VA Boosts covid Aid

The Department of Veterans Affairs has taken two important steps to help veterans during the covid pandemic: financial and housing for the homeless.

Debt Relief: The VA is extending financial debt relief through the end of the year. That’s going to be a big help to many of us who are struggling. If you are making payments, repayment is going to be more flexible. One step is that the VA is suspending the collection action or extending payment terms on existing debts.

If you have benefit debts, call the VA Debt Management Center at 1-800-827-0648 and

• It’s illegal to kill Bigfoot in British Columbia. That is, if you ever actually run across him.

• In March 2019, the Roosevelt Hotel in New Orleans celebrated its 125th anniversary by offering a free seven-night stay in the presidential suite, along with complimentary private dinners and spa treatments worth $15,000. But this wasn’t your everyday giveaway — the prize was only available to the person who returned the “most outrageous” item ever stolen from the hotel!

• The earliest toothpaste was made in ancient Egypt from ask for help.

If you have health care debts, call the Health Resource Center at 1-866-400-1238. To learn more, go online to www.pay. gov and click on the Coronavirus (Covid-19) alert.

Emergency Housing: The VA is kicking in an additional $400 million of COVID relief funding to expand its response to veterans who are either already homeless or about to become homeless. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) gave $17.2 billion to the VA, which initially allotted $700 million to homelessness.

The additional $400 million will go a long way to preventing veteran homelessness and providing emergency housing as part of the Supportive Services for Veteran Families Program. The idea, of course, is to provide housing that will allow physical safety and social distancing.

crushed pepper, rock salt and dried flowers. No, it wasn’t particularly effective.

• Speaking of toothpaste, that blob on your toothbrush is called a nurdle.

• Enjoy the smell of fresh-cut grass after mowing your lawn? Researchers have determined the scent is a chemical compound given off by plants in distress. They emit a similar odor when attacked by caterpillars or other predatory insects.

• Grooves in the road on Route 66 play “America the Beautiful.”

• In 1979, Elvita Adams, jobless and facing eviction, attempted suicide by jumping off the 86th floor of the Empire State Building but survived with just a fractured pelvis when she was blown back to the 85th floor by a strong gust of wind.

In additional, the VA is providing $88 million for the Grant and Per Diem Program and $10 for the Health Care for Homeless Veterans Program. The GPD Program utilizes eligible civilian organization to provide transitional housing for those who are already homeless or who are in danger of it.

If you and your family need permanent housing, go online to www.va.gov/homeless/hudvash.asp. This HUD/VA collaboration provides rental assistance vouchers if you’re eligible for VA health care. Included can be case managers for health care, mental health and substance-use counseling. This is one of VA’s largest programs for homelessness.

The VA isn’t perfect, but it’s trying. Use its services because you earned them.

(c) 2020 King Features Synd., Inc.

• When the first Spanish explorers arrived at the Yucatan peninsula, they naturally asked what the area was called. The response, “Yucatan,” was a Yucatec Maya word meaning “I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

• Chimpanzees can identify each other from pictures of their butts.

• The average male becomes bored with a shopping trip in about 26 minutes. His female companion typically lasts two hours.

• Almost 163,000 pints of Guinness beer are wasted in facial hair each year.

••• Thought for the Day: “The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain.” — Dolly Parton

(c) 2020 King Features Synd., Inc.