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N.C. Insurance Department disagrees with trial lawyers on rates |
May 20, 2007 - The state Insurance Department said it won't further investigate the state's largest medical malpractice insurer, saying it disagrees with a trial lawyers' association report accusing the company of excessive physician rates.
The department reviewed data prepared for the N.C. Academy of Trial Lawyers, which last week argued Medical Mutual Insurance Co. of North Carolina was violating state law with high rates. After examining the report and performing its own analysis, the department found Medical Mutual's rate "well within the range of its peers" and there was no need for Insurance Commissioner Jim Long to hold a hearing on the matter, spokeswoman Chrissy Pearson said this week. The academy's report found that Medical Mutual's premium rates had gone way up in recent years while claims paid were stable. The surplus that the company set aside to pay future claims was higher than it needed to be, the report said. - AP |
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Judge tosses lawsuit challenging NC judicial race financing plan |
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March 30, 2007 - A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit challenging the state's public financing program for appellate court candidates Friday, putting an end to a former candidate's claims that the program rules limited free speech and put him at a disadvantage. Rusty Duke, who ran unsuccessfully last fall for chief justice of the state Supreme Court, and others sued in 2005. They said the voluntary program violates First Amendment rights and forces candidates who don't participate to file additional campaign finance paperwork. The lawsuit also said a $50 annual fee that all North Carolina lawyers must pay for the public financing is unlawful. In late October - less than two weeks before the general election - U.S. District Judge Earl Britt rejected the plaintiffs' request to stop the program while the lawsuit was heard. He also ruled that the fee dispute is a state matter, not a federal one, and dismissed one plaintiff, Court of Appeals Judge Barbara Jackson, saying she suffered no harm by not participating in the program in 2004. By Margaret Lillard, AP |
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Republican says Gonzales should be fired |
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March 15, 2007 - A Senate Republican is calling for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' dismissal as Democrats weigh subpoenaing President Bush's top aides in the escalating political furor over the firing of eight federal prosecutors. Sen. John Sununu of New Hampshire, a longtime Bush administration critic facing a tough re-election campaign, called for Gonzales' ouster Wednesday just hours after Bush expressed confidence in the attorney general, who is a longtime friend. "I think the president should replace him," Sununu said in an interview. "I think the attorney general should be fired." Although some Republicans have been tepid in their support for the attorney general, Sununu was the first to go so far in the wake of an uproar over the Justice Department's firing of the attorneys and its response to congressional questions, plus a separate report that the administration abused its power to secretly investigate suspected terrorists. The White House issued a curt response to Sununu's remarks. "We're disappointed, obviously," White House spokesman Tony Snow said. A Justice Department spokeswoman refused to comment. By Laurie Kellman, AP |
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CIA officials shared Plame's identity |
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Jan 29, 2007 - From their earliest days, U.S. intelligence agencies have made it an article of faith to protect the identity of their secret agents. As early as 1982, after a rash of malicious exposures, the CIA prevailed on Congress to make it a crime to knowingly disclose the identity of such operatives. So in 2003, when the name of Valerie Plame, a CIA arms proliferation specialist, surfaced in a newspaper column, the agency immediately demanded a Justice Department investigation. But last week, as former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby went on trial in connection with the leak, it appeared that neither the CIA nor some other intelligence community insiders were all that tight-lipped about such supposedly sensitive matters. When it came to talking to outsiders, the agent's identity was often treated as not much more than water cooler dishing or cocktail party chatter. By Richard B Schmidtt |
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