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California Attorney General Xavier Becerra has leaped into the water lawsuit adjudication pool with a resounding splash, ripping the proposed Physical Solution (a step, not an end, in the water adjudication process) with a letter vigorously admonishing the city of Ventura, on behalf of Fish and Wildlife and the State Water Resources Control Board.
The state Department of Justice outlines the missteps of the Ventura City Council on numerous procedural issues, including the rush to judgement ahead of the Watershed Criteria Report that is to be completed this year and its modeling work in 2022; lack of transparency regarding five phantom experts; neglect to serve all parties in the case; the assumption that surface water rights can be included when they have yet to be ruled upon by the judge; a deficiency of findings to support Ventura’s claims of rights; a failure to meet requirements relevant to California statutes; the unmet burden-of-proof
McKinsey & Co. will pay $573 million to settle claims by U.S. states that the blue-chip consulting firm helped fuel the country’s opioid epidemic by providing sales analysis and marketing advice to makers of the highly addictive painkillers, including Purdue Pharma LP and Johnson & Johnson.
Most of the money will go to government programs fighting opioid addiction and providing treatment, North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein said Thursday. The company helped “turbocharge” opioid sales for 15 years while consulting for Purdue and its billionaire owners, the Sackler family, Stein said.
New York-based McKinsey, which Forbes estimates had $10.5 billion in 2019 revenue and is one of the biggest U.S. business consultants, also agreed to publicly disclose internal documents detailing all its work for opioid companies, which could be used in litigation by state and local governments against the industry.
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See President Biden’s cabinet picks below and learn how they are likely to affect K-12 education.
Agriculture
Former Iowa Governor and former Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack speaks during an event on Nov. 23, 2019, in Des Moines, Iowa.Justin Hayworth/AP
Biden’s pick to lead the Agriculture Department, former Secretary Tom Vilsack, held the same role in the Obama administration.
In his previous tenure, Vilsack played a key role in implementing and defending heightened nutrition standards for school meals that were championed by former first lady Michelle Obama. Those rules, which have been rolled back under the Trump administration, called for less sodium and fat and more fresh fruits, vegetables, and whole grains in school meals.
Becerra confirmation delay is hobbling the fight against COVID-19: Sebelius and Shalala
Biden nominated Becerra to lead HHS on Dec. 7. He is extraordinarily qualified and holding up his appointment during the COVID pandemic is dangerous.
Kathleen Sebelius and Donna Shalala
Opinion contributors
The country is in the middle of a bleak COVID winter. We have surpassed 427,000 deathsfrom the coronavirus, and President Joe Biden warns that we ll reach over 500,000 next month even as millions of Americans are getting COVID vaccines.
This is a crisis, and having each served as our nation’s top health official, we understand the critical importance of having a competent and effective team ready to solve it.
Introduction
In December 2020, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra was
announced to be President-Elect Joseph R. Biden, Jr. s
pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. The
California Attorney General s Office is the second largest
Justice Department in the United States, second only to the U.S.
Department of Justice, and California Attorney General Xavier
Becerra was the first Latino Attorney General in California s
history. Before becoming the Attorney General of California,
Becerra had a 24-year career in the U.S. House of
Representatives.
1 In 2017, Governor Jerry Brown
appointed Becerra to the last two years of Kamala Harris s term