Purdue Pharma, the embattled maker of the drug OxyContin, finds itself close to settling some of the thousands of lawsuits filed against it for the company's role in fueling the ongoing opioid epidemic.
The settlement forces the Sackler family to give up control of the Stamford, Connecticut-based business, according to the Associated Press, while the company will pay up to $12 billion over time.
Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovic stated that the deal was the fastest way to help communities hit hard by the crisis while also increasing the payout initially offered by the defendant.
The pharmaceutical giant had been facing lawsuits from thousands of state, local, and Native American tribal governments. About 2,000 governments have agreed to the tentative deal, but about half of the states have not signed on.
"The families who were hurt by Purdue and the Sacklers have spoken loud and clear that this case demands real accountability, and I will continue to fight for that," Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, who did not agree to the terms, wrote in a statement according to WBUR. “It’s critical that all the facts come out about what this company and its executives and directors did, that they apologize for the harm they caused, and that no one profits from breaking the law."
New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal also refrained from endorsing the settlement saying on Twitter, “New Jersey will continue to pursue all available legal options against those responsible. And if Purdue cannot pay for the harm it inflicted, the Sacklers will.”
The potential settlement comes two weeks after Johnson & Johnson was ordered to pay Oklahoma $572 million for its part in spreading addictive painkillers, a landmark first court decision during the opioid crisis that still fell short of the $17.2 billion the state was pursuing.
In March, Purdue and the Sacklers settled with the Sooner State for $272 million to pay for treatment, addiction research, and the state's legal fees.
Joe Cecela, Dream Exchange CEO, explains how they are aiming to form the first minority-controlled company to operate an exchange in U.S. history. Watch!
A Michigan judge is putting sponges in the hands of shoplifters and ordering them to wash cars in a Walmart parking lot when spring weather arrives. Genesee County Judge Jeffrey Clothier hopes the unusual form of community service discourages people from stealing from Walmart. The judge also wants to reward shoppers with free car washes. Clothier says he began ordering “Walmart wash” sentences this week for shoplifting at the store in Grand Blanc Township. He believes 75 to 100 people eventually will be ordered to wash cars this spring. Clothier says he will be washing cars alongside them when the time comes.
The State Department had been in talks with Elon Musk’s Tesla company to buy armored electric vehicles, but the plans have been put on hold by the Trump administration after reports emerged about a potential $400 million purchase. A State Department spokesperson said the electric car company owned by Musk was the only one that expressed interest back in May 2024. The deal with Tesla was only in its planning phases but it was forecast to be the largest contract of the year. It shows how some of his wealth has come and was still expected to come from taxpayers.
At 100 years old, the Goodyear Blimp is an ageless star in the sky. The 246-foot-long airship will be in the background of the Daytona 500 — flying roughly 1,500 feet above Daytona International Speedway, actually — to celebrate its greatest anniversary tour. Even though remote camera technologies are improving regularly and changing the landscape of aerial footage, the blimp continues to carve out a niche. At Daytona, with the usual 40-car field racing around a 2½-mile superspeedway, views from the blimp aptly provide the scope of the event.
