"I’m outraged that you haven’t owned up to the crisis that you’ve created."
Releasing years of anguish and anger, victims of opioid abuse are confronting members of the Sackler family, who they blame for fueling the deadly epidemic, in a court hearing. apne.ws/c7jn6AO
The hearing, conducted virtually in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, gave victims and survivors what they have wanted for years: the chance to confront members of the Sackler family who own OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma. apne.ws/72Q5r7R
Later this month, Kristy Nelson said she and her husband will visit the cemetery on what would have been Brian’s 34th birthday.
“I understand today’s your birthday, Richard (Sackler), how will you be celebrating?” she said. “I guarantee it won’t be in the cemetery."
For nearly three hours, more than two dozen Americans whose lives were upended by the opioid crisis addressed three members of the Sackler family: Richard, Theresa and David.
Under court rules, the Sacklers were not allowed to respond to the victims. apne.ws/PPD8sSX
They were angry, defiant, tearful, sometimes trying to be forgiving — and sometimes definitely not.
This is what some of the victims, selected by lawyers for creditors in the case, said when they finally got the chance to speak directly to the Sacklers. apne.ws/kvWz0Yk
This tweet replaces an earlier tweet that misspelled the name of one of the opioid crisis victims.
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BREAKING: Jussie Smollett has been sentenced to 150 days in county jail for lying to police about a racist and homophobic attack that a jury concluded the actor had staged himself. Smollett was also ordered on Thursday to pay $120K restitution.
The ruling is the latest chapter in a story that began when Smollett said he was walking in Chicago early one morning of January 2019 when two men attacked him. Smollett ultimately became a suspect and police later arrested him for lying to officers.
Cook County Judge James Linn sentenced Smollett to 30 months of felony probation, including 150 days in the county jail, and denied a request to suspend Smollett's sentence and ordered he be placed in custody immediately.
Two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, most of the world has seen a dramatic drop in coronavirus infections, hospitalizations and deaths in recent weeks.
Epidemics of the flu, Zika and HIV may offer lessons. “One thing that we have learned is that it’s a long, drawn-out process,” says Erica Charters of the University of Oxford. apnews.com/article/covid1…
Those epidemics evolved differently:
• Multiple flu pandemics waned over time.
• HIV became a manageable chronic condition in places with access to new treatments, but remains an emergency in others.
• Cases of Zika dropped dramatically with time. apnews.com/article/covid1…
BREAKING: Military investigations found that poor leadership, inadequate training and a "culture of complacency” among U.S. forces undermined efforts to fend off a 2020 attack by militants at an air base in Kenya that killed three Americans. apne.ws/ODiyVEo
Two military reviews of the attack by al-Shabab militants are scathing in their conclusions that there were failures across the board at the Manda Bay air base. The attack also wounded three people and destroyed six aircraft. apne.ws/xr8bwqg
The Manda Bay base was overrun by 30 to 40 al-Qaida-linked insurgents on Jan. 5, 2020, marking al-Shabab’s first attack against U.S. forces in the East African country. The pre-dawn assault triggered a lengthy firefight. apne.ws/iWOkX30
In nearly two weeks of war, some 2 million people have fled Ukraine. Russian troops have captured swaths of territory in the south, but have faced fierce Ukrainian resistance in other regions.
A Russian airstrike hit a maternity hospital in the besieged Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, wounding at least 17 people in what Ukrainian officials described as a “war crime” and an “atrocity.” apnews.com/article/russia…
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said efforts were being made to evacuate some 18,000 people from embattled towns in the Kyiv region to the capital itself.
Speaking in Russian, he appealed to Russian soldiers to save themselves and “just go home.” apnews.com/article/russia…
Opening statements began for the trial of four men charged with plotting to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. Prosecutors say the men conspired to kidnap the Democratic governor in 2020 because they were angry about COVID-19 restrictions she imposed. apne.ws/zSDGzpU
A lawyer for Adam Fox, one of the defendants, said that his client was a hapless “misfit” who was influenced by an FBI informant whom he met at a protest, not a mastermind of the 2020 plot as prosecutors allege. apne.ws/dqfH3nL
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Roth said during his opening statement that the men recruited a militia and planned to break into Whitmer's home, tie her up and take her away.
He said the four wanted to create a “war zone here in Michigan." apne.ws/XEgx4MM