Blog Archives

The Club PUBlication 04/27/2026

4/27/2026

0 Comments

Rights org says it’s under DOJ fire
SPLC says probe centers on paid informants.
By COLLIN BINKLEY and ALANNA DURKIN RICHER The Associated Press

WASHINGTON – The Southern Poverty Law Center says it’s the subject of a criminal investigation by the Justice Department and faces possible charges over its past use of paid informants to infiltrate extremist groups.

The civil rights group made the announcement on Tuesday, saying President Donald Trump’s administration appears to be preparing legal action against it or some of its employees.

“Although we don’t know all the details, the focus appears to be on the SPLC’s prior use of paid confidential informants to gather credible intelligence on extremely violent groups,” CEO Bryan Fair said in a statement.

The Justice Department had no immediate comment.

The Southern Poverty Law Center previously paid informants to infiltrate extremist groups and gather information on their activities, often sharing it with local and federal law enforcement, Fair said. It was used to monitor threats of violence, he said, adding that the program was kept quiet to protect the safety of informants.

“When we began working with informants, we were living in the shadow of the height of the Civil Rights Movement, which had seen bombings at churches, state-sponsored violence against demonstrators, and the murders of activists that went unanswered by the justice system,” Fair said. “There is no question that what we learned from informants saved lives.”

He said the organization “will vigorously defend ourselves, our staff, and our work.”

The Southern Poverty Law Center, based in Montgomery, Ala., was founded in 1971 and used civil litigation to fight white supremacist groups. The nonprofit has become a popular target among Republicans who see it as overly leftist and partisan.

The probe could add to concerns that Trump’s Republican administration is using the Justice Department to go after conservative opponents and his critics. It follows a number of other investigations into Trump foes that have raised questions about whether the law enforcement agency has been turned into a political weapon.

The Southern Poverty Law Center has faced intense criticism from conservatives, who have accused it of unfairly maligning right-wing organizations as extremist groups because of their viewpoints.

The center regularly condemns Trump’s rhetoric and policies around voting rights, immigration and other issues.

The center came under fresh scrutiny after the assassination last year of conservative activist Charlie Kirk brought renewed attention to its characterization of the group that Kirk founded and led. The center included a section on that group, Turning Point USA, in a report titled “The Year in Hate and Extremism 2024” that described the group as “A Case Study of the Hard Right in 2024.”

FBI Director Kash Patel said last year that the agency was severing its relationship with the center, which had long provided law enforcement with research on hate crime and domestic extremism. Patel said the center had been turned into a “partisan smear machine,” and he accused it of defaming “mainstream Americans” with its “hate map” that documents alleged anti-government and hate groups in the United States.

House Republicans hosted a hearing centered on the Southern Poverty Law Center in December, saying it coordinated efforts with President Joe Biden’s Democratic administration “to target Christian and conservative Americans and deprive them of their constitutional rights to free speech and free association.”

0 Comments

The Club PUBlication 04/20/2026

4/20/2026

0 Comments

DOJ moves to erase Jan. 6 cases
Convictions of Proud Boys and Oath Keepers leaders could be tossed.
By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN and ALANNA DURKIN RICHER The Associated Press

WASHINGTON - The Justice Department is asking a federal appeals court to throw out the seditious conspiracy convictions of Proud Boys and Oath Keepers leaders who were sentenced to prison terms for leading members of the far-right extremist groups in attacking the U.S. Capitol to keep President Donald Trump in office over five years ago.

Trump commuted the prison sentences of several Proud Boys and Oath Keepers leaders last January in a sweeping act of clemency for all 1,500-plus defendants charged in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack.

Tuesday's request by the Justice Department would go a step further and erase all the convictions for extremist group leaders, including Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, who didn't receive pardons last January.

The move to abandon the convictions represented a stunning reversal from the Biden administration, which hailed the guilty verdicts as a crucial victory in its bid to hold accountable those responsible for what prosecutors described as an attack on the heart of American democracy. It's part of the Trump administration's continued efforts to rewrite the history of the Jan. 6 attack and downplay the violence carried out by the mob of Trump supporters that left more than 100 police officers injured.

In court filings, prosecutors asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to vacate the convictions so that the government can permanently dismiss the indictments.

