GOP objects to EPA rules
Republican members of the U.S. Senate, including Lamar Alexander of Tennessee and Jeff Sessions and Richard Shelby of Alabama on Tuesday objected to proposed new regulations on carbon dioxide from U.S. power plants.
In a letter to President Obama, 26 GOP senators said requiring states to cut carbon emissions by 30 percent by 2020 "would increase America's electricity bills, decrease a family's disposable income, and result in job losses." Obama said Monday the new EPA rules, if adopted, would help spur more jobs in the renewable energy industry and cut the health care costs for many Americans who suffer from respiratory illnesses linked to air pollution from coal-fired power plants.
Chicago sues opioid makers
The city of Chicago is seeking damages in a lawsuit accusing five drugmakers of deceptively marketing a class of prescription painkiller that can be highly addictive.
The lawsuit filed this week states the city has paid nearly $9.5 million for filling opioid prescriptions since 2007. It alleges the pharmaceutical companies' marketing of opioids for long-term use to treat non-cancer pain was false, misleading and "unsupported by science."
The suit also claims drugmakers attempted to expand the long-term use of opioids beyond the treatment of cancer pain to reap bigger profits.