Stars and Stripes Daily Headlines

July 12, 2017     Lawmakers want Defense Department to declassify info about experiments on troops The measure is an attempt to connect veterans affected by chemical and biological testing in the 1960s and 1970s with Department of Veterans Affairs benefits and health care.   General: Plane developed in air problems that led to fatal crash The Marine KC-130T tanker-transport aircraft that crashed into the Mississippi Delta on Monday evening, killing 15 Marines and a sailor developed problems in midair though investigators are still working to determine what happened, a Marine general said Wednesday.   US soldiers deploy to Kosovo amid enduring tensions A battalion-size unit of National Guardsmen is joining the NATO force in Kosovo, 18 years after the war that led the alliance to assume responsibility for security in the former Serbian province.   Yokota civilian worker found dead off base in Japan A “civilian government employee” was pronounced dead after being found “unresponsive off base,” officials at Yokota in western Tokyo announced Wednesday.   Late Advanced Placement tests from Stuttgart will get graded Advanced Placement tests for Stuttgart High School students that got stuck in the mail and failed to reach their destination at the College Board will still be graded despite missing the normal deadline.   Pentagon approves expeditionary medal for Odyssey Lightning operation Servicemembers who participated in the air campaign against the Islamic State in Libya are now eligible for the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, the Defense Department announced this week.   Senator calls for emergency funding for VA Choice Program The bill responds to VA Secretary David Shulkin’s announcement to lawmakers in June that the program was quickly and unexpectedly in need of funds. The program pays for veterans, in certain instances, to receive health care from private sector medical facilities.   Stuttgart garrison gets new commander Col. Neal A. Corson took command on Wednesday of the U.S. Army’s garrison here, which is home to 24,000 Americans and two four-star combatant commands.   Report: 4th Infantry Division general to lead USAREUR Maj. Gen. Ryan Gonsalves, who leads the Fort Carson, Colo.-based 4th Infantry Division, will soon be tapped to serve as the next commander of U.S. Army Europe, according to a report.   Soldier, airman who stopped train attack to star in Clint Eastwood film The film, which began production this week, follows the lives of the three friends from childhood to the evening when they helped subdue a suspected terrorist who opened fire inside a train traveling from Amsterdam to Paris.   Former VA secretary urges Congress to close outdated buildings or ‘VA will fail’  Former Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Anthony Principi, who led an incomplete effort in the early 2000s to close old, underused VA facilities, told House lawmakers Wednesday that without another attempt, “the VA will fail.”   Soldier stayed in Army despite support for Islamic State The Army knew Sgt. 1st Class Ikaika Kang had shown support for Islamic State years ago. But he stayed in the service, deploying to Afghanistan in 2013. The case highlights the challenges investigators face with protecting the public from a potentially dangerous actor on one hand and gathering sufficient evidence to enable prosecution on the other.   Prosecutor: Rejected Oklahoma bomb suspect 'turned to hate' A 28-year-old man facing federal charges in a pipe bomb explosion outside a northeast Oklahoma Air Force recruiting center "turned to hate" after he couldn't complete the training required to become a certified electrician in that branch of the military, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.