The medium-security detention center on Fort Lewis will re-open Tuesday after a yearlong renovation.

The Northwestern Joint Regional Correctional Facility – that’s the new name for the Fort Lewis Regional Correction Facility – closed last year. The new building sports improved air circulation, ventilation, outdoor lighting, emergency lighting, plumbing and fixtures and painting. The physical security system and fire control system were also upgraded, and a running track has been built around the exercise yard.

The facility can hold up to 190 prisoners who are either awaiting trial or who have been sentenced to up to 7 years. Such prisoners had been held at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor during the renovation.

The Northwest Joint Regional Correctional Facility now manages corrections at both installations, part of a Base Realignment and Closure Commission mandate.

The director of the primary care clinic at the VA Puget Sound Health Care System was elected to the Royal College of Physicians earlier this week during a ceremony in London, the veterans health care agency announced.

Dr. Benjamin A. Lipsky is one of 20 doctors around the world to receive the appointment. He was inducted July 15.

The Royal College of Physicians is one of the most prestigious medical societies in the world. King Henry VIII founded the organization in 1518.

It’s a lifetime appointment, and Lipsky will spend the next year on sabbatical in Oxford, where he will study foot infections in diabetics.

More than 2,500 airmen from 25 countries and almost every airlift unit in the Air Force are at McChord Air Force Base this week for the Air Mobility Command Rodeo.

The event offers 52 competitions, ranging from security-forces scenario drills to airdrop competitions. McChord also played host in 2007 to the most recent Rodeo.

"The coordination for Rodeo 2009 really started almost the day after Rodeo 2007 was completed," said Maj. Gen. Brooks Bash, the Rodeo commander, in a press release. "McChord Air Force Base, with the 62nd Airlift Wing and the 446th Airlift Wing as well as the local community, have been planning this event for that long."

It can be a pretty cool experience. The teams all set up hospitality tents in a grassy field not too far from one of the flight lines. Each tent has its own feel to it, often playing up the regional specialties. In 2007, the United Arab Emirates tent had big cushions on which to sit, and the hosts handed out dates. The guys from Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii were whipping up mai-tais, and the airmen from Altus Air Force Base in Okalahoma had barbecue and beer.

The Rodeo is considered a training exercise and isn’t open to the public, but we’ll be there this week for at least one story.

The soldiers of the 81st Brigade Combat Team are one step closer to home.

The advance party of the Washington National Guard’s largest unit returned to the United States early Monday morning, nine months after they deployed to Iraq. The soldiers’ first stop stateside is at Fort McCoy, Wis., where they will begin a de-mobilization process in which they visit medical officials and receive briefings on transition to civilian life, pay and benefits. The process can take up to six days.

National Guard officials haven’t yet announced when the soldiers will return to Washington. A series of homecoming ceremonies at McChord Air Force Base and Fairchild Air Force Base outside Spokane are being planned.

The entire brigade is expected home by the first week of August.

"We are all delighted to have the 81st back home and honor them," Gov. Chris Gregoire said in a statement. "Their service and dedication as soldiers is a shining example to our state and nation. Visiting the 81st in Iraq was a life changing experience for me and I've been working diligently to ensure they have access to the programs and support they need upon their return."

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