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Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation has agreed to pay $422.5 million to settle criminal and civil investigations over antiseizure medicine Trileptal, in addition to other drugs five other drugs. The Swiss drug giant already settled another major case this year, $152 Million in a sex discrimination suit. In this case, Novartis is pleading guilty to misdemeanor charges and accepting a $185 million fine. Novartis also paid $237.5 million over allegations that it illegally submitted claims for five additional drugs....

Some states have graduated licensing programs that limit teenage drivers, barring them from the roads at night. These programs have proven successful in curbing car accidents among young people, and a new study finds they seem to also lower teen crime. Notably, states that have had these programs in place for the longest time have seen the biggest drops in teen crime. The study’s authors suggest that more states should consider the connection between night driving, crime, and violence for the safety of teens and adults alike....

What is a retrial, and who is entitled to one? Retrials are in the news this week. Convicted Arizona murderer Jodi Arias will be retried, but only to determine her punishment for killing her boyfriend in 2008; jury selection is set to begin September 8, The Associated Press reports. And in another high-profile case, Michael Dunn, the Florida man who allegedly shot and killed unarmed teenager Jordan Davis over loud music, will be retried for murder beginning May 5, the AP reports....

The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) is a federal policy that temporarily protects undocumented immigrants brought into the country unlawfully by their parents from deportation. Along with the DREAM ACT, it confers some legal standing to undocumented immigrants, like the ability to work, go to school, or get a driver’s license. The state of Arizona had been pushing back hard against the third part, with then-Governor Jan Brewer signing an executive order in 2012 denying licenses for young, undocumented immigrants....

Opera is often considered to be up-market–the arena of the wealthy elite. However, Anna Nicole Smith has always been associated with more low-rent forms of entertainment. Like stripping and pole dancing. So what do you get when you put the two together? The Anna Nicole opera. Known for marrying an oil tycoon sixty-years her senior, then spending years publicly fighting his children for his money, the actress/stripper/porn star/you-name-it-she-did-it, met a terrible fate at the hands of drugs....

Electronic unemployment filing systems have been crashing in three states or more in recent days as thousands of recently jobless Americans seek benefits, according to an AP report. This comes on the heels of a Reuters story indicating that private-sector employers unloaded 693,000 jobs in December. That figure is based on a report by ADP Employer Services, which further reflects that the employment situation is significantly worse than expected and dims the prospects for an upcoming jobs report, as well....

Petty theft making for pretty criminals? According to a study conducted by the Food Marketing Institute, health and beauty items are once again at the top of the “most shoplifted” list. Hoping to look good for their mug shot, looking to score a date at the local jail, pocketing fall’s latest color to have handcuff-worthy fingernails, the jokes seem to be endless when looking at the list of items making the most shoplifted list....

We hear a lot about excessive use of force by police against black males in cities such as Ferguson, New York, Cleveland, and Baltimore. But, have you heard of the shooting of an unarmed 15-year-old Mexican boy? He was shot in the face by a Border Patrol agent for throwing rocks at a border bridge to El Paso. Another 17-year-old boy was shot and killed for throwing rocks from the Mexican side of the border fence in Arizona....

Sheriff’s deputies Tuesday shot and killed a California teenager who was reportedly carrying a “replica” toy rifle. Was the shooting justified? Andy Lopez, 13, was killed by Sonoma County sheriff’s deputies during an “encounter” just outside Santa Rosa, California, about 3 p.m., San Francisco’s KPIX-TV reports. The deputies ordered Lopez to drop his weapon and then opened fire. Police are only authorized to use deadly force in certain instances. Was this one of those cases?...

Undercover drug busts are more frequently run as controlled buys with officers buying drugs from suspected or known drug dealers, and having other officers watching, waiting to arrest the drug dealer after the sale. However, in some sting operations, cops pretend to be the drug dealers and sell actual drugs to users and/or other drug dealers in controlled sales. Generally, cops cannot physically force, or improperly coerce, a person to act, but cops can lie to suspects....

