“A federal judge has upended the bankruptcy plan of OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma, saying the members of the Sackler family who own the company could not be released from legal claims over the opioid epidemic.
In a 142-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon in New York said that the controversial provision to grant the Sackler family members immunity from thousands of lawsuits over the public health crisis is ‘inconsistent’ with the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, disagreeing with the court that had approved the approximately $4.5 billion agreement in the fall.
After the decision, the company announced it would appeal. The chairman of the company’s board, Steve Miller, said in a statement that the ruling would ‘delay and perhaps end the ability of creditors, communities, and individuals to receive billions in value to abate the opioid crisis.’
Attorney General Merrick Garland said the Justice Department was pleased with Thursday’s ruling, saying in a statement that “the bankruptcy court did not have the authority to deprive victims of the opioid crisis of their right to sue the Sackler family.”
Representatives of the two branches of the family who own the company did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The third branch, descendants of Arthur Sackler, was not involved in the litigation — he sold his shares of the company before OxyContin’s introduction.
The plan, negotiated over several months by the company and the thousands of cities, counties, states and individuals suing the drugmaker, had received overwhelming support during the creditors’ vote. U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Robert D. Drain approved the plan, saying the settlement would resolve complex and protracted litigation, granting immediate monetary relief to the creditors. But nine states and a branch of the Justice Department contested it. Critics of the settlement terms argued that it offered the Sackler family members, who took billions from the company, protection without them declaring bankruptcy.” Read more at Washington Post
“Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch has sent the controversial Texas abortion law to a conservative federal appeals court to determine next steps, a move that all but suspends abortion rights in the state and perpetuates concerns that the high court could gut the tenets of Roe v. Wade. The Supreme Court allowed the law to stay on the books last week, and with a similar law in Mississippi on the court’s docket, abortion rights activists are preparing for the worst. As the battle heats up, access to medical abortion, administered via pills, could become a critical conversation. Yesterday, the FDA said it's lifting a requirement that patients seeking medication abortion had to pick up the medication in-person, instead allowing the pills to be sent by mail.” Read more at CNN
“The CDC has changed its recommendations for Covid-19 vaccines to clarify that shots made by Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech are preferred over Johnson & Johnson's vaccine. A CDC advisory committee endorsed the recommendation after hearing new data indicating that a rare blood clotting syndrome is more common among people who recently received the J&J vaccine than previously thought. However, the severe side effect is still very rare. Both the UK and South Africa have broken single-day Covid-19 case records recently due to the rapidly-spreading Omicron variant. Now, health experts and President Biden are warning unvaccinated Americans that Omicron will make the next few months very difficult, not just on their health, but on a health care system struggling to handle the new surges.” Read more at CNN
“WASHINGTON — The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack at the Capitol issued a subpoena on Thursday for Phil Waldron, a retired Army colonel with a background in information warfare who had circulated a detailed and extreme plan to overturn the 2020 election.
The committee has been scrutinizing Mr. Waldron’s role in spreading false information about the election since a 38-page PowerPoint presentation he circulated on Capitol Hill was turned over to the panel by Mark Meadows, President Donald J. Trump’s last chief of staff, who denied having anything to do with it.
‘The document he reportedly provided to administration officials and members of Congress is an alarming blueprint for overturning a nationwide election,’ Representative Bennie Thompson, Democrat of Mississippi and chairman of the committee, said.
Waldron said he had not yet seen the subpoena and declined to comment.
The PowerPoint — titled ‘Election Fraud, Foreign Interference & Options for 6 JAN’ — recommended that Mr. Trump declare a national emergency to cling to power and included the false claim that China and Venezuela had obtained control over the voting infrastructure in a majority of states.” Read more at New York Times“WASHINGTON — On Tuesday night, as the House prepared to hold Donald J. Trump’s former chief of staff Mark Meadows in criminal contempt of Congress, a federal judge ruled that the Treasury Department could provide the former president’s tax returns to the House Ways and Means Committee.
It was a sign of progress for Democrats, for sure, but Mr. Meadows could find comfort in the fact that the ruling took nearly two and a half years. And even then, Judge Trevor McFadden of the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia stayed his own judgment for 10 days to give the Trump camp time to file yet another appeal.
The twisting saga of that case — with dozens of motions, hearings, lawyer changes and rulings — gives an indication of how House subpoenas of Mr. Trump’s aides and allies might go as they try to run out the clock on the current Congress and hope for Republican control in 2023, when new House leaders would simply drop the inquiries. The House’s inquiry into the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, a select subcommittee on the coronavirus pandemic and the Ways and Means Committee are all counting on the courts to deliver accountability.
