Philly’s done wrangling over the opioid deal | Business Weekly Newsletter
The wrangling over the settlement pitted Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, who remains a hold-out, against Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro.
After months of criticizing the national opioid settlement, Philadelphia officials publicly relented at the 11th hour and signed up for an agreement that promises to bring $1 billion to Pennsylvania.
The wrangling over the settlement pitted Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, who remains a hold-out, against state Attorney General Josh Shapiro, who shaped the $1 billion settlement between four companies and every Pennsylvania county, among others. Shapiro was part of a small group of state attorneys general who negotiated the $26 billion overall deal with some of the companies accused of fueling the drug epidemic. Our reporter Catherine Dunn has been following the emerging feud since last year and brings us the latest developments.
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Funding from what Shapiro called an “historic agreement” will begin flowing as soon as April “to jumpstart programs and ramp up staffing to save the lives of those struggling with opioid addiction,” the attorney general said.
The companies involved in the settlement were drugmaker Johnson & Johnson and three drug distributors — AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson. The companies have denied wrongdoing.
The deal earned Philadelphia’s buy-in before a midnight deadline Jan. 26, despite previous pushback from Mayor Jim Kenney and Krasner, who felt the settlement was too low and the 18-year payout schedule too long. Philadelphia’s share will come to at least $186 million, according to the AG’s office.
The wrangling might not be over. The city and Krasner’s office have each filed lawsuits against the drugmakers and distributors and Krasner plans to keep pursuing his case against the companies.
Read more about the local impact of the opioid settlement.
What else you need to know ...
As the electronics that we rely on become more and more complex, is it any surprise that disposing of this detritus of modern life has also become more complicated?
Not too long ago, waving a powerful magnet over a computer could be enough to guarantee that all sensitive information had been erased. To be sure, some computers can be recycled and have a second life.
But the more digitized and data-dependent our working lives become, the more “everyone ends up with equipment they will have to dispose of,” noted Joe Connors, head of business development at Aston-based CyberCrunch. The Aston-based company with 25 employees uses large shredders to transform everything from laptops to phones into high-tech confetti.
Read more about CyberCrunch here.
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A drug store folds: A three-story Walgreens on Broad Street in Philadelphia, once pitched as a flagship for the pharmacy chain’s pivot into American urban centers, will shutter in February.
Don’t miss something until it’s gone: The Philadelphia Parking Authority could lose control of Philadelphia International Airport parking operations as soon as later this year. The city’s Department of Aviation has paid off more than $54 million in PPA bonds related to the airport parking garages. The move could cut into a significant portion of PPA operations and threaten the agency’s jobs. The PPA currently holds an 11-month agreement to run the airport garages while the airport launches a hunt for a new operator.
The parking authority’s presence at the airport dates to 1974, when it began developing its first parking garage at the rapidly growing metro travel hub. Under the arrangement, the city leased land to the PPA to finance and develop parking garages, which the agency could then run. Since then, the parking authority has used bonds to expand its empire to include seven garages and lots with more than 19,000 parking spots at its peak.