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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Vote Expected on Bill Addressing Suicide Among Veterans

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Tuesday, February 3, 2015   

COLUMBUS, Ohio - The U.S. Senate could vote Tuesday on legislation to improve mental health services for veterans in Ohio and throughout the nation. A Monday vote was postponed due to bad weather in parts of the country.

The Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention for American Veterans Act would provide funding to evaluate the mental health and suicide prevention programs of the Veterans Administration (VA) and Defense Department, and improve training and enhance collaboration. Jayce Elliston, a Gulf War veteran who lives with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), says almost two dozen vets take their own lives every day.

"It's a massive problem," says Elliston. "Twenty-two a day is unconscionable. It's got to be changed, and anything we can do to make it better with a review of the systems we have in place is probably a great idea."

Elliston points out the numbers total about 8,000 veteran suicides per year. The legislation is named for a Marine veteran who struggled with PTSD and committed suicide in 2011 at age 28.

According to Elliston, an entire generation of veterans is dealing with the lifelong impact of taking the lives of others in war, which has a profound effect on their own mental health.

"Imagine a person that takes another person's life. You deal with emotional issues for the rest of your life - trying to quantify and trying to put meaning to what you did," says Elliston. "Some people have a real difficult time coming to terms with that."

The Clay Hunt bill passed unanimously in the House and the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee earlier this month.


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