Mr. Trump’s allies — Mr. Meadows, Stephen K. Bannon, Peter Navarro and others — and Mr. Trump himself have perhaps a more realistic expectation: that the slowly turning wheels of justice will deliver nothing of the sort.” Read more at New York Times
“Harvard University will extend for four years a policy begun soon after the coronavirus pandemic emerged that allows aspiring students to apply without SAT or ACT scores — a landmark development for a fast-spreading movement that aims to limit the role of the standardized exams in college admissions.
Coming from one of the biggest names in higher education, the extension announced Thursday evening likely presages similar actions elsewhere to lengthen or solidify test-optional admission policies that arose amid the public health crisis. The movement nationally, with most highly ranked schools on board at least temporarily since spring and summer of 2020, appears to be at a tipping point even as debate rages about the value of the tests.
There is a profound shift underway in how competitive colleges and universities from coast to coast sort through applications and choose an incoming class. The admission tests have not vanished, and perfect scores of 36 on the ACT and 1600 on the SAT retain their power and allure. But test scores are no longer an automatic data point in application files at most prominent schools, a major departure from the situation less than two years ago.” Read more at Washington Post
“Workers at a candle factory in Kentucky that was struck by last week’s deadly tornadoes have filed a class-action lawsuit alleging they were told they would be fired if they left work ahead of the storms. More than 100 people were working at the Mayfield factory when a tornado swept through, killing eight. US Rep. James Comer, who represents the area, said workers had been going ‘24/7’ to meet Christmastime candle demand. A spokesperson for the company denied that workers were threatened with termination. Yesterday, Comer joined President Biden on a tour of devastated areas in Kentucky. Biden pledged the federal government would cover 100% of the costs of emergency work for the first 30 days of recovery. At least 71 people died in the state as a result of the storms.” Read more at CNN
“Haitian kidnappers released the remaining 12 missionary hostages. The release came after five members of the American and Canadian group, who were abducted in October by a gang, were let go in recent weeks. The U.S. missionary group and Haitian police say the people are safe. It couldn’t be learned whether a ransom was paid.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
President Biden awards the Medal of Honor to Army Master Sgt. Earl Plumlee in the East Room today. Photo: Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images
“President Biden awarded the Medal of Honor today to Army Master Sgt. Earl D. Plumlee for his service as part of the 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne) in Afghanistan. From the citation:
‘While deployed to Afghanistan, then-Staff Sergeant Plumlee instantly responded to a complex enemy attack that began with a massive explosion that tore a sixty-foot breach in the base’s perimeter wall. Ten insurgents wearing Afghan National Army uniforms and suicide vests poured through the breach.’
Defending the base, Plumlee — now serving at Fort Lewis, Washington — jumped in a vehicle and raced toward the detonation.
The vehicles came under enemy fire from the front and right. Using his body to shield the driver, Plumlee left the vehicle ‘while simultaneously drawing his pistol.’
Plumlee ‘killed two insurgents, one with a well-placed grenade and the other by detonating the insurgent’s suicide vest using precision sniper fire.’
An insurgent ‘detonated his suicide vest, mortally wounding a U.S. Soldier. Staff Sergeant Plumlee, with complete disregard for his own safety, ran to the wounded Soldier, carried him to safety, and rendered first aid.’
At the same ceremony, the commander-in-chief awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously to:
Army Sgt. First Class Alwyn Cashe for service in Iraq in 2005. Cashe is the first Black recipient of the Medal of Honor for military actions since Vietnam, the White House said.
Army Sgt. First Class Christopher Celiz for service in Afghanistan in 2018.” Read more at Axios
“President Biden acknowledged yesterday what Axios has been telling you for weeks: It looks like his (<) $2 trillion Build Back Better package, expanding America's safety net, will be punted into next year.
"We will advance this work together over the days and weeks ahead," Biden said in a written statement. ‘Leader Schumer and I are determined to see the bill successfully on the floor as early as possible.’
Why it matters: The White House badly wants this as a Year 1 accomplishment — it's easier to pass something big in odd-numbered years: Election years are always more complicated.
What's happening: Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), the singular roadblock, has said since September he might prefer the bill in '22. Now he's deadlocked in talks with Biden. Rising inflation bolstered his resistance.
State of play: Asked Wednesday whether Dems should move on to voting-rights legislation and put off BBB to next year, Biden replied:
‘There's nothing domestically more important than voting rights. It's the single biggest issue.’” Read more at Axios
“The Biden administration on Thursday announced an effort to jump-start the removal of every underground lead water service line in the country, a move meant to stop once and for all the poisonous metal from flowing through the taps of millions of Americans.
