A federal commission voted this morning to officially close the US Army's historic Walter Reed Medical Center. Critics had argued against closing the storied facility in Washington, DC, which has treated presidents and generations of soldiers wounded in wars in Europe, Southeast Asia and most recently Afghanistan and Iraq. Under the Pentagon's new plan, existing operations at the hospital will be shifted to a new facility in Bethesda, Maryland, currently the site of the National Naval Medical Center. Construction costs for the new complex, which will also be named Walter Reed, are estimated at $989 million. The Defense Department has pledged that the new facility will be a "state of the art marvel." Washington, DC, will lose about 5,600 healthcare jobs as a result.
- see this story from The New York Times
- see this story from the AP