Tuesday,  April 15, 2014 • Vol. 16--No. 271 • 27 of 30

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Social Security suspends program that seized tax refunds to recoup decade-old overpayments

• WASHINGTON (AP) -- People with old Social Security debts are getting a reprieve -- for now.
• The Social Security Administration had been participating in a program in which thousands of people were having their tax refunds seized to recoup overpayments that happened more than a decade ago.
• On Monday, Acting Social Security Commissioner Carolyn W. Colvin said she was suspending the program while the agency conducts a review.
• Social Security recipients and members of Congress complained that people were being forced to repay overpayments that were sometimes paid to their parents or guardians when they were children.
• The Social Security Administration says it has identified about 400,000 people with old debts. They owe a total of $714 million.
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First women move into Army field artillery jobs as cannon platoon leaders

• FORT BRAGG, N.C. (AP) -- Under a canopy of trees on the edge of a large field, soldiers from Bravo Battery are lying in a circle as they pore over targeting charts. Nearby, others are preparing the howitzer cannons as helicopters swoop overhead. At the edge of the circle, the platoon leader watches as the field artillerymen go through their training exercise.
• No one seems to notice the small knot of hair at the base of the lieutenant's helmet, or that 1st Lt. Kelly Requa is the only woman on the field at Campbell's Crossroads on the sprawling grounds of Fort Bragg.
• By January 2016, the U.S. military must open all combat jobs to women or explain why any must remain closed. The Army in November officially began assigning female officers to lead the cannon platoons and plans to open other jobs, including those of crew members within the field artillery units.
• The integration comes as the military struggles with an increase in reports of sexual harassment and assault and as Congress battles with the Pentagon over how those cases are prosecuted.
• Some of those concerns were reflected in how senior commanders are preparing

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