led to major cuts... and veterans say wait times *did not* get better. better. a joint investigation from the nine on your side i-team and scripps washington bureau found dozens of whistleblowers at the cincinnati v-a... who paint a picture of a hospital in disorder.national investigative correspondent mark greenblatt is live in washington with more. this all began with the national scandal of long wait times at v-a hospitals, where veterans died while waiting for appointments. but now, whistleblowers say the solution for hospital leaders to push veterans out of the va altogether. tonight we ask, is it intentional dereliction of duty? i was in vietnam 13 months and a day.that's bill hatfield-- lifting 200 pound artillery shells ... inflicting long term damage on his body. body. it makes my back hurt just to

when this veteran needed relief from severe back pain the cincinnati v-a told him... "we don't have a neurosurgeon here at the hospital anymore. i couldn't believe it."so the va sent hatfield for private care, through veterans choice program intended to solve the national v-a wait time scandal. to qualify vets must live more than 40 miles away from a v-a hospital, or have waited longer than 30 days for an appointment. but hatfield says choice - didn't live up to its name. name. i was very, very naive because i thought it meant that i had a choice (laughs) you wanted to go to a specific place that did have neurosurgeons. neurosurgeons. but instead was sent to a place that didn't have one.and that was at least just one of 30 times hatfield was bounced back and forth between phone calls and visits over 19 months between the va, the choice program, the clinic he

it's crazy.and vets across the nation had similar experiences...with pleas for help coming from colorado springs, maine, tampa all documenting how vets in the choice program still experience long wait times and problems securing appointments but whistleblowers say - it's intentional. with some local va hospital leaders looking to choice dollars as an incentive to make their own books look good reducing staff even eliminating costly medical procedures - and forcing vets into the choice program.. the funding comes from a different pot of money. so the administration doesn't view it as a cost to our va.susan ware has worked for 16 years in neurosurgery. and is one of 34 whistleblowers we heard from at the cincinnati v-ashe says dr. barbara temeck, the acting chief of staff, began to squeeze employees out from neurosurgery ...before dr. temeck came, we didn't have a backlog of

ware says in 2014, temeck began looking at closing neurosurgery, and requested a cost benefit analysis. and we uncovered internal documents which reveal annuallyit would cost taxpayers...$1.6 million to keep neurosurgery in house and an additional $4 - 7 million to send patients outside the v-a. but we've obtained show the hospital faced "...a potential large budget deficit in feb of 2015 staff was told by regional director jack hetrick to find ways to "... improve operations and efficiency" he said "..the status quo is not an option." two months after that email temeck... ... called an emergency meeting at 730 at night with the surgeons. and, according to what i was told, she closed the service. whistleblowers say other services were hit too.i think this is shift of expense making the local

chief of orthopedics richard freiberg says temeck targeted all of the hospital's surgical specialists in hip, shoulder, and knee replacements. we were told that we were going to be reduced to 1 full- time between the 3 of us. and we confirmed last year just 54 hip shoulder and knee replacements took place in the hospital referrals to choice. dr. temeck declined to comment. regional director jack hetrick would only speak to us, off camera. camera. if someone doesn't receive neurosurgery at the cincinnati va, or the cincinnati va was paying for it previously, now they can go to choice and another pot of cash would pay for it. : i guess you can look at it that way, sure. ?is, under your leadership then is there a pattern and practice of not filling positions so that veterans go into the choice program? program?absolutely not. what i don't want to see is that we're using choice dollars to balance the budget for a particular medical center.rep. jeff miller of florida chairs the house

he's a big supporter of choice, and privatizing care to reduce wait times. but not like this. this. it's very disconcerting that there are still those within the department that don't quite understand that the choice program was supposed to be a supplement, not to supplant care... i just feel disappointedbill hatfield looks to the v-a's promise to those who servedif the government says they're going to take care of their veterans, well, they should it. late this afternoon- va deputy secretary sloan gibson told me- he wants to thank the whistleblowers in cincinnati who have come forward. he added, the whole culture in the v-a should change become an organization that rewards those who raise their hands when they see something wrong-and gibson says he is grateful to those did just that in cincinnati. mark greenblatt, scripps news, washington. thank you mark.nine on your side is committed to this investigation...we have this full report on w-c-p-o-dot- com... and we'll be following developments in washington -- including a hearing scheduled

