Counties sue drug manufacturers over opioid marketing
DETROIT (AP) — Two counties say they are suing about a dozen drug manufacturers and distributors for deceptive marketing and sale of opioids.
The joint lawsuit was announced Thursday by Wayne County Executive Warren Evans and Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson.
It alleges that drug manufacturers are using a "concerted, coordinated strategy to shift the way in which doctors and patients think about pain and to encourage the widespread prescribing and use of opioids."
Officials say there were 817 opioid-related deaths in Wayne County last year, up from 506 the year before. Oakland County opioid-related deaths rose from nine in 2009 to 33 in 2015.
Last week, Newark, New Jersey, announced it was suing several opioid manufacturers.
Snyder asked about testimony regarding Legionnaires’ outbreak
LANSING (AP) — A congressional committee is asking Gov. Rick Snyder to address when he learned about a fatal outbreak of Legionnaires' disease during the Flint water crisis after an aide contradicted the governor's timeline.
Reps. Trey Gowdy of South Carolina and Elijah Cummings of Maryland — the leaders of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee — sent Snyder a letter Thursday. They asked him to provide by Oct. 25 "any additional relevant information" about the date when he learned of Legionnaires'.
Snyder previously told the committee he didn't learn of Legionnaires' until January 2016. But Harvey Hollins, his director of urban initiatives, told a judge last week he told the governor about it during a phone call before Christmas 2015.
It's a crime to "knowingly and willfully" lie to Congress.
ACLU?sues over lack of defenders in South Carolina city courts
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A civil rights group is suing two South Carolina towns hoping to require that lawyers be provided to anyone facing charges in municipal courts that could send them to jail.
The American Civil Liberties Union says most of South Carolina's 212 municipal courts don't give defendants lawyers if they ask for one.
The courts handle misdemeanor matters, but often the punishment is a fine or jail time if the fine can't be paid.
Thursday's lawsuit was filed against Bluffton and Beaufort with the lawyers asking for class action status.
Lawyer Stuart Andrews said if a city chooses to have a court system, it has to provide public defenders.
Pumpkin sets record at California contest
HALF MOON BAY, Calif. (AP) — The winner of the 44th World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off had the heaviest pumpkin recorded in the history of the San Francisco Bay Area competition.
The Orange County Register reports that a forklift hoisted the giant pumpkin onto a scale and a crowd watched as it was weighed Monday in downtown Half Moon Bay, south of San Francisco. It registered 2,363 pounds to make it the seventh win for grower Joel Holland.
The giant pumpkin earned the Sumner, Washington, man prize money of $7 per pound.
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