National Briefs

• Acting VA chief: 18 more veterans left off list died

WASHINGTON - An additional 18 veterans in the Phoenix area whose names were kept off an official electronic Veterans Affairs appointment list have died, the agency's acting secretary said Thursday - the latest revelation in a growing scandal over long patient waits for care and falsified records covering up the delays at VA hospitals and clinics nationwide.

Acting VA Secretary Sloan Gibson said he does not know whether the 18 new deaths were related to long waiting times for appointments but said they were in addition to the 17 reported last month by the VA's inspector general. The announcement of the deaths came as senior senators reached agreement Thursday on the framework for a bipartisan bill making it easier for veterans to get health care outside VA hospitals and clinics.

The 18 veterans who died were among 1,700 veterans identified in a report last week by the VA's inspector general as being "at risk of being lost or forgotten." The investigation also found broad and deep-seated problems with delays in patient care and manipulation of waiting lists throughout the sprawling VA health care system, which provides medical care to about 9 million veterans and family members.

• Bergdahl's hometown deals with uproar

HAILEY, Idaho - Bowe Bergdahl's hometown is accustomed to celebrity and the attention it brings.

Singer-songwriter Carole King owns a ranch nearby. Bruce Willis has been trying to sell his 20-acre Hailey estate for years. Ernest Hemingway shot himself to death in neighboring Ketchum, and his granddaughter, Mariel Hemingway, is a local.

But the release of the American soldier in a prisoner swap with the Taliban has drawn a less savory form of attention, surprising some townspeople who are more used to entertaining happy tourists than being part of a national debate. The community canceled a planned welcome-home celebration rather than become ground zero for criticism of the deal that freed its native son.

- The Associated Press