Half a dozen years after the water-contamination fiasco in Flint, Mich., shined a national spotlight on the persistent problem, the Environmental Protection Agency is set to write stricter standards for drinking water that would compel water utilities to dig up and replace lead lines from coast to coast.
Up to 10 million lead pipes still carry water to homes and businesses around the nation, the EPA estimates, carrying with them the risk of leaching the dangerous neurotoxin into drinking water. President Biden campaigned on removing all of the nation’s lead service lines as part of his plan to upgrade the nation’s aging infrastructure and alleviate the burden of pollution borne most heavily by poor and minority communities.” Read more at Boston Globe
“The Biden administration on Thursday pulled out of negotiations to offer financial compensation to thousands of migrant families for the harm inflicted on them by a Trump-era policy that separated parents and children at the border.
Lawyers representing the families said that Justice Department lawyers had advised them that they were terminating negotiations to settle claims for damages and would instead go to court to determine any compensation due to individual families.
Talks had stalled, they said, after a leak in late October suggested that up to $450,000 could be paid to each of the families affected by the policy. The premature news, which was seized on by conservatives, complicated a nearly yearlong effort to compensate migrant families.
However, the lawyers said that they had not expected the administration to walk out of the discussions entirely. The policy, they have argued, was developed at the highest levels of government with the goal of deterring migrants who were seeking entry into the United States, often to claim protection from gang violence in their home countries.” Read more at New York Times
“Visa applications show 62,000 Afghan interpreters and others who worked alongside American forces still remain in Afghanistan, a State Department official told The Wall Street Journal.
Why it matters: ‘This is the first time that the State Department has provided a number on those left behind since the Afghanistan government collapsed this summer,’ The Journal reports.
About 33,000 Afghans have cleared vetting requirements and are eligible for evacuation. The 29,000 other visa applicants are in earlier stages.
U.S. evacuation flights have increased recently.” Read more at Axios
“House lawmakers are calling on the Biden administration to help avert a looming economic collapse in Afghanistan. Humanitarian organizations have warned that Afghanistan is on the brink of disaster as its economic and medical systems collapse and millions face starvation in the months since the Taliban takeover and US withdrawal. Billions of dollars in the country’s central bank reserves, much of which is held in the US, have been frozen since August. The group of mostly Democratic House members wants the administration to release funds to an appropriate UN agency to help pay for things like teachers' salaries and meals for schoolchildren. They also recommend clarifying sanctions exemptions for humanitarian aid so more capital can be injected into the economy by international donors.” Read more at CNN
“Congress sent President Biden a bill banning U.S. imports from the Chinese region of Xinjiang unless companies can prove the products weren't made with forced labor.
Also today, notes Axios' Zachary Basu:
The Senate agreed to hold a vote to confirm Nick Burns, a widely respected former diplomat, as U.S. ambassador to China.
The Commerce Department blacklisted China's top military medical research institute and 11 affiliates over concerns about Beijing's development of biometrics and ‘brain-control’ weapons.
The Treasury Department added eight Chinese companies to an investment blacklist for facilitating the surveillance of Uyghurs.” Read more at Axios
“Cybersecurity researchers have uncovered a vast international network of surveillance-for-hire firms that they claim has used hacking tools and hundreds of fake personas on Meta platforms to monitor journalists, dissidents and politicians around the world. The investigations from Meta, the parent company of Facebook, and the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab reveal more about the booming private spy business that the Biden administration has tried to crack down on out of concern for human rights. As a result of the investigation, Meta took down hundreds of Facebook and Instagram accounts tied to different identified spy organizations. Meta researchers said that while these organizations claim to only target criminals or terrorists, their research shows otherwise.” Read more at CNN
“Educators across the U.S. announced plans to increase security in response to TikTok posts warning of shooting and bomb threats at schools around the country Friday. Officials assured parents the viral posts were not considered credible. The vague, anonymous posts had many educators on edge as they circulated in the aftermath of a shooting at Oxford High School in Michigan on Nov. 30 that left four students dead. More than a week after the Oxford shooting, Wayne County, Michigan, Prosecutor Kym Worthy issued charges against dozens of youths for making threats of violence, with others under investigation.” Read more at USA Today
“The 10 people killed at the Astroworld music festival in Houston all died from compression asphyxia during a massive crowd surge in which attendees were packed so tightly that many could not breathe or move their arms, officials announced Thursday.
