MONTCLAIR, New Jersey (AP) - Many military veterans say having music to listen to helps them deal with the stress of deployment.

A new program hopes that music can play the same role in helping them readjust to civilian life.

A pilot project called Voices of Valor is being offered this year through the veteran affairs program at Montclair State University.

It's open to veterans of any age, and participants don't need prior musical experience.

Participants are guided by professional musicians and psychology mentors through a process of synthesizing their military experiences into song. They write a tune as a group, record it in a professional sound studio and then hold a CD release party.

Some participants say the program is more effective than traditional "talk therapy."

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) - The director of the Pumwani Maternity Hospital, located in a hardscrabble neighborhood of downtown Nairobi, freely acknowledges that he detains mothers who can't pay their bills.

Lazarus Omondi says it's the only way he can keep his medical center running. Now, a New York-based group filed a lawsuit this month in hopes of forcing Pumwani to stop the practice.

Two mothers who live in a mud-wall and tin-roof slum near the maternity hospital said Pumwani wouldn't let them leave after delivering their babies. The bills the mothers couldn't afford were $60 and $160. Guards with sticks would beat mothers who tried to leave without paying, one of the women said.

Omondi says one solution to the problem would be a national health insurance program.

ATLANTA (AP) - The Georgia Department of Human Services has announced it will award grants to some of the state's Aging and Disability Resource Connection centers to provide counseling to families looking for long-term care facilities.

Department of Human Service officials Wednesday said $150,000 will be split among Mercy Senior Care, in Rome, Mayo Clinic Health System, in Waycross and the Medical Center of Central Georgia, in Macon.

Among other things, officials say the grants will help facilitate counseling sessions aimed at weighing consumer preferences, comparing service options and conducting follow-up sessions with consumers.

Department of Human Services officials say in the past year, options counselors have visited nearly 2,000 patients to provide options counseling. There are 12 Aging and Disability Resource Connection centers in the state.

ROCHESTER, Minnesota (AP) - Spinal surgery will likely sideline Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton for the rest of the year.

Dayton is heading to Rochester's Mayo Clinic Thursday for an operation he hopes will relieve a constriction in his lower back, known as stenosis.

Mayo Clinic says the spinal stenosis that afflicts Dayton is generally caused by normal wear-and-tear on the spine due to aging.

Dayton turns 66 in a few weeks.

He is scheduled to be released from the hospital by Monday and will return to St. Paul then. He plans to work from the Governor's Residence during a recuperation period.

NEW YORK (AP) - A New York City hospital that had to evacuate hundreds of patients during Superstorm Sandy after it lost power is set to reopen.

Officials at NYU Langone Medical Center say nearly all services will return to the hospital on Thursday.

Sen. Charles Schumer will join hospital officials for the reopening.

Schumer helped secure nearly $150 million in federal aid for the damaged facility.

The Manhattan medical center evacuated 300 patients after it lost generator power because of the storm.

Some of its outpatient facilities have been operating since early November.