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Walgreens will pay the city of San Francisco nearly $230 million, after a federal judge found the company liable for contributing to the city’s opioid epidemic. The settlement, which will be paid out over 14 years, will go towards addressing the city’s opioid crisis, San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu announced on Wednesday. “Opioids have wreaked havoc across our nation leading to immense suffering and untold damage,” he said in a statement. “Cities like San Francisco have shouldered much of the burden of the opioid epidemic. “ “Following our win against Walgreens during the liability phase, this historic agreement ensures...

U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer said Walgreens “substantially contributed” to one of the nation’s deadliest public health crises by not stopping suspicious orders and dispensing drugs that were diverted for illicit use, causing a public nuisance in a major city that is among the hardest hit by addiction and overdoses. Walgreens, responsible for shipping nearly 1 out of every 5 oxycodone and hydrocodone pills distributed nationwide during the height of the opioid crisis, was the only drug company sued by San Francisco that did not settle, going to trial in April. “Walgreens has regulatory obligations to take reasonable steps to...

Bay area ISIS collaborator sought to kill 10,000 with bombs, fire and poison. Amer Sinan Alhaggagi plotted with ISIS to kill 10,000 people in the San Francisco Bay Area, targeting cities with bombs and fire and gay nightclubs with rat-poisoned cocaine. Last week, as Courthouse News reports, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer sentenced Alhaggagi to 15 years in prison. Alhaggagi’s attorney and family argued that he was just an online blowhard but Judge Breyer wasn’t going for it. “His words were very dangerous,” Breyer said. “Words matter.” According to ABC News, Alhaggagi told a confidential source “I live close to...

San Francisco - In defending 23-year-old Amer Alhaggagi, his lawyer called him "a class clown" - "a prankster who did not know when he was crossing the line." But federal prosecutors consider him an ISIS supporter, caught before he could activate his plot to kill 10,000 San Francisco-area residents by planting bombs, blowing up a gay bar, setting fires and distributing poisoned cocaine in night clubs. Defense attorney Mary McNamera's argued in federal court Tuesday that Alhaggagi is an "all-American boy" who was "playing a game." His argument did not prevail. Judge Charles Breyer sentenced Alhaggagi to more than 15...

Full title: Disgraced ex-politician John Edwards back practicing law and now vying to lead 'goldmine' case against Volkswagen over emissions cheatingFormer vice presidential candidate John Edwards is competing to lead private litigation against Volkswagen over its emissions cheating scandal. The former U.S. Senator, a Democrat, was a trial lawyer in North Carolina before his political career was felled by a sex scandal after it emerged he had an affair with actress Rielle Hunter - who then gave birth to their daughter. Last Friday, he sent a letter to U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer of San Francisco asking to be...

Six defendants in the sweeping criminal prosecution of Raymond “Shrimp Boy” Chow, part of a public corruption and organized crime investigation that ensnared a once-prominent Democratic politician, pleaded guilty on Wednesday, prosecutors said.. In a San Francisco courtroom before U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer, the defendants entered their pleas to some of the charges filed against them in an indictment that alleged gun-running, a rampant pay-for-play political culture, money laundering, drug trafficking and more. None of the six admitted to racketeering, a count for which former state Sen. Leland Yee, one of the many caught in the wide-ranging federal inquiry,...

SAN FRANCISCO - The Homeland Security Department is appealing a judge's ruling against its proposal to force employers to fire workers whose names don't match their Social Security numbers, and promises to try to make the policy a law. A federal judge in San Francisco blocked the "no-match rule" in October, saying it would likely impose hardships on businesses and their workers. Employers would incur new costs to comply with the regulation that the government hasn't evaluated, and innocent workers unable to correct mistakes in their records in time would lose their jobs, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer wrote. In...

San Francisco (AP) -- A federal judge on Wednesday granted a request by labor and civil liberties organizations to temporarily block the U.S. government from proceeding with a plan to crack down on businesses who may be employing illegal immigrants. U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer said the Social Security Administration and the Department of Homeland Security could not go ahead with a plan to send joint letters warning businesses they'll face penalties if they keep workers whose Social Security numbers don't match their names. Breyer said the new work-site rule would likely impose hardships on businesses and their workers. "The...

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge in San Francisco has delayed by 10 days a decision as to whether the federal government has the right to target employers of illegal immigrants. After hearing arguments in the case Monday, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer said he needed more time to make a decision on a case that has national implications. At issue is whether the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration have the right to force businesses to terminate employees whose Social Security numbers don't match up with those on record. Last month, the AFL-CIO stopped the proposed...