Three opioid distributors Tuesday announced a $518 million settlement with Washington state. AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson settled following a lawsuit regarding the companies’ alleged role in fueling Washington’s opioid epidemic. Washington agreed to dismiss the current lawsuit upon the settlement becoming effective. McKesson’s statement reads: While the companies strongly dispute the allegations made in [...]

District of Columbia Attorney General Karl Racine Tuesday announced that DC reached a $750,000 settlement with the Trump Organization to “recover misspent nonprofit funds and ill-gotten gains.” The settlement will “avoid the cost, burden, and risks of further litigation.” The District’s complaint alleged that Trump’s Presidential Inaugural Committee (PIC) overpaid for services at the Trump Hotel [...]

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Annual Statistical Transparency Report released Friday reported the FBI, the domestic intelligence and security service of the US, made nearly 3.4 million warrantless US data searches in 2021. This is the ninth FBI transparency report released pursuant to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) but “goes beyond” FISA requirements. [...]

The European Union (EU) Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager Monday accused Apple of restricting competition in the iOS mobile wallets market due to its exclusivity toward Apple Pay. Vestager announced: Mobile payments play a rapidly growing role in our digital economy. It is important for the integration of European Payments markets that consumers benefit from [...]

Derek Chauvin Monday filed in Minnesota state appeals court to overturn his third-degree murder conviction in the death of George Floyd in May 2020. Chauvin was sentenced in June 2021 to 22.5 years prison after a jury found him guilty of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in April 2021. Chauvin and his [...]

The Biden Administration Tuesday adopted two new rules that set stricter energy efficiency standards for light bulbs. The Department of Energy’s (DOE) rules will help conserve energy and also help consumers save money on their energy bills. The first rule “establishes a revised definition of general lamps” and the second rule “implements the minimum standard [...]

Seven residents of Llano County, Texas Monday filed a federal lawsuit against elected officials and library leaders regarding restricted access to and removal of library books. The plaintiffs alleged that defendants violated the First Amendment “by ordering the restriction and removal of library books that they subjectively disagreed with or disliked” and the Fourteenth Amendment [...]

A judge in the US District Court for the Middle District of Florida Monday ruled that the Biden Administration’s public transit mask mandate is “unlawful,” overturning the initiative to reduce the spread of COVID-19. Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle “declare unlawful and vacate the Mask Mandate.” Judge Mizelle further stated, “the Mandate exceeded the CDC’s statutory [...]

Paramount Global and former chairman-CEO Leslie Moonves Friday settled with CBS Corporation shareholders and agreed to pay $14.75 million in a class action case related to sexual misconduct claims against #MeToo movement comments by Moonves. CBS shareholders initiated the class action in 2018 regarding: aterially false and misleading statements and/or omissions regarding the Company’s policies [...]

Apple CEO Tim Cook Tuesday publically criticized pending antitrust regulation in the US and Europe while speaking at the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP) Global Privacy Summit 2022 General Session in Washington DC. Security is the foundation of privacy. Cook warned these pending regulations could put “privacy and security at risk.” Apple is in favor of privacy [...]