right now -- traffic is moving again in northern kentucky... after a deadly crash near fort thomas.chopper nine -- the only local helicopter getting you breaking news first -- is following traffic.dan carroll -- what's the latest? latest? backups on i-275 eastbound lanes & i-471i'm dan carroll -- in chopper nine. as for that crash... the driver was killed when the car rolled over.a woman and baby were thrown from the car -- both are in critical conditional.a fourth person was coherent and walking

arrived.police believe drugs are a factor in this crash. a family says they're disgusted -- after finding *this* at a price hill cemetery.their family's plot dug up... and they're not getting answers.t-j parker went looking for those answers... it's a story you'll only see -- --on nine your side. kendra shorter//great granddaughter: "24:30 this part is suppose to be below ground, it's not suppose to be up out of the ground like this" the family of marian lewis- who was buried at union baptist cemetery in price hill last december- are not happy about what they saw when they came to visit, last weekend. kendra: "24:02 we're trying to come back and remember her and honor her memory when she turns 106 and this is what we came to and we're really upset" this plot has been in the family for almost a century- when the family came to put flowers on marian's grave for her birthday- they saw the vault she was buried in-

making them believe someone tried digging it up- or someone else is buried here. kendra: "34:20 i felt like it disrespected our family it disrespected our great grandmothers memory"veronica on the phone: "28:54 i understand this is a historic cemetery i get that and they should, somebody should be taking care of it"when marian's granddaughter- veronica holiday- called union baptist church- who owns the cemetery- to find out what happened. they told her- nothing. the family doesn't buy it.kendra: "22:02 obviously the ground has been unsettled in the past two months"the family says they've made calls to the naacp- the american civil liberties union- and left a message for the city- trying to figure out- what happened. kendra: "21:10 was there tampering? was someone buried on top of her, we're concerned and we want answers."kendra: "35:22 we don't want that to be the memory that we have of our great grandmothert.j.: "now, 9 on your side did reach out today who owns the cemetery, they have yet to comment. in price hill i'm t.j. parker, 9 on your side." tonight -- cincinnati is launching a *full* investgation -- into what leaders call serious

metropolitan sewer district. district.city leaders say it's an outside investigation that will take three months or less. mayor cranley didn't say "what" is alleged inside m-s-d... but said there are no *ongoing* problems based on these allegations.we do know it's regarding past management at the district. "hopefully they won't turnout to be as bad as alleged, but they could be and that's why this important step is being taken in the interest of public integrity" integrity"we do know that the state auditor is also looking into m-s-d practices.the state audit regards m-s-d's competitive bidding -- contracts -- and payments. cincinnati police are under attack tonite from an anonymous group that posted the home addresses of dozens of officers and their family members. members. the group is anonymous anon, whose spokesperson wore a guy fawkes mask and talked in an electronic voice. they claim paul gaston didn't need to be shot by cincinnati

video shows him reaching in his waistband for what turned out to be a toy gun. "these are people who don't have any regard for the emotional well-being of our police officers who have families, spouses and kids and so it's extremely abusive emotionally to our officers, but i also believe that our officers and police department and our city is big enough to not let this stop us from doing our job." job." the group referenced a mount healthy case where a man with a known toy gun was shot with a taser. taser. many people agree that tri- state heroin addicts need help... but one doctor says there's a big problem.there's not enough medical providers who can do it. it.and shawn ryan of cold spring says it's not just a tri-state issue... the shortage is nationwide.that's why the local doctor is recruiting a team to develop a national treatment model to help addicts. but ryan faces a great divide

who think addiction is a "disease" -- and those who think it's a choice.w-c-p-o insiders can read what he's doing to change that. commonwealth leaders want to make sure everyone knows about the massive debt owed to public pensions...so they're taking the message to billboards! billboards!kentucky's chamber of commerce says it will also pay for ads in newspapers as well.the pension system is underfunded by 36 billion dollars.leaders say that's more than 82-hundred dollars for *every* kentucky resident. leading the cure...this famosu cancer-free girl gets a college crowd pumped up -- to raise a *huge* amount of funding for cancer research. you can't miss leah still's adorable chant. and weather and sports are still ahead... what do you guys have coming up? up?rain chances begin mainly late tuesday evening and turn likely overnight. wednesday will be a wet, soggy day in the ohio valley. baseball is about to

slugger is already in mid season form.that's in sports. killing spree...the uber driver who killed six people -- and picked up fares inbetween -- faces a judge.but lots of questions sourrounding *why*.at six-30... the world news tonight digs into a possible motive. free money! money!julie o"so what have you been spending your money on instead of your hair?" mommy daughter my family and payments."this woman's reaction when we surprised her with one-hundred dollars... because we want to help you make ends meet.you're watching

