Former AG sues over Medigap plans
DETROIT (AP) — Former Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox has filed a lawsuit against Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, accusing the health insurer of illegally denying access to some programs.
Cox is referring to so-called Medigap plans, which provide coverage not available under Medicare. He says Blue Cross is breaking the law by forcing seniors to buy more expensive policies or none at all.
Cox is now a private lawyer. He says it’s like wanting to buy an economy car but being told you must get a luxury vehicle. The lawsuit seeks class-action status.
Blue Cross says the case has no merit. Spokeswoman Helen Stojic says Medigap is a subsidized product for retirees who don’t have financial assistance from their former employers.
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Unemployment OKed for fired state lawyer
LANSING (AP) — A judge has ruled that a former Michigan assistant attorney general fired for misconduct should receive unemployment benefits.
Andrew Shirvell was accused of stalking and harassing former University of Michigan student body president Chris Armstrong.
A federal court jury earlier this year awarded Armstrong $4.5 million in his lawsuit against Shirvell, who was accused of harassing Armstrong and claiming he had a “radical homosexual agenda.”
Then-Attorney General Mike Cox fired Shirvell in 2010 after he criticized Armstrong.
Shirvell’s original request for unemployment benefits was denied because he was dismissed for misconduct.
But Ingham County Judge Paula Manderfield last month ordered Shirvell to get unemployment benefits, claiming he “was fired for constitutionally protected speech” rather than misconduct.
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Judge reprimanded for cellphone photo
DETROIT (AP) — A Detroit judge who sent a shirtless photo of himself to a female court employee and bragged about his buff image on television “brought shame” to the judiciary, according to the Michigan Supreme Court.
The court reprimanded Wayne County Circuit Judge Wade McCree, who accepted the public censure without a fight months after apologizing.
McCree sent a cellphone photo of himself to a female sheriff’s officer in 2011. It shows a very fit judge from the waist up and was taken a year earlier after he had finished a half marathon.
The Supreme Court voted 6-0 to accept the Tenure Commission’s recommendation to close the case with a censure.
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Man sentenced to jail in terror plot
BOSTON (AP) — A Massachusetts man has been sentenced to 17 years in prison in a plot to use remote-controlled model planes packed with explosives into the Pentagon and U.S. Capitol.
Rezwan Ferdaus of Ashland was sentenced in federal court after pleading guilty to attempting to provide material support to terrorists and attempting to damage and destroy federal buildings with an explosive.
Ferdaus was arrested after federal employees posing as members of al-Qaida delivered materials he requested, including machine guns and plastic explosives.
Authorities have said the public was never in danger because the explosives were always under the control of federal agents.
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