Veterans Affairs plans to maintain the VA medical center at Canandaiga, N.Y., and explore potential ways to better serve area veterans, announced VA secretary James Nicholson Oct. 5. Many of the center’s buildings are 70-plus years old, although patient facilities underwent upgrades in the 1980s and 1990s. Key to the VA’s decision was the recommendation of the local advisory panel, which advised Nicholson and VA officials to look at a mix of new buildings and renovated old buildings in the facility’s old courtyards or new construction at Canandaiga’s Golf Course or Chapel Street areas. The local advisory panel will continue to provide input as the VA proceeds to finalize plans for the Canandaiga facility. Those plans are scheduled for completion by spring 2007.
B-52 Stratofortress bombers marked a new first in Operation Epic Fury when some of the BUFFs flew over Iran carrying JDAM-guided gravity bombs, according to people familiar with the matter. The development signals a weakening of Iranian air defenses and a new use for the venerable bomber in the nearly…