NATION
WASHINGTON — Rep. Patrick Kennedy's decision not to seek re-election will leave Washington without a Kennedy in political office for the first time in more than 60 years.
The Rhode Island Democrat's term ends early next year but he says in a television message viewed by The Associated Press on Thursday that his life is "taking a new direction" and he will not seek a ninth term.
The 42-year-old son of the late Sen. Edward Kennedy does not give a reason for the decision but says it has been a difficult few years for many people and he mentions the death in August of his father.
WASHINGTON— The Veterans Affairs Department is more efficiently cutting checks for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans to attend college this semester, following a rocky rollout last fall that left veterans so cash-strapped there was concern some wouldn't re-enroll.As of Feb. 5, nearly 90 percent of enrollments for the 167,000 veterans submitted to the VA for the Post-9/11 GI Bill had been paid out, the VA said. And it said all those submitted by Jan. 19 were paid.The new GI Bill was designed to be the most comprehensive benefit for veterans since World War II. Last semester, however, there were so many hiccups that the VA had to issue $3,000 advance checks to 122,000 veterans who needed help with expenses as they waited for their claim to be processed.
ATLANTA — A mumps outbreak among Orthodox Jews in New York and New Jersey has now surpassed 1,500 cases and shows no sign of ending soon, health officials said Thursday.The 7-month-old outbreak began last summer at a boys camp in the Catskills. The campers were from Orthodox Jewish families, and cases multiplied when they returned to their close-knit communities in and around New York City.Most had a mumps vaccination, but the shots don't prevent all cases, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The mumps vaccine is 79 to 95 percent effective if two doses are given, health officials said.With 1,521 cases, the mumps outbreak is the largest in the U.S. since 2006, when nearly 6,600 cases were reported, mostly in six Midwestern states. Usually fewer than 300 cases are reported annually.