According to a medical expert, what likely happened was the pressure from the large crowd at the event was so great that it quickly squeezed all the air from the lungs of the 10 victims, causing them to pass out within a minute or so and die because critical organs, such as the heart and brain, were depleted of oxygen.” Read more at AP News
“Former McDonald’s Corp. Chief Executive Steve Easterbrook agreed to return compensation now valued at more than $105 million to resolve a legal dispute related to his dismissal as head of the burger chain, the company said Thursday.
The settlement, which allows McDonald’s to move past a scandal that has weighed on it for more than two years, also includes an apology from Mr. Easterbrook.
The former CEO has returned company stock and cash currently valued at more than $105 million that was allotted to him after he was dismissed in November 2019 when he acknowledged having a consensual relationship with an unnamed employee, McDonald’s said. Less than a year later, the company sought to recoup the severance through legal action. The settlement avoids a trial against the former top executive that was slated to begin in Delaware Court of Chancery in May.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Kim Potter, the former Minnesota police officer on trial in the shooting death of 20-year-old Black man Daunte Wright earlier this year, was expected to take the stand Friday, hoping to persuade jurors to acquit her of manslaughter charges in what she has said was a gun-Taser mixup . The defense case for Potter, 49, appeared likely to wrap up after just two days, with jurors also expected to hear from an expert on how such errors can occur. Potter's chief at the time, Tim Gannon, testified on her behalf Thursday, calling her "a fine officer" and said he ‘saw no violation’ of policy in the traffic stop. On Wednesday, Wright's father Arbuey Wright testified, describing his son as a jokester and loving father who enjoyed playing basketball and watching over his two younger sisters.” Read more at USA Today
“Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards and the National Bar Association joined calls for Lafayette City Court Judge Michelle Odinet to resign over a racist video filmed at her home over the weekend.
Odinet's attorney Dane Ciolino confirmed Thursday the judge is taking an unpaid leave from the court to consider her path forward. Edwards' position is that Odinet should take her leave and, subsequently, decide to leave the bench.
Odinet's absence follows widespread calls for her to resign this week after multiple people were recorded using a racist slur in a video, which the judge confirmed was taken at her home following a failed burglary attempt early Saturday.” Read more at USA Today
“Kansas remains under a state of emergency Friday because of elevated danger of wildfires. A storm system earlier in the week carried winds that reached up to 90 mph in some areas. The winds combined with low humidity and dry vegetation to fuel fires in parts of western and central Kansas. The dust reduced visibility on roads across the state, causing at least three fatalities and dozens of accidents, the Kansas Highway Patrol said. Numerous homes, outbuildings and other structures were destroyed. The fires also killed an unknown number of cattle and horses, officials said. Most of the state was under an enhanced, significant or critical fire outlook.” Read more at USA Today
Debris from nearby farm fields swirls around on Highway 400 between Mullinville, Kan., and Dodge City on Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2021.Travis Heying, The Wichita Eagle via AP
“A former defense contractor is expected to make his first court appearance Friday after being charged with attempted espionage . John Murray Rowe Jr., 63, allegedly sought to provide secret fighter jet technology to the Russian government. The South Dakota man’s court appearance follows an eight-month investigation in which Rowe repeatedly expressed interest in sharing classified information before disclosing defense systems used by U.S. fighter jets to an FBI undercover agent posing as a Russian government operative, federal prosecutors said. Rowe is formally charged with attempting to communicate national defense information to aid a foreign government. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of life in prison.” Read more at USA Today
“Broadway is canceling some shows as New York City’s Covid-19 cases rise. Performances of ‘Tina—The Tina Turner Musical,’ ‘Hamilton’ and ‘Mrs. Doubtfire’ were canceled in recent days as new infections increase, with the fast-moving Omicron variant continuing to spread through the U.S.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Closing arguments began in Elizabeth Holmes’s criminal-fraud trial. It is the final opportunity for prosecutors and defense lawyers to sway jurors to their side of the case as the Theranos founder fights 11 charges of conspiracy and fraud.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Boris Johnson on the ropes. Britain’s Conservative Party lost a closely watched by-election on Thursday in what was once seen as one of its safest seats. The Liberal Democrats’ candidate, Helen Morgan, won the race in North Shropshire taking 47 percent of the vote while the Conservatives won just 31.5 percent. Morgan’s victory was all the more remarkable because it came in a largely rural, pro-Brexit constituency where the Conservatives had won with 62.7 percent of the vote in 2019; Morgan came third with just 10 percent in that race.
The turnaround, which saw the Conservative vote share cut in half, comes after the former local member of Parliament, Owen Paterson, became mired in a corruption scandal. Paterson was investigated for breaching lobbying rules while in office and Boris Johnson then sought to protect him from punishment by overhauling the disciplinary system for members of Parliament. The subsequent outcry led Paterson to resign.
