Rick Pluta

Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush says Michigan should pursue more charter schools and online learning as part of the state’s efforts to improve education.

He also asked state lawmakers to stick with common national standards to measure student performance.

The Michigan Legislature’s Republican majorities just approved a school aid budget that forbid spending to enact the Common Core standards developed by the nation’s governors. Some conservatives say the standards hand over Michigan’s education policy to a national consortium.

The field seems cleared for two sons of Battle Creek to face each other in the 2014 race for Michigan governor.

Former Congressman Mark Schauer filed papers today to run as a Democrat.

Other Democrats explored the possibility and dropped back in favor of Schauer, whose political career spans from the Battle Creek City Commission, to the state Legislature and Congress.

Michigan Democratic Party Chair Lon Johnson says the early start – the 2014 elections are 17 months away – will help Schauer challenge Republican Governor Rick Snyder.

Former Michigan Supreme Court Justice Diane Hathaway finds out tomorrow whether she’s headed to prison for bank fraud.

Hathaway pleaded guilty in federal court to concealing a vacation home in Florida, and other assets, to engineer the short sale of a lakefront property in Grosse Pointe Park.

She also resigned the state Supreme Court seat she won in the 2008 election. 

This week on "It’s Just Politics," we’re talking scandals, or at least, perceived scandals. In D.C., at the White House, the Obama administration is dealing with the Benghazi emails, the IRS alleged targeting of certain Tea Party groups and the Department of Justice investigating the phone records of journalists.

Scandals: They have the ability to alter the political landscape. Watergate, a national scandal so profound that all subsequent national scandals of any note get “-gate” attached to them.

Back in 1993, here in Michigan, there was the House Fiscal Agency scandal. Some agency employees were caught using what was kind of a petty cash account for all kinds of things that had nothing to do with their jobs. The long-time chairman of the House Appropriations Committee lost his job and people went to prison. It gave Republicans a bump in the next election; winning control of the state House after two years of evenly shared power with the Democrats.

Sufficient to say, scandals can change elections. We are in an era where elections are nationalized. So here we are, going into a presidential mid-term race in 2014 and, as we've talked about before on "It’s Just Politics," mid-term elections are seldom kind to the party in the White House. Here in Michigan, that puts Democrats on defense as they’re hoping to notch some major victories come November 2014.

Democrats are being given the edge in keeping the U.S. Senate seat that Carl Levin is vacating. And in the gubernatorial race, former Democratic Congressmen Mark Schauer, who's hasn't officially announced he’s in the race yet, is running even with Governor Snyder, according to some very early polling from EPIC MRA.

The Michigan Supreme Court has set some new limits on expenses that can be claimed under auto no-fault insurance coverage by people injured in car crashes. 

Kenneth Admire used handicapped-accessible vans since a 1987 auto accident. Three times before, his insurance company paid the entire cost of the modified vehicles.

This last time, though, the company said it would pay for the modifications, but Admire has to buy the van.