Voice mail system sends to sex line

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – The voice mail system on Ohio’s toll-free Medicaid line has been referring callers to a service not covered by Medicaid: a phone sex business.

The problem stemmed from a typo in the voice mail script and was corrected Tuesday, said Jon Allen, a spokesman for the state Department of Job and Family Services. The incorrect number had been in the system since Oct. 4.

The mistake went unnoticed until Dan Phibbs of Jamestown complained that he called the number provided by the voice mail system.

“I thought it’s pretty poor that you’re calling to find out something about your livelihood and you get that,” Phibbs said. His wife provides care for handicapped people and he was calling the information line for her.

Man, 91, earns law degree

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) -A 91-year-old man has earned a law degree from an Australian university, finishing the six-year course more than a year ahead of schedule because he said, “Time is of the essence.”

Allan Stewart was granted a Bachelor of Laws from the University of New England in eastern Australia on Saturday. Course study normally spans six years, but Stewart finished in just 4½ years.

“There is a saying in law that time is of the essence,” he said in a statement issued by the university. “I think if I had let it run too much longer I might not have finished it.”

Stewart said learning to use the Internet was the biggest challenge in completing the degree.

Spirit statue not so ‘spirited’

DETROIT (AP) ­- The 26-foot Spirit of Detroit statue outside city hall won’t wear a Detroit Tigers jersey unless the team makes it to the World Series, officials say.

The statue has worn Detroit Pistons and Red Wings jerseys when the basketball and hockey teams have made it to the playoffs, but Tigers and local government officials say they aren’t rushing to do the same for the baseball team.

The Tigers won Game 1 of the best-of-7 American League Championship Series on Tuesday night, beating the Oakland Athletics 5-1.

“Maybe it’s like changing your socks. You don’t do anything different until you win,” Gregg McDuffee, general manager of the Detroit-Wayne County Joint Building Authority, told The Detroit News. The authority oversees the statue outside the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center.

During the 2005 playoffs, the Pistons and Red Wings lost after their jerseys were put on the statue.

“I’m not doing that again,” McDuffee said.

“When we win the American League championship, we’ll be ready with our jersey,” said Tigers marketing director Ellen Hill Zeringue. “This is new for us. When we get farther along, we’ll talk to the powers that be and figure it out.”

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