Home News Wednesday Afternoon News, May 16th

Wednesday Afternoon News, May 16th

Iowa Attorney General Files Lawsuit Against Pharmaceutical Company

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Iowa is joining four other states in suing a drug company and its former president over actions related to the marketing of the drug OxyContin.
Attorney General Tom Miller announced Thursday that Iowa had filed a lawsuit in Polk County District Court against Purdue Pharma and Richard Sackler, the company’s former president and chairman.
The suit claims Purdue engaged in unfair, deceptive and unlawful
practices in how it marketed OxyContin and that those actions helped cause a national opioid crisis.
Miller accused Purdue executives of being “recklessly indifferent to the impact of their actions, despite ever-mounting evidence that their deceptions were resulting in an epidemic of addiction and death.”
Iowa joined Kansas, Maryland, West Virginia and Wisconsin in filing separate lawsuits Thursday . Another 39 states have already sued the company.
The suit seeks unspecified damages.
The company denied the allegations, saying in a statement it would defend itself against what it called “misleading attacks.

 

 

Other States Also Have Filed A Lawsuit Against Perdue

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) – The flurry of legal actions against the company that makes OxyContin is intensifying.
The Idaho Attorney General’s Office sent notices last week to Purdue Pharma and lawyers for the Sackler family, which owns the Connecticut-based drugmaker, that it intends to take legal action against them.
The letters were disclosed Thursday in response to a public records request made to the state by The Associated Press. They say Purdue had “ample opportunity” to reach a settlement.
The disclosure comes the same day that five other states announced lawsuits or administrative actions against the company, seeking to hold it accountable for an opioid crisis.
Now, all but three states have taken legal action against Purdue or indicated they plan to.
The company says states are using “stunningly overbroad legal theories” as they pursue the cases.

 

 

Tyson Sues USDA For False Meat Inspection

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) – Arkansas-based meat processor Tyson Foods is suing a federal agency for $2.4 million, saying it had to destroy 8,000 carcasses because a federal meat inspector lied about checking hogs at a plant in Iowa.
Tyson Foods says Yolanda Thompson, who works for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety Inspection Service, signed certificates suggesting she checked slaughtered hogs at the Storm Lake plant in March 2018. It says video footage indicates Thompson never entered the plant and actually
approved inspections while sitting in her automobile.
The Sioux City Journal reports that the meat processor filed suit
Tuesday in Sioux City’s U.S. District Court alleging the agencies knew of Thompson’s inadequate inspection practices and physical difficulties walking around the plant.
USDA and Tyson officials declined to comment.

 

 

Bankers Losing Confidence In Farm Economy

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – A monthly survey of rural bankers in parts of 10 Plains and Western states shows they’re rapidly losing confidence in the region’s farm economy.
The Rural Mainstreet survey for May, released Thursday, shows the survey’s overall index dropping from 50 in April to 48.5 this month. Any score above 50 suggests a growing economy, while a score below 50 indicates a shrinking economy.
Creighton University economist Ernie Goss, who oversees the survey, blames trade tensions and tariffs, saying they’re contributing to losses suffered by grain farmers – although livestock producers are faring better.
Still, Goss says, bankers believe “the negatives far outweighed the positives.”
The survey’s confidence index, which gauges bankers’ expectations for the economy six months out, plummeted from 50 to 38.2 – its lowest level in almost two years.
Bankers from Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming were surveyed.

 

 

Lottery Winner Sues Lottery Commission 

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – “Lucky Larry” may have a shot to win millions more – this time from a jury.
A judge has ordered a trial in a lawsuit filed by Iowa lottery winner Larry Dawson, who contends a $9 million jackpot that he won in 2011 should have been nearly three times as big.
Dawson filed his lawsuit in 2016 after an investigation revealed that lottery contractor Eddie Tipton rigged the previous $16.5 million jackpot, bought the winning ticket himself and unsuccessfully worked with associates to claim it.
Dawson’s lawsuit against the Multi-State Lottery Association and the Iowa Lottery contends the $16.5 million should have carried over to the jackpot that he won under Hot Lotto’s rules.
Judge Carla Schemmel ruled earlier this month that the association and the lottery are not immune from liability under state law. She says that a “full hearing of this matter” is required to sort out the complex case.
The case is set for trial Dec. 2.

 

 

$2 Million Dollar Powerball Ticket Sold At Urbandale Convenience Store

URBANDALE, Iowa (AP) – Officials say a Powerball ticket worth $2 million was bought at a convenience store in the Des Moines suburb of Urbandale.
The ticket bought at a Kum & Go on 156th Street matched the first five numbers drawn Wednesday night but missed the Powerball number and a chance of winning the $250.3 million jackpot. The ticket buyer has yet to step forward.
Iowa Lottery says the buyer also purchased the Power Play option, which multiplied the normal $1 million prize to $2 million.
No one won the jackpot, so it’s expected to climb to around $270 million for Saturday’s drawing. Wednesday’s winning numbers were 7, 17, 33, 61, 68 and Powerball 4.