In the News

A little more than a week after members of Congress filed a bill that sought to remove sexual assault prosecution decisions from the chain of command, the secretary of defense released guidance that would do the same.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin released the guidance Friday that followed a three-month Independent Review Commission on Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment, he said.

Austin said he is directing the Department of Defense to move forward on reforms and to work with Congress to amend the Uniformed Code of Military Justice by:

An interim rule for how service members can file claims of medical malpractice is now open for review.

Last week, the Department of Defense released the guidance, which is mandated by the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act in a law named after a Fort Bragg soldier

Sgt. 1st Class Richard Stayskal testified before Congress in April 2019 about his stage-four cancer diagnosis that was initially misdiagnosed by medical providers at Womack Army Medical Center.

A bipartisan group of North Carolina representatives in Congress are urging the Environmental Protection Agency to require Chemours to pay for testing to determine how chemicals that might be connected to the company's plant in Bladen County impact residents and the environment nearby.

The U.S. Department of Defense will soon begin paying medical malpractice claims under a law inspired by the travails of a Pinehurst Green Beret.

Named after Sgt. 1st Class Richard "Rich" Stayskal, the law allows service members to file administrative claims for medical malpractice in all branches of the armed forces. Military personnel were previously barred from taking such action by the Feres Doctrine, an obscure rule stemming from a 1950 Supreme Court decision.

Nearly the entire Senate Republican caucus signed on to a letter Thursday demanding a withdrawal of a proposed ATF rule that would regulate some pistol-stabilizing braces.

The rule, which was proposed on June 7, would reclassify many pistols used with stabilizing braces as short-barreled rifles, which require a federal license to own under the National Firearms Act.

(The Center Square) – Members of the U.S. House and Senate are urging the federal government to withdraw a rule change they say targets veterans and hurts law-abiding gun owners. Their letters to the federal agencies followed an announcement by Texas that it would be challenging the new rule.

At least 141 Republican members of the House signed the letter urging the Department of Justice and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms (ATF) to withdraw proposed guidance on stabilizing braces. Four Republican senators sent a separate letter roughly a week later.

WASHINGTON (WTVD) -- There was a breakthrough Thursday in a Troubleshooter investigation involving a Fort Bragg soldier's fight to give service members the right to seek compensation for medical malpractice.

On Thursday, the Department of Defense published a rule on how it will process claims under the Stayskal Act. It's a big win for Sgt. 1st Class Richard Stayskal, along with service members and their families as they will now have guidance on how claims of medical malpractice by military doctors will move forward.

WASHINGTON (WNCN) – Joining together in a bi-partisan letter, U.S. Reps Richard Hudson (R-NC) and Deborah Ross (D-NC) are pleading with the EPA to do more.

They want Chemours to pay for health and environmental testing of toxic chemicals used at its facility in Fayetteville.

"In particular people who produce the chemicals, who have access to the most information should care about the health and safety of people in North Carolina and across the country," said Ross.