Nation in brief: Bush orders changes in veterans’ care

President Bush on Tuesday night ordered the Pentagon and Department of Veterans Affairs to come up with a joint process for establishing the level of disability of injured service members, as well as to implement other recommendations from a presidential task force.

Those recommendations, the latest military health care reform promised by the Bush administration, are intended to “streamline” the care and benefits given to veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, said Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson, who chaired the task force.

The group also suggested that all Iraq and Afghanistan veterans treated in VA health care facilities be screened for traumatic brain injury, which Nicholson called “one of the signature injuries” of the conflicts.

Concord, N.H.

Tax evaders hole up to avoid prison time

A couple convicted of tax evasion for concealing $1.9 million in income was sentenced to prison Tuesday, but they refused to attend the hearing and have vowed not to leave their fortresslike mansion.

Ed and Elaine Brown insist tax laws do not exist and have holed up in their hilltop home in Plainfield, which has a watchtower, concrete walls and the ability to run on wind and solar power. Ed Brown, 64, said he has stockpiled food and supplies.

The Browns were convicted in January of scheming to hide $1.9 million of income between 1996 and 2003. A federal judge sentenced them each to 5 1/4 years in prison.

U.S. marshals have been ordered to arrest the couple but said they are not planning to storm the home, blockade the roads or cut off supplies.