Juries in Washington, D.C., convicted the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers leaders of orchestrating violent plots to stop the peaceful transfer of power after Trump's 2020 election loss to Democratic President Joe Biden.

The department's dismissal request also includes the convictions of Oath Keepers members Kelly Meggs, Kenneth Harrelson, and Jessica Watkins, and Proud Boys members Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl, and Dominic Pezzola.

Other extremist group members, including former Proud Boys national chairman Enrique Tarrio, received pardons from Trump on the first day of his second term in the White House.

Rhodes was sentenced to 18 years in prison after he and several lieutenants were convicted in one of the most consequential cases arising from the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol by a mob of Trump supporters.

Prosecutors said Rhodes and his followers stockpiled guns at a Virginia hotel, but they never deployed the weapons.

Nordean's attorney, Nicholas Smith, said they are grateful to the Justice Department for its "wise decision" in seeking dismissal of the convictions.

"We don't want a precedent that says that any physical confrontation between protesters and law enforcement means a crime akin to treason, such as seditious conspiracy," Smith said.

Former Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone, who was dragged into the mob and suffered a heart attack after a rioter shocked him with a stun gun, was disappointed but not surprised.

"I would remind Americans that these were traitors to this country," Fanone said. "They planned, incited, and carried out an insurrection."

0 Comments

The Club PUBlication 04/06/2026

4/6/2026

0 Comments

Blue Cross red ink a warning for seniors
Losses last year signal Medicare benefit cuts could lie ahead in 2027.
By CHRISTOPHER SNOWBECK The Minnesota Star Tribune

December 2025, Blue Cross announced limitations on its "Silver Sneakers" health club fitness center options.

Surging medical costs drove significant financial losses last year at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota and prompted the Eagan-based health insurer to set aside $150 million to address ongoing cost challenges, particularly in the Medicare program.

The results, which were released on Wednesday, April 1, suggest another turbulent open enrollment season could be coming this fall for seniors.

Health insurers across the country were already raising alarms over the prospect of diminished coverage next year, including benefit reductions and higher premiums. That's because federal officials in January proposed not raising 2027 payment rates to private Medicare Advantage health plans.

At Blue Cross, the red ink won't drive any midyear changes in rates or benefits. But the ongoing losses could foreshadow reductions in Medicare benefits for 2027, similar to when the insurer decided late last year to limit fitness center options in its popular SilverSneakers program.

That cost-cutting move, which angered seniors, came as Blue Cross braced to enroll many of the more than 150,000 seniors who were losing coverage due to the financial failure at Minneapolis-based health insurer UCare.

"This shows that the difficulties in the Medicare market were not unique to UCare," said Joshua Haberman, owner of the Alexander & Haberman insurance agency in Bloomington. "It's a sign of continued instability."

Medicare Advantage is the privatized version of the federal government's Medicare health insurance program for seniors and people with disabilities.

About half of all beneficiaries choose Advantage plans, which typically offer extra benefits at relatively low premiums. However, patients can face limits in hospital and clinic choices.

Medical costs up 21%
In 2025, UCare was the second-largest Medicare Advantage health insurer in Minnesota, reporting a staggering $504 million in operating losses the previous year.

The insurer, which is shutting down completely, announced last September that it would exit Medicare Advantage for 2026. Other carriers left certain counties in Minnesota, as the benefits with many health plans became less generous.

Amid the disruption, the parent company of Blue Cross of Minnesota picked up more than 75,000 enrollees from December to February, according to Medicare Market Insights, a data website run by Telos Actuarial in Omaha. The increase bolstered the insurer's position as the state's largest Advantage plan provider.

That enrollment win, however, might have a "winner's curse" in financial terms. Last week, Minnesota Blue Cross disclosed that in late 2025, it established a $150 million fund to cover expected losses, particularly on Medicare premiums for 2026.

"Based on anticipated enrollment shifts, expected medical costs and pricing for certain Medicare products, management determined that future premiums were insufficient to cover projected claims and related expenses," the insurer said in a regulatory filing on Wednesday.

Similarly, going into 2025, UCare saw significant membership increases, which one market watcher later described as "catastrophic growth."

