U.S. Rep. Adam Smith introduced legislation today that widens the scope of what the federal government defines as a combat-related injury.

The new definition could cover veterans who have been denied care from the Department of Defense and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the Tacoma Democrat said in a press release.

The legislation would revert to the definition the Department of Defense used in March 2008, prior to a narrowing of the definition that Smith called “unacceptable.” The narrowed definition cost veterans hundreds of thousands of dollars, Smith's office wrote.

The Pentagon told the Los Angeles Times in November that it changed the definition to remain consistent with Congress' "wounded warrior" law, passed in January 2008. But Sen. Carl Levin, the Michigan Democrat who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, told the Times that the narrowed definition wasn’t Congress’ intent.

The previous definition – the one Smith wants reinstated – covered almost all injuries received in a combat zone. The current definition covers those injured “directly through armed conflict,” a press release from Smith’s office said. “. As a result, members of the military who were injured while taking cover from incoming fire or sustained injuries from a roadside bomb have had their injuries ruled as being unrelated to combat, costing them thousands of dollars in benefits.”

(Department of Defense photo)

From crime reporter Stacey Mulick:

A Fort Lewis soldier accused of kidnapping and raping two women at his Parkland home has been arrested in Texas, the Pierce County Sheriff's Department reported.

A warrant for the arrest of staff Sgt. Nathan Ryan Smith, 29, was issued last week and the public was asked to help find him. Pierce County prosecutors have charged Smith with two counts of first-degree kidnapping, four courts of first-degree rape, attempted rape, felony harassment, destroying evidence and first-degree arson.

Law enforcement officers near Austin, Texas, arrested Smith about 2 a.m. today, Pierce County sheriff’s spokesman Ed Troyer said. He was driver a rental car with switched plates.

No other information about the arrest or why Smith was in Texas was immediately available. “We are still gathering information,” Troyer said. “We know he has ties to Texas.”

Detectives from the Tacoma Police and Pierce County Sheriff’s departments will head to Texas this afternoon to talk with Smith, Troyer said.

A bit of background: Smith is a 29-year-old staff sergeant and has been stationed at Fort Lewis since July 2006. He served as a cavalry scout with the 3rd Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division. Here's the original story we published about the case.

About 100 soldiers from the 295th Quartermaster Company will return to Fort Lewis tomorrow after a 15-month deployment to Iraq.

The unit deployed in October 2007 and served at six forward operating bases in Anbar province. They primarily provided shower, laundry and clothing-repair services to soldiers and Marines.

McChord airmen and students from Key Peninsula Middle School will chat with astronauts aboard the International Space Station on Wednesday.

The airmen and students will participate in a “live in-flight education downlink with the International Space Station,” according to a McChord release. That’ll include a 20-minute question-and-answer session with astronauts Sandra Magnus (that’s her on the right) and Mike Fincke, a retired Air Force colonel.

This is the second event of its kind in Washington.

Key Peninsula Middle School is one of 50 NASA Explorer schools nationwide. The program links schools with the space agency to boost interest in science, technology and math education.

The International Space Station orbits about 190 miles above the earth and travels at about 17,210 miles per hour. It's a partnership of 15 countries and has been continuously staffed since its completion in 2000.

NASA photo