Top 8 today

Top eight stories for today including the Justice Department accused AmeriSourceBergen of fueling the opioid crisis by failing to notify federal officials of suspicious medication orders; Illinois' plan to abolish cash bail in 2023 hit a legal roadblock; A federal judge handed California another win in the state's long-running fight for federal transit money, and more.

National

AmeriSourceBergen charged with stoking opioid crisis

AmeriSourceBergen fueled the deadly opioid crisis in the United States by failing to notify federal officials of suspicious medication orders, the Department of Justice charged in a lawsuit against the pharmaceutical distributor Thursday.

An arrangement of oxycodone pills. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

Ninth Circuit revives children’s suit against Google over surreptitious tracking

Google must face a purported class-action lawsuit by children who claimed they were tracked and profiled for targeted ads without their parents' consent while watching YouTube videos.

YouTube Kids logo (Google via Courthouse News)

Regional

Illinois judge finds elimination of cash bail unconstitutional

Illinois' plan to abolish cash bail in 2023 faced a severe setback late Wednesday night, when a downstate county judge ruled that doing so would violate the Illinois Constitution.

An inmate uses a phone at the Cook County Jail in Chicago in 2014. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, File)

Court sides with California in dispute over federal transit funding

A federal judge handed California another win Wednesday in the state's long-running dispute with the U.S. Department of Labor over federal transit money.

(Image by Jared Pedroza from Pixabay via Courthouse News)

Op-ed

Kitchen table in Brittany

The daily rhythm of life for a French family in Brittany is played out in the kitchen, at the table.

Buying fresh bread at a boulangerie originale in Brittany, France. (Bill Girdner/Courthouse News)

International

Lack of info on China’s Covid-19 surge stirs global concern

Moves by several countries to mandate Covid-19 tests for passengers arriving from China reflect global concern that new variants could emerge in its ongoing explosive outbreak — and that the government may not inform the rest of the world quickly enough.

A masked traveler arrives at the international flight check-in counter at the Beijing Capital International Airport in Beijing, Thursday, Dec. 29, 2022. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

Israel swears in Netanyahu as PM of hard-line government

Benjamin Netanyahu was sworn into office Thursday, taking the helm of the most right-wing and religiously conservative government in Israel’s history and vowing to enact policies that could cause domestic and regional turmoil and alienate the country’s closest allies.

Israeli Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a special session of the Knesset, Israel's parliament, to approve and swear in a new right-wing government, in Jerusalem Thursday, Dec. 29, 2022. (Amir Cohen/Pool Photo via AP)

Brazil’s Lula picks Amazon defender for environment minister

Brazil's President-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva announced Thursday that Amazon activist Marina Silva will be the country's next minister of environment. The announcement indicates the new administration will prioritize cracking down on illegal deforestation even if it means running afoul of powerful agribusiness interests.

Brazil's former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who is running for reelection, right, and congressional candidate Marina Silva hold hands during an event in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Sept. 12, 2022. (AP Photo/Andre Penner, File)

Categories / Closing Arguments

Subscribe to Closing Arguments

Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.