VA official defends bonus payments
WASHINGTON – Nearly 80 percent of senior executives at the Department of Veterans Affairs got performance bonuses last year despite widespread treatment delays and preventable deaths at VA hospitals and clinics, a top official said Friday.
More than 350 VA executives were paid a total of $2.7 million in bonuses last year, said Gina Farrisee, assistant VA secretary for human resources and administration. That amount is down from about $3.4 million in bonuses paid in 2012, Farrisee said.
Farrisee defended the bonus system, telling the House Veterans Affairs Committee the VA needs to pay bonuses to keep executives who are paid up to $181,000 per year.
Ukraine president orders cease-fire
KIEV, Ukraine – Ukraine’s president ordered his forces to cease fire Friday and halt military operations for a week against pro-Russian separatists in the country’s east – the first step in a peace plan he hopes will end the fighting that has killed hundreds.
The Kremlin dismissed the plan, saying it sounded like an ultimatum and lacked any firm offer to open talks with insurgents.
Petro Poroshenko, making his first trip to the east as Ukraine’s president, said the cease-fire will run until the morning of June 27 and that his troops reserve the right to fire back if separatists attack them or civilians.
Associated Press
