Brain injuries going untreated

Mild traumatic brain injury continues to be undertreated by the U.S. military’s medical system, leaving countless soldiers with lasting damage that may carry no visible physical scars. A joint investigation by NPR and ProPublica found that tens of thousands of U.S. troops have gone undiagnosed and untreated, and that brain-injury screening and follow-up treatment that the government promised in 2007 to improve remains woefully inadequate.

"When someone’s missing a limb, you can see that," Sgt. William Fraas, a Bronze Star recipient, told NPR.

Brain-rattling roadside blasts in Iraq affected his short-term memory, and Fraas can no longer drive or remember to do simple tasks. "When someone has a brain injury, you can’t see it, but it’s still serious."

Pass go, and play at UH

Why give it away when it could rake in a quarter-million dollars — or more? The University of Hawaii athletic department, which has been operating at a $2 million deficit, sold some 600 parking passes totaling $225,000 to football-season ticketholders Monday, the first day of its inaugural online reverse auction. Sales are continuing. Passes that sold for $150 last year went at auction for up to $400. Quite the hot ticket.