(WASHINGTON, DC) –  Today, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced an allocation of vaccines for National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) employees so that they may resume processing military personnel, health, and medical records requests and address the backlog of requests due to the closure of the facility amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.  Representative Conor Lamb (PA-17), a member of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs (HVAC), has been advocating for a resolution to this matter which is affecting veterans and their families in PA-17.  The vaccination plan will enable a safe return to work for many NPRC employees who have been working remotely since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Last November, Lamb joined 232 Members of Congress in a bipartisan letter urging NPRC to implement new policies to ensure veterans had access to their service records in response to a high volume of calls his office received.  One such constituent was a 102-year-old WWII veteran on hospice who requested his military personnel files so that Veterans Benefits Administration could process his claim for the benefits he had earned.  Because this was not considered a life or death situation, the request was not expedited, and the constituent died without receiving benefits.

“My office has been inundated with requests for help from veterans and their families who have been unable to access their military service records, and that is absolutely unacceptable,” said Lamb.  “Expanding vaccination opportunities for NPRC employees will help resolve this request backlog and get veterans the help they need.  But we also need to find a way to securely bring our archive system into the 21st century to ensure this never happens to the veterans who have served our country again.”

VA Secretary Denis McDonough testified at a March 25th HVAC hearing on the importance of addressing the records request backlog.  The NPRC has struggled to keep up with requests for veterans’ records since operations were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic a year ago, and there is a current backlog of 480,000 requests.  NPRC is a division of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).

The American Rescue Plan provided $272 million for VA to mitigate the impacts of the pandemic on the benefits claims and appeals backlog.  The funding will be used to increase staff overtime; expand Veterans Benefits Administration-funded scanning of service records from federal records facilities impacted by COVID-19; improve scheduling of hearings; and enhance contact center functions.

Christians mark Good Friday as some holy sites reopen
By JOSEPH KRAUSS Associated Press
JERUSALEM (AP) — Christians in the Holy Land are marking Good Friday this year amid signs the coronavirus crisis is winding down. Many religious sites are open to limited numbers of faithful but there will be none of the mass pilgrimages usually seen in the Holy Week leading up to Easter. Last year, Jerusalem was under a strict lockdown. This year, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, built on the site where Christians believe Jesus was crucified, died and rose from the dead, is open to visitors but only expecting a few dozen. The virus is still raging in the Philippines, France, Brazil and other predominantly Christian countries.

(Beaver Falls, Pa.) The Beaver Falls Police Department via their Facebook Page is advising residents that street sweeping in the City of Beaver Falls will begin This Sunday Night, April 4, 2021, at midnight. The Department is asking you to please get into the habit of moving your vehicles so that the Street Department can properly clean the streets in the city.

Justices uphold FCC’s easing of local media ownership limits
By MARK SHERMAN Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has unanimously upheld federal regulators’ decision to ease ownership limits on local media, rejecting a claim that the change would hurt minority and female ownership. The court ruled Thursday that the Federal Communications Commission acted reasonably in 2017 when it modified rules that predated the internet. The old rules prohibited a single entity from owning a radio or TV station and a daily newspaper in the same media market. They also limited how many radio and TV stations one company could own in a single market and restricted the number of TV stations a company could operate in one media market.

OPEC and allies agree to gradually boost crude oil output
By DAVID McHUGH AP Business Writer
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — The OPEC oil cartel and allied countries say they have decided to gradually add back some 2 million barrels per barrel per day of oil production from May to July. They’re moving cautiously in pace with the recovery of the global economy from the COVID-19 pandemic. The group is gingerly adding back production that was slashed last year to support prices as demand sagged during the worst of the pandemic recession, which sapped demand for fuel. The group will add back 350,000 barrels per day in May, 350,000 in June, and 400,000 in July. Meanwhile Saudi Arabia will restore an additional 1 million barrels per day that it made on its own.

Pittsburgh, PA – PennDOT District 11 is announcing slide repair work on Monaca Road (Route 3001) in the City of Aliquippa, Beaver County, will begin Monday, April 5 weather permitting.

Slide repair work will begin at 10 a.m. Monday morning on Monaca Road between Center Grange Road (Route 3012) and Kennedy Boulevard (Route 3016). The roadway will close to traffic continuously through Monday, May 10. Traffic will be detoured via Center Grange Road, Chapel Road (Route 3005), and Kennedy Boulevard.

Additional work will include installing new cross-pipe, inlet box, guide rail, and pavement.

Motorists can check conditions on more than 40,000 roadway miles, including color-coded winter conditions on 2,900 miles, by visiting www.511PA.com. 511PA, which is free and available 24 hours a day, provides traffic delay warnings, weather forecasts, traffic speed information, and access to more than 1,000 traffic cameras.

511PA is also available through a smartphone application for iPhone and Android devices, by calling 5-1-1, or by following regional twitter alerts accessible on the 511PA website.