The Pentagon was required by Congress in the 2016 National Defense Authorization Act to produce a plan to achieve “budget neutrality.” In the plan, released in June, officials said that there is no way to do so without closing stores or raising prices, but offered some ways the department could instead save $2 billion over five years.
As if you needed something else to worry about, bedbugs, those pests from the old bedtime rhyme are making a comeback. More of a nuisance than a health hazard, they’re showing up to suck blood from people in hotels, college dorms, and hospitals. Take an informative look at bedbugs: what they are, where they lurk, and how to spot them before they get you.
Scammers aren’t just after your money. These days, they also want your health insurance card.
A recent study found the number of cases of medical identity theft jumped more than 21 percent in just one year, costing the average victim $13,500 to fix.
Experts warn those numbers may be telling only part of the story since this type of fraud is relatively new and harder to categorize.
From the Kiplinger Magazine website
Zero. Zip. Zilch. Zippo. Imagine locking in a 0% tax rate for your own investment profits. And that sweetest-of-all rates is available for the long-term capital gains—those from investments held more than a year—of taxpayers who fall in the 10% or 15% tax bracket.
Since the 15% bracket rises as high as $75,300 on joint returns, a married couple with typical deductions could have $100,000 or more of income and still qualify for the 0% rate
Related: The Most-Overlooked Tax Breaks for the Newly Retired
When you think of app users, your teenage kids or their 20-something millennial counterparts may come to mind because they’re always tied to their cellphones.
But apps designed with the always-connected young in mind are increasingly finding favor with senior citizens, who are discovering valuable services available via technology.
Hawaiian Electric Co. has unveiled an online map that will allow its Oahu customers to report power outages and monitor restoration work using a computer or mobile device, the state’s largest utility said Wednesday.
Colonel David Howard continues to live in Florida. He holds a real estate broker’s license, and does consulting work for other brokers. He returns to Hawaii occasionally to visit his daughter in Hilo and his sister in Honolulu.
Colonel Howard began his career in the 169th Aircraft Control & Warning Squadron. He became the first commander of the 201st Combat Communications Squadron in Hilo in the 1970s. The newly formed 201st Combat Communications Group had started moving its gained unit to the neighbor islands.
He and a small cadre of technicians started the squadron from the ground up. There were technicians who moved from Oahu and others who transferred from the Hawaii Army National Guard. The squadron started out in the old warehouses in the Army Guard compound. It took several years before their permanent facilities were completed. The unit was later renamed the 291st Combat Communication Squadron.
Colonel Howard left Hawaii to serve a tour at the National Guard Bureau (NGB) in Washington DC. After completing his tour, he became the commander of the 251st Combat Communications Group in Springfield, Ohio.
Wonder if Dave still has a “Pau Hana Club” T-shirt?
Whether it came on suddenly when you were playing tennis or more gradually over many years, knee pain can keep you from doing even the most basic of activities. At the very least, it can limit your ability to move as easily or quickly, or sit in one place for an extended time.
Arthritis is the most common cause of knee pain for older adults, said Dr. Julie Switzer, an orthopedic surgeon at Regions Hospital in St. Paul, Minn. Arthritis comes in three main forms, she said: osteoarthritis, inflammatory arthritis and post-traumatic arthritis.
We’ll examine these types, as well as other causes of knee pain.
From the NGAUS Washington Report
A retired Army National Guard lieutenant colonel and combat veteran has won a seat in the Senate.
Rep. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., who is her second term in the House of Representatives and a member of the House Armed Services Committee, defeated Sen. Mark Kirk in last week’s Senate election in Illinois.
Duckworth, who lost her legs and partial use of her right arm when a rocket-propelled grenade hit her UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter in Iraq in 2004, will be the second female combat veteran to serve in the Senate. The first was retired Army Guard lieutenant colonel, Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, who has four years remaining in her first term.
Meanwhile, all seven drilling Guardsmen in the House were re-elected last week: Rep. Jim Bridenstine, R-Okla.; Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii; Rep. Trent Kelly, R- Okla.; Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill.; Rep. Steven Palazzo, R-Miss.; Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa.; and Rep. Steve Stivers, R-Okla.
All are officers and serve in the state they represent in Congress except for Kinzinger, who is in the Wisconsin Air Guard.
The 115th Congress, which begins in January, will include 12 other House members with Guard service.
Among them will be Rep. Harold Rogers, R-Ky., the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee; Rep. Steve Womack, R-Ark., a member of the House Appropriations defense subcommittee; Rep. Tim Walz, D-Minn., a co-chair of the House National Guard and Reserve Components Caucus; and Rep. John Conyers Jr., D-Mich., the current longest serving House member.
Five members of the Senate next year will have Guard service. Joining Duckworth and Ernst will be Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo.; Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a co-chair of the Senate National Guard caucus; and Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga.
A complete list of lawmakers with Guard experience who will be in the 115th Congress is available on the NGAUS website.
Edward Seiji Muramatsu, 75, of Honolulu died October 27, 2016. Born in Hilo, he worked as a federal employee in Honolulu and retired from the Air Force. He also worked as a banquet bartender at the Hilton Hawaiian Village for many years.
He is survived by wife, Betty Y. Muramatsu, step-daughter Sharon Uyeno (Darrell), step-son Dexter Ohama, step-grandsons Raun Ohama, Curen Ohama (Sesame Shim), step-great-grandson Aukahi Ohama, sisters Irene Higa (George), Ruth Tagawa, brother Larry Muramatsu, nieces and nephews.
Services held. Arrangements provided by: Nu’uanu Memorial Park & Mortuary
Ed served in the Hawaii Air National Guard and later transferred to the Air Force Reserve.
The pūpūkahi is the State of Hawaii Department of Defense monthly newsletter. Printed versions of the pūpūkahi have been the “command information” newsletter for decades, however, it was suspended in 2009 due to budget cuts.
Click here to read the October 2016 digital pūpūkahi
COL Moses Kaoiwi Jr. asked Retiree News to post the following “Save the Date” notice about the 2017 Hawai‘i National Guard Vietnam Memorial Celebration
What: Hawai‘i National Guard Vietnam Memorial Celebration
Date: Saturday, May 27, 2017
Time: 1000-1400
Where: 29th IBCT Brigade Readiness Center
There will be a no-host luncheon following the memorial program
This memorial celebration will honor all military members who served during the Vietnam War. All Hawai‘i Army and Air National Guard veterans and members who served with active duty components are welcomed to participate.
The Defense Department failed to provide Congress with a complete picture of what it would take to eliminate taxpayer funding of the commissary system while still keeping stores open and patron savings at current levels, according to a report released this week.
From the Motley Fool website
Social Security provides the majority of income for millions of American retirees, and most of those living on a fixed income rely on annual increases in their Social Security benefits to keep up with the rising costs of what they need.
Yet earlier this month, the Social Security Administration released final numbers that show that the cost-of-living adjustment for Social Security in 2017 will amount to just a 0.3% increase. As if that weren’t bad enough, most Social Security recipients won’t see any increase at all, because the Medicare premiums withheld from their monthly benefit checks will rise just enough to eat up the entire cost of living adjustment.
Banana Republic offers a 15% discount off full priced merchandise.