R&B legend and occasional court attendee Chris Brown appeared Monday before a Los Angeles judge who revoked the singer’s probation. After reviewing the details of Brown’s alleged hit-and-run in May, the judge revoked his felony probation, which he received for beating off-and-on girlfriend Rihanna in 2009. But Brown was not ordered to jail, reports The Associated Press. So why isn’t Chris Brown behind bars for violating his probation, and what’s next for the misbehaving singer?...

Last week, the CPSC warned consumers about the dangers of baby sling carriers. On March 24, the CPSC in conjunction with Infantino LLC, of San Diego, Calif., announced a full recall of Infantino “SlingRider” and “Wendy Bellissimo” infant slings. Infantino has instituted a program to provide consumers with a replacement product free of charge. The CPSC asks consumers who have purchased the slings to stop using them immediately due to a risk of suffocation....

Guilty as charged. In the drawn-out, highly-publicized trial of Elizabeth Smart’s abductor, a federal jury in Salt Lake City found Brian David Mitchell guilty of kidnapping and multiple instances of rape of the then 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart. Mitchell, 57, may now face life in prison. The trial saw the prosecution’s case rest on two key witnesses: three days of testimony by Elizabeth Smart, and testimony by Mitchell’s estranged wife Wanda Barzee who is currently serving a 15-year sentence stemming from the abduction....

Between 2000 and 2006, at least 49 people have been killed by fireworks in the U.S., and half of those deaths were caused by the use of illlegal fireworks, according to a Press Release from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). According to Acting CPSC Chairman Nancy Nord, “[l]ast year an estimated 9,200 people were treated in hospital emergency rooms for firework-related injuries. The majority, 6,400, occurred during the one-month period surrounding the 4th of July....

In North Carolina, the tax man cometh. And this week he actually went home empty handed. The ACLU, who joined the case, says there is no dispute over the state’s right to collect taxes, but rather over the information it seeks. “[T]here is no legitimate reason why government officials need to know which North Carolina residents are reading which books or purchasing which specific brands of products,” Katy Parker, legal director for the ACLU of North Carolina Legal Foundation, told the AP....

Most of us are checking out an actor’s age on IMDb or other movie sites because we can’t believe how young they look or how old they really are. But members of the Screen Actors Guild claim employers are using that information against those in the entertainment industry, and they have the law to prove it. California Assembly Bill No. 1687, which goes into effect January 1, 2017, requires any online entertainment employment service providers to remove a subscriber’s age upon request....

Daily deal leader Groupon has agreed to pay $8.5 million to settle claims that it violated federal and state consumer protection laws. More specifically, the Groupon settlement, if accepted by U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw, will end a class action lawsuit involving possibly illegal expiration dates on Groupon vouchers. In addition to state laws that regulate gift card and gift certificate expiration dates, the federal Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act prohibits the sale of gift cards that expire in less than five years from the sale date....

Mark David Chapman, John Lennon’s killer, has been denied parole by the New York Parole Board once again. This was the 57-year-old Chapman’s seventh attempt at parole, and it came just ahead of the 32nd anniversary of John Lennon’s death. Lennon, the former Beatles lead singer, was gunned down outside his Manhattan apartment on Dec. 8, 1980, reports CNN. The Parole Board’s decision comes just one day after Chapman’s interview with the board....

In line with the Obama Administration’s stated goals of transparency and accountability, the White House has launched a new website, Recovery.gov, allowing consumers to track spending under the recently-passed $787 billion stimulus package, and providing up-to-date information on how the money is being spent. Earlier this month, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama. The new Recovery.gov website is intended to be “the main vehicle to provide each and every citizen with the ability to monitor the progress of the recovery,” featuring “information on how the Act is working, tools to help you hold the government accountable, and up-to-date data on the expenditure of funds....

You’d think certain places would be out-of-bounds, even to criminals. At least, that’s what Union County Sheriff Eddie Cathey thought, after the arrest of two thieves accused of breaking into 15 churches across 5 North Carolina counties. “It takes a special kind of criminal to target a church as a place to steal,” Cathey told the Charlotte Observer. “A church should be off limits.” But pastors and parishioners can rest easy now that Justin Ray Patterson and Amanda Nicole Hickey are behind bars, and their weeks-long crime spree has come to an end....