Analysts have warned that the loss could be the last straw for Johnson after several disastrous revelations about Johnson and his staff breaching COVID-19 lockdown rules last year have dented his approval ratings, allowing Labour to take the lead in national polls. Morgan, for her part, wasted no time in taking a shot at the prime minister. It is ‘all about you and never about us,’ she said after the votes were counted. ‘Our country is crying out for leadership. Mr Johnson, you are no leader.’” Read more at Foreign Policy
“IAEA updates on Iran. Rafael Grossi, the director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, will brief reporters on developments related to the IAEA’s monitoring and verification work in Iran. His remarks come as the IAEA reached an agreement to replace damaged monitoring cameras at a key Iranian nuclear site, a move that likely keeps Iran from being censured by the IAEA Board of Governors.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“Hong Kong elections. Hong Kong’s first legislative elections since a Beijing-imposed crackdown on civil liberties take place this Sunday, with low turnout expected. Just three of the 153 candidates standing in the Legislative Council elections are considered pro-democracy, according to a count from the South China Morning Post. Turnout is expected to fall to a record low, with one poll predicting 51 percent participation, far below the more than 80 percent turnout logged in the previous two votes.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“Journalism under threat. A record 488 members of the media were imprisoned in 2021, Reporters Without Borders announced on Thursday, a 20 percent rise on the previous year. China detained the most journalists this year, with Myanmar, Vietnam, Belarus and Saudi Arabia rounding out the top five. The report found that 46 journalists were killed in 2021, the lowest number reported since the group began keeping annual records in 1995.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“$105 million — The approximate value of compensation former McDonald’s CEO Steve Easterbrook agreed to return to resolve a legal dispute over his dismissal, the company said Thursday. The settlement, which lets the fast-food giant move past a battle lasting more than two years, also includes an apology from Easterbrook over an alleged sexual relationship with an employee.
5 — The age at which proof of vaccination will start to be required from Disney Cruise passengers after Jan. 13. Cruise lines are taking a range of approaches to requiring vaccines for children. Royal Caribbean requires passengers 12 and older to show proof of vaccination, and says vaccination is recommended, but not required, for children 11 and under. For those traveling, the requirements on each trip will change.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Fentanyl is being identified in more illicit pills, with deadly consequences.
A bootleg version of the potent opioid, largely produced by Mexican drug cartels, is spreading to more corners of the U.S. Authorities are increasingly identifying quantities of fentanyl inside fake pills taken by people who in some cases believe they are consuming less potent drugs. Other dangerous opioids are also surfacing in the U.S. drug supply, researchers say, as suppliers and users try to stay ahead of law enforcement. Fatal overdoses involving the combination of fentanyl with stimulants like cocaine and methamphetamines are also rising, research shows. Federal authorities say they are encountering more pills passing for medications such as oxycodone that contain fentanyl. By late September, they had seized more than 9.5 million fake pills, many containing fentanyl, a haul higher than in the two prior years combined, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Lives Lived: Ken Kragen latched onto the idea to organize a recording session to raise money for famine relief in Africa, making ‘We Are the World’ a reality. He died at 85.” Read more at New York Times
“Two women accused Chris Noth of sexual assault, Kim Masters writes for The Hollywood Reporter. Noth, who played Mr. Big in ‘Sex and the City,’ called the accusations ‘categorically false.’” Read more at Axios
“If you love college football, then this is your favorite time of year. Forty-three bowl games are on tap for the next three-plus weeks, culminating with the College Football Playoff championship game on Jan. 10. The action kicks off Friday with a pair of games: Middle Tennessee vs. Toledo in the Bahamas Bowl (noon ET, ESPN), followed by Coastal Carolina vs. Northern Illinois in the Cure Bowl (6 p.m. ET, ESPN2). One day later, six games are scheduled, beginning at 11 a.m. ET. The College Football Playoff semifinals will be held on Dec. 31, when No. 1 Alabama faces off against No. 4 Cincinnati in the Cotton Bowl in Arlington, Texas (3:30 p.m. ET, ESPN) and No. 2 Michigan takes on No. 3 Georgia in the Orange Bowl in Miami Gardens, Florida (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN).” Read more at USA Today
Photo: Sean Gallup/Getty Images
“This Berlin public transport ‘hemp ticket,’ being sold only this week, is edible and infused with hemp oil.
The city's transport authority is marketing the ticket to bring patrons down from holiday-shopping-induced stress once they eat it.” Read more at Axios