a cute video you just have to see...the daughter of a former bengal -- who beat cancer -- helping pump up a cancer fundraiser.take a look. look."we are *crowd shout* we are *crowd shout* thank you *you're welcome* " "that's leah still -- leading students in a chant.the nearly two-day dance-a-thon raised *nine million* dollars for pediatric cancer.you'll remember -- leah still was four-years-old when she was diagnosed. she's now cancer-free the nine on your side "surprise patrol" is hitting the streets... looking for someone deserving of *free money*!and today -- our julie o'neill finds a mother -- in need of a treat. julie o"some of you moms can relate to this, you're feeling aweful about the way you look but there are bills to pay and more things to buy for the kids, so you feel guilty going into the hair salon to make yourself feel good. let's make

"it's been a little over three years since i've had my hair done."julie o"so what have you been spending your money on instead of your hair?" mommy daughter my family and payments."julie o"bills, payments payments payments."mom i just got a letter yesterday to go visit the stars or something and i was like, there's another 32-dollars here you go hhahaha."julie o "there went my hair coloring." mom"yes." julie o"truth is, we're with the 9 on your side surprise patrol and we want to take care of this for you, here's a hundred dollars."mom "awe, really... don't... gawd, i don't even know what to say thank you guys so much."julie o "now will you send us a nice after photo so we can put that on the air too?"mom"yes i will thank you guys so much. hopefully now i know to go

weather summary: highs are expected in the mid 40s. clouds start to build on tuesday as we get ready for our next round of heavy rain in the tri-state. the majority of tuesday will be dry as highs climb to the 50 degree mark. rain chances begin mainly late tuesday evening and turn likely overnight. lows only drop to the low 40s heading into wednesday morning so this will only be rain. wednesday will be a wet, soggy

spring has sprung....at least in arizona and florida. a baseball ritual has already started in many training camps. the blue jays getting in their first cuts in dunedin florida....-the orioles sprinting into a new season in sarasota...-the dodgers fielding grounders in glendale arizona-six weeks of work to prep for the long season ahead. the reds full squad hits the field tomorrow....the pitchers and catchers got started early...the reds say all 62 players are expected tuesday morning the clubhouse crew is wearing tee-shirts with the word bernie boldly displayed on the

reds clubhouse manager bernie stowe who died two weeks ago. the reds hope to find a strong leader inside the clubhouse this spring....keenan singleton says one of the very best is still showing youngsters in cincinnati how to play the game: he was one of major league baseball's first million dollar men. crowned as the national league's most valuable player in 1978 ... but every tuesday night, dave parker, gives away his vast wealth of knowledge for free hitting is what?reacting. reacting. see it then you react to it, right?at the reds urban youth academy ... you get a thrill out of seeing them, get the message and be instructed. see their faces light up. there weren't facilities like this one when parker was a kid growing up in cincinnati. but there were men like charles hudson who taught him the fundamentals in and outside the chalk lines. lines. i was one of those guys, that coulda went the wrong way, but

support for the daveparker39f oundation which raises both money and awareness in an effort to find a cure for the disease. disease. on the whole, you have to play the hand that's dealt and that's what i'm doing, playing the hand that's dealt. dealt. good hit. gimme five! all right, my man!keenan singleton 9oys finallly, the latest college basketball rankings are out...and it sets up the matchup we had hoped for this wednesday night. villanova is ranked number one in the country....xavier is now number five. the wildcats and musketeers play wednesday

let's go back to craig mckee at the desk -- for a look at nine on your side at seven. families are on edge after their cars and homes are shot at by someone with a b-b or pellet gun!coming up all new at seven... one family's plea for the person responsible to come forward.a final check of your forecast, after the break! "the nine on your side surprise patrol, sponsored by

that's 9 on your side at six for this monday. monday.we're always on with breaking news, weather and

breaking news tonight in the race for the white house. the major resignation. also, donald trump, is he now unstoppable? rubio and cruz, battling to be the alternative. but with both of them in, does it help trump? >> you're going to say, please, please mr. president. we can't stand it anymore. we don't want to keep winning. >> and tonight, has hillary clinton turned a corner? inside the seven hours of terror. the alleged uber gunman in six dead. and you will hear from the passengers who got into his uber shootings. what he said to them. the storm system tonight, in the south, possible tornadoes,