A $750,000 federal grant to the Lt. Governor’s Office on Aging will lead to a partnership with the Veterans Administration to provide more long-term-care health options for South Carolina’s 410,000 veterans, Lt. Governor André Bauer said Tuesday.

People who bring children to a South Carolina veteran’s hospital and its seven clinics around the state are being asked to stay out because of the risk of spreading the flu.

The Veterans Administration is opening a new 10-bed hospice unit at its center in Columbia. Officials at the William Jennings Bryan Dorn VA Medical Center are having an open house Wedneday. They say the unit will be ready for patients within days.

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs will be asked to pay disability benefits and possibly other compensation for hospital mistakes that possibly exposed veterans to infectious body fluids.

Nearly 50 colleges and universities in Georgia have signed on to a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs program to improve financial aid for the Post 9/11 GI Bill.

The next stage of the Fort Jackson National Cemetery for veterans will be built by a South Carolina construction firm. The Department of Veterans Affairs says the contract has been awarded to LW Construction of Charleston, a firm owned by a military veteran.

An attorney for veterans who were possibly exposed to HIV and other infections at three Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals says his clients are waiting to hear if they will be compensated for mistakes that led to congressional hearings and new VA spending on patient safety.

A new federal report shows a Veterans Affairs clinic in Augusta was investigating improper sterilization of endoscopic equipment a month before a similar discovery in Tennessee set off a national review of VA cleaning procedures.

Lawmakers sharply criticized the Department of Veterans Affairs on Tuesday about why a national scare over botched colonoscopies earlier this year didn’t prompt stronger safeguards at the agency’s medical centers. House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Bob Filner said VA Secretary Eric Shinseki has pledged to take disciplinary action over the matter.

The Associated Press has learned that fewer than half of Veterans Affairs clinics given a surprise inspection last month followed proper standards for colonoscopies and other minimally invasive procedures - even after the agency learned that mistakes may have exposed thousands of veterans to HIV and other diseases.

The director of the Miami Veterans Affairs Healthcare System says she was “heartbroken” when she learned patients had been exposed to contaminated medical equipment at VA hospitals. Mary D. Berrocal told The Associated Press on Tuesday that she has created a position to supervise training in Miami and make sure biomedical equipment is functioning properly.

The Department of Veterans Affairs reports that three patients exposed to contaminated medical equipment have tested positive for HIV in follow-up exams. The VA said Friday that unverified tests show one patient each from its Murfreesboro, Tenn., Augusta, Ga., and Miami medical facilities have the virus that causes AIDS. It previously reported one positive HIV test but didn’t identify the facility where the patient had been treated.

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs officials say 16 patients exposed to contaminated equipment at its medical facilities have tested positive for viral infections, including hepatitis. VA spokeswoman Katie Roberts said Friday that 10 colonoscopy patients from the VA medical center in Murfreesboro, Tenn., tested positive for hepatitis. She said six patients from a VA clinic in Augusta, Ga., tested positive for unspecified viral infections.

According to a release, there is funding coming to the Augusta VA Medical Center. Congressman John Barrow announced the funding on Monday.

One local veteran isn’t feeling very appreciated on this Veterans Day. WJBF News Channel 6’s Capitol reporter, Robert Kittle, has the story.