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VA looking for ways to help homeless veterans in southern Nevada

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VA looking for ways to help homeless veterans in southern Nevada


LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Homelessness among veterans is up 7% nationwide, according to officials from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

The problem here is getting worse to but the VA has big goals in 2024 and looking to help people like Ray Allord. He tells me he is a Navy veteran and has been working to get back on his feet.

“I am looking for housing,” he told me.

I asked him when he first experienced homelessness.

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“It was a two-year hitch. Back then, I was allowed to grow my beard,” Allord said.

Allord is staying at the Salvation Army at night but thinks more can be done to help all homeless vets get off the streets.

“Find other programs to assist with rent and furniture,” he explained. “A bigger shelter for the homeless veterans here.”

The homeless veteran population is a problem with no easy solution. According to the VA, 6% to 9% of the valley’s homeless population are veterans, which is around 900 people.

“In Las Vegas, for example, there has been a 60% increase,” said Tanya Bradsher, Deputy Secretary of the VA.

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On Friday, Bradsher said the agency’s goal is to help those 900 veterans finding housing this year.

“It is going to take community, going to take partnership and it is going to take an aggressive workforce,” Bradsher said.

A new tool the agency plans on using is a mobile VA medical unit, one of just 25 in the nation. In just weeks, it will take medical help and resources to vets on the streets.

“I’d like to see this dealt with,” Allord told me.

With rising inflation and the cost of living, Allord said he and many others are feeling the pain.

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“It is expensive to live in Las Vegas.”





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Nevada inmate’s death ruled as homicide, coroner says

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Nevada inmate’s death ruled as homicide, coroner says


LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — An offender within the Nevada Department of Corrections system has died from a stabbing, officials said.

According to a press release from NDOC, Dylan Walters, 33, died at University Medical Center on Oct. 27. He was serving 16 to 40 months at High Desert State Prison for attempted grand larceny.

Officials said he came to NDOC on April 18 last year from Clark County. According to the coroner, he died from multiple stab wounds, and his manner of death was ruled as a homicide.

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Lee: Trump ‘cruel’ for ending SNAP funding, Nevada ‘complicit’ for not doing more

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Lee: Trump ‘cruel’ for ending SNAP funding, Nevada ‘complicit’ for not doing more


Democratic U.S. Rep. Susie Lee on Tuesday criticized Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo for not doing more to provide substitute benefits to the hundreds of thousands of Nevadans who are supposed to receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits next month but who won’t because of the government shutdown. Lee first called it “cruel” of the Trump […]



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Nevada attorney general joins multi-state lawsuit over SNAP benefit cuts during government shutdown

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Nevada attorney general joins multi-state lawsuit over SNAP benefit cuts during government shutdown


LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford announced Tuesday he is joining a multi-state lawsuit against the Trump administration over cuts to federal food assistance benefits amid the ongoing government shutdown.

As the shutdown enters its fourth week, approximately 500,000 Nevadans who rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, face uncertainty about their November benefits. Our state typically receives around $90 million per month in federal SNAP funding.

WATCH | Anyssa Bohanan breaks down some of the ways the shutdown is affecting Southern Nevadans

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Nevada SNAP to go without funding as government shutdown stretches on

The U.S. Department of Agriculture says on their website that SNAP benefits will not be distributed starting Nov. 1, stating “the well has run dry” and pointing to Senate Democrats as the reason for the shutdown. Nationally, SNAP helps approximately 42 million Americans.

WATCH | Scripps News speaks with USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins about the ongoing shutdown, impact to SNAP benefits

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Agriculture secretary says emergency fund isn’t enough to cover SNAP benefits

However, attorneys general from 23 states and the District of Columbia argue the USDA is making a “deliberate” decision to withhold contingency funds that exist for exactly this scenario.

RELATED STORY | DoorDash, restaurants offer free help as SNAP funding lapses during shutdown

“The Trump Administration’s choice to cut SNAP benefits is not only a deliberate, cruel and extraordinarily harmful decision, it is unlawful. And the reason it cites — the ongoing federal government shutdown — is inadequate,” Ford said in a news release.

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In an agency memo obtained by Scripps News, the USDA says they are saving more than $5 billion in contingency funds for more immediate emergencies like “hurricanes, tornadoes, and floods, that can come on quickly and without notice.” Further, the agency says the appropriations for regular monthly benefits do not exist anymore due to the shutdown, and they will not reimburse states who try providing benefits themselves.

“Contingency funds exist for this exact scenario, yet the USDA has decided to abdicate its responsibility to Nevadans and refused to fund SNAP benefits. I understand the stress of not knowing where your next meal is coming from, because I’ve lived it. I don’t wish that stress on any Nevadan, and I’ll fight to be sure nobody in our state goes hungry. I urge Governor Lombardo to do the same and to work with his party and President Trump to ensure that Nevadans receive their SNAP benefits,” Ford continued.

Gov. Joe Lombardo has urged the federal government to end their standstill, citing its harmful effects on Nevada in letters sent our federal delegation, specifically over SNAP.

In the 51-page lawsuit, attorneys general claim the lapse in SNAP benefits would bring more harm beyond just those who rely on the program, but also local governments, school systems and food pantries as their supplies can’t meet the spike in demand.

WATCH | Steve Sebelius speaks with local food pantry over the SNAP benefit crisis

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Members of Congress, Governor Trade Letters Over SNAP amid Shutdown

Ford joins attorneys general from Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin in the lawsuit. The governors of Kansas, Kentucky and Pennsylvania have also joined the suit.





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