Blue Cross, however, is a bigger and more diversified company. It sells employer-sponsored health plans in Minnesota, as well as Medicare coverage and Medicaid plans for lower-income residents.

UCare only sold health plans for people with government-funded benefits.

Last week, Blue Cross reported a $353 million operating loss on about $10.4 billion of revenue in 2025. The loss figure included the reserve fund for cost overruns.

Overall, the insurer paid $9.8 billion for members' medical and pharmacy services in 2025, an increase of $1.7 billion, or 21%, compared with claims spending in the prior year.

Blue Cross attributed the loss to "unfavorable performance" in federal and state government health programs.

Contributing factors included rising costs of hospital inpatient services and greater use of costly specialty medications, such as GLP-1s for diabetes and weight loss.

Strong investment earnings offset the operating loss, resulting in positive net income of $83 million.

"While financial resilience gives Blue Cross some flexibility to navigate volatility, long-term stability requires a path where payments coming in truly cover the actual cost of care," Blue Cross CEO Dana Erickson said in a statement.

Waste, abuse
In January, the federal government published preliminary information indicating that Medicare Advantage payment rates will be relatively flat in 2027 — an announcement that drove big stock price declines among the nation's large publicly traded insurers. Investors had hoped for something more like the government's 5% rate increase the previous year.

At Minnesota-based UnitedHealthcare, the nation's largest Medicare Advantage health insurer, executives warned of the potential for reduced choice, reduced access, and affordability challenges for seniors in 2027.

Final Medicare Advantage rates could be released as early as this week.

"If the 2027 payment rates fall short in addressing the harsh realities of skyrocketing medical prices in senior care, we will need to take a hard look at what changes to consider within our Medicare portfolio, "Blue Cross said in a statement to the Minnesota Star Tribune.

While tighter funding for Medicare Advantage insurers can reduce benefits for seniors, some have argued that the government has overpaid private Advantage plans for many years, particularly through "risk-adjustment" formulas that are meant to reward insurers for covering people with complex health care problems.

A series of Biden administration reforms, which were extended by the Trump administration, has begun to make a dent in the alleged overpayments, according to a March analysis by the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission.

The amount of money at stake is still large enough that Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, referenced the Medicare Advantage controversy in congressional testimony last month.

"Health care represents the single largest source of waste, fraud, and abuse among government programs, and the greatest opportunity for win-wins that can lower costs for households and taxpayers alike,"

MacGuineas said. Insurers deny that there are overpayments.
They stress that enrollment growth in Medicare Advantage plans over the years shows that seniors like the coverage, which often includes not only fitness center benefits but also vision and dental care.

The proposed payment rates for next year "could result in benefit cuts and higher costs for 35 million seniors and people with disabilities when they renew their Medicare Advantage coverage in October 2026," Chris Bond, a spokesman for AHIP, the trade group for health insurers, said in a statement.

[email protected]
$353 million Blue Cross' operating loss reported in 2025
$1.7 billion Increase in Blue Cross members’ medical and pharmacy services paid in 2025

0 Comments

The Club PUBlication 04/27/2026

Rights org says it’s under DOJ fireSPLC says probe centers on paid informants.By COLLIN BINKLEY and ALANNA DURKIN RICHER The Associated Press

The Club PUBlication 04/20/2026

​DOJ moves to erase Jan. 6 casesConvictions of Proud Boys and Oath Keepers leaders could be tossed.By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN and ALANNA DURKIN RICHER The Associated Press

The Club PUBlication 04/06/2026

​Blue Cross red ink a warning for seniorsLosses last year signal Medicare benefit cuts could lie ahead in 2027.By CHRISTOPHER SNOWBECK The Minnesota Star Tribune​

Archives

Rights org says it’s under DOJ fire
SPLC says probe centers on paid informants.
By COLLIN BINKLEY and ALANNA DURKIN RICHER The Associated Press

DOJ moves to erase Jan. 6 cases
Convictions of Proud Boys and Oath Keepers leaders could be tossed.
By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN and ALANNA DURKIN RICHER The Associated Press

Blue Cross red ink a warning for seniors
Losses last year signal Medicare benefit cuts could lie ahead in 2027.
By CHRISTOPHER SNOWBECK The Minnesota Star Tribune