Sacklers pay $6 billion to escape future opioid lawsuits

Purdue Pharma's bankruptcy shields the billionaire Sackler family from future opioid liability; raging wildfires scorch Nova Scotia.

Tonight's Sentences was written by Jariel Arvin.

How to get away with fueling an opioid epidemic

Michael Nigro/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images

• A federal appeals court ruled that the Sacklers, the wealthy family behind Purdue Pharma, can be protected from future lawsuits as part of a deal to settle thousands of opioid crisis claims. [Associated Press / Geoff Mulvihill]
• The Sackler family will pay states $5-6 billion to states including at least $750 million that will go to individual victims and their families. [NPR / Brian Mann]
• The family will give up control of bankrupt Purdue, and the company will be restructured to develop drugs for treating and preventing addiction. [New York Times / Jan Hoffman]
• Purdue has pleaded guilty to charges that its OxyContin advertisements helped jumpstart a US opioid crisis that caused more than 500,000 deaths in the US over two decades. However, the Sacklers have admitted no wrongdoing. [Reuters / Dietrich Knauth]
• In recent years, drug manufacturers, distributors, and pharmacies have agreed to pay more than $50 billion to settle lawsuits for their role in the national opioid crisis. [Guardian]

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Vox staff explains how the policy changes in the latest debt ceiling deal would impact student loans, the environment, and more. [Vox]

Smoke from Canada wildfires reaches the US

• Tuesday, massive wildfires in Nova Scotia, Canada, forced more than 16,000 residents to evacuate as emergency crews worked to bring the blazes under control. [CNN / Michelle Watson and Zoe Sottile]
• Fires destroyed at least 200 buildings in the Atlantic coastal city of Halifax. Officials are investigating what caused the blaze but suspect it involved human activity. [NYT / Dan Bilefsky and Meagan Campbell]
• However, much of Canada has faced wildfires this year as scientists warn human-caused climate change is making drought conditions more severe and wildfires more intense. [Axios / Rebecca Falconer]
• On Wednesday, smoke from Nova Scotia’s fires prompted air quality warnings for children and vulnerable seniors in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. [NJ Advance Media / Jeff Goldman]

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South Carolina store owner Rick Chow is facing murder charges after authorities say he fatally shot a 14-year-old in the back after falsely accusing him of shoplifting bottled water. [NBC News / Mirna Alsharif]

• During its first public meeting, a NASA panel commissioned to study UFOs said it needed more data on “unidentified aerial phenomena.” Its final report is expected in July. [Reuters / Joey Roulette and Steve Gorman]
• Tara Reade, a former Senate staffer who accused President Joe Biden of sexual assault during his 2020 presidential run, has moved to Russia where she is pursuing citizenship and where says she feels safe. [CNN / Mariya Knight]
• On May 16, staff at Wyoming’s Bear River state park welcomed the first white bison calf in the park's 32-year history. Potential names include: Equality, Liberty, Sparky, and Pearl. [Guardian / Rose Horowitch]

“Bankruptcy was not meant to be an alternative justice system for powerful corporations and their superrich owners. But that is the effect and perception when courts read the law to provide extraordinary protections well beyond what Congress authorized.”

[Melissa B. Jacoby, a law professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on the Sackler settlement / NYT]

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