Tagged: veterans

A partnership between two regional non-profit organizations and USDA Rural Development is helping West Tennessee veterans find jobs. Rural Development State Director Bobby Goode says the partnership is between Memphis Bioworks Foundation and the Crockett Policy Institute. The USDA is providing a $30,000 grant. The collaboration will establish a network of support organizations, a comprehensive database and outreach programs to help veterans find jobs in the energy sector.

The Kentucky Secretary of State’s office says residents of the Commonwealth can vote in next month’s general election in honor of military veterans. Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes says voters can get lapel buttons, which can be personalized with a soldier’s name, to show that they voted in honor of a veteran. The program for honoring troops has been in place across the country since 2007. For more information about how to request a button go to http://www.sos.ky.gov/veterans.

More than 200 injured veterans, troops and their supporters will ride bicycles and hand cycles through Fort Campbell, Ky., today. The Ride 2 Recovery Bluegrass Challenge started in Cincinnati Sunday and will end Friday in Nashville. The ride is a way for veterans to improve their health by cycling. Most of the participants are from Warrior Transition Units that help troops rehabilitate from injuries. The cycling veterans include some from Clarksville, Dickson and Murfreesboro.

An Army veteran is honoring fallen soldiers by running across the country. Mike Ehredt will pass through Clarksville on his second Project America Run Tuesday. He’ll continue east and run through Nashville by Wednesday. His route started in Minnesota and he plans to finish in Texas. His previous run in 2010 took him from Astoria, Ore., to Rockland, Maine – more than 4,400 miles. For every mile Ehredt runs, he posts an American flag with the name, rank, age and hometown of a fallen soldier.

Several regional universities have made the list as a “2013 Military Friendly School.” The magazine G. I. Jobs puts Murray State University, West Kentucky Community and Technical College, and Austin Peay State University among the top 15 percent of schools doing the most to help veterans get an education.

The Illinois Department of Natural Resources will be able to hire more veterans under new legislation signed into law.  Governor Pat Quinn signed four veterans-related bills yesterday in honor of the Illinois State Fair's Veterans Day.  One law allows the agency to hire more veterans as conservation police by waiving the four-year college requirement and goes into effect immediately.  Another bill doubles the number of days allotted for military service-related hospital visits for some state employees from two to four days annually.  The other laws deal with treatment records of veterans i