAA, which on Friday said
it expects a total of 36.1 million
people to travel 50 miles or
more. If that estimate holds
true, it would be the largest
amount of people traveling dur-
ing the holiday weekend since
2005.
THE PUNCTUAL PLUMBER
The AAA forecast represents
an 18 percent increase in travel-
ers from 2009, the low point of
the recession, when only 30.5
million Americans traveled for
Memorial Day. The number has
been increasing steadily since
2011. The busiest travel week-
end was in 2005, when 44 mil-
lion people went away.
Last year, AAA said more
people traveled during the Me-
morial Day weekend than it
projected. It had expected total
travel to fall nearly 1 percent
from the year before to 34.8
million. But 35.5 million Amer-
icans actually traveled last year,
according to a survey conducted
following the holiday weekend.
For its forecast, AAA works
with research company IHS
Global, which uses economic
data to come up with its projec-
tions. A separate company, D.K.
Shifflet & Associates surveys
more than 50,000 households
after the trips have been taken.
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Most will drive to their vaca-
tion spots, but more people are
expected to fly or take a cruise or
train this year compared with a
year ago, AAA said.
The improving job market
and a rise in disposable income
are fueling the increase in holi-
day travel plans, AAA found in
its annual survey. The desire to
get out of the house after a bru-
tally cold winter is another
strong incentive to hit the road.
“Thoughts of historic cold
are still fresh in the minds of
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Travelers can expect to pay
more for their getaways. Hotel
rooms are likely to cost $3 more
a night from last year, at an aver-
age of $169 per night, AAA said.
The average cost of a round-trip
plane ticket is $227, up from
$215 a year ago. Car rentals will
average $44 a day during the
weekend, up 1 percent from a
year ago. A 3.4 percent increase
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THE PUNCTUAL PLUMBER.
Lie# M-12561, EA. RICHARDSON, JR.
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Cobb, Dawn. Denton Record-Chronicle (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 110, No. 288, Ed. 1 Saturday, May 17, 2014, newspaper, May 17, 2014; Denton, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1132504/m1/3/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; .