Latest news with #DerekBrown
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Photo gallery: Utahns pay tribute to those who served, their families, the military
The Utah Department of Veterans and Military Affairs hosted a special Memorial Day ceremony Monday at the Capitol, one of many across the state and around the nation. Sen. John Curtis and Utah Attorney General Derek Brown spoke to the assembled crowd. The event included a 21-gun salute as well as a wreath and flag display. Later, Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson told a crowd of service members and their families at a Memorial Day service at Larkin Sunset Gardens cemetery Monday, that while Utahns pay respect to loved ones, they should never forget the sacrifices made by so many in the name of freedom. 'I hope that we can all remember this is more than a holiday. This is a holy day. This is a day of remembrance,' she said. 'It's a day of deep gratitude and reflection. It's also a day of celebration because what we have been given is so dear it must be remembered and it must be celebrated.' Deseret News photojournalists captured the poignant moments of Monday's Veterans Day celebrations.
Times
27-05-2025
- Times
Poet and lecturer guilty of sexual assault
A poet has been placed on the sex offenders register after he attacked a woman in his home. Jim Ferguson, who is also an academic, groped his victim and forced his tongue into her mouth, despite her urging him to stop. Glasgow sheriff court heard that the woman, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, had attended a gathering at Ferguson's flat in Dennistoun after being invited by Derek Brown, a mutual friend. 'Ferguson enacted a very quick movement,' Redmond Harris, prosecuting, said. 'He grabbed her breast, tried to kiss her and placed his tongue in her mouth.' She and Ferguson, 63, were listening to music when he lunged towards her. The court heard that she was grimacing and said: 'No, Jim.' Ferguson said the incident had never happened and was part of a plot against him.
Yahoo
08-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Utah to receive millions through another opioid settlement
Utah Attorney General Derek Brown talks to reporters during his first press conference at the Utah State Capitol Building on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (Kyle Dunphey/Utah News Dispatch) Utah will continue to see millions more in funds secured through litigation with companies that manufactured or sold opioids, after a new settlement was announced on Monday with the global pharmaceutical company Mylan Inc. According to the Utah Attorney General's Office, Mylan 'deceptively marketed' its opioid products — which included fentanyl patches, oxycodone, hydrocodone and buprenorphine products — to doctors as less prone to abuse. That's particularly the case with the fentanyl patch, the office said. As a result, the attorney general's office claims doctors overprescribed Mylan's products, which ultimately ended up on the illegal drug market. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Mylan merged with Upjohn, Pfizer's off-patent medicine business, in 2020 to form Viatris. Its brands and products include Epipen, Viagra, Xanax and Zoloft. Viatris will join a growing list of pharmaceutical manufacturers, retailers, marketing companies and more — including UnitedHealth Group, Express Scripts, Purdue Pharma, Kroger, Johnson & Johnson, CVS, Walgreens, Walmart, and McKinsey & Company — that have either been sued by various attorneys general, or agreed to large settlements in the last several years. Utah Attorney General Derek Brown said Mylan 'was aware that its opioid products, including fentanyl patches, were especially prone to abuse, and did not inform consumers of that issue.' Split among 15 states, including Utah, Viatris will pay about $335 million over the next nine years, money that will go toward law enforcement training and equipment, recovery programs and harm reduction efforts, including purchasing the overdose-reversing drug naloxone. Fentanyl is the most common drug found in overdose deaths in Utah Attorneys general from California, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Tennessee, and Virginia negotiated alongside Brown for the settlement, while coordinating with Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, and Vermont. Those annual payments will vary between $27.5 and $40 million each, and will be allocated based on each state's 'level of participation in the settlement,' according to a statement from Viatris. In the statement, Viatris said its presence in the U.S. opioid market is 'very small,' and that the settlement 'is in no way an admission of wrongdoing or liability.' Viatris said it will 'further focus on its mission of empowering people worldwide to live healthier at every stage of life, advance its efforts to address unmet patient needs through an expanded innovative portfolio and continue to serve approximately 1 billion patients annually with its diverse portfolio of medicines.' The company pointed to its manufacturing of a generic, injectible version of naloxone, and other generic buprenorphine and naloxone products used for opioid treatment and recovery. The Viatris settlement will add to the roughly $81 million secured by Utah so far from opioid settlements. According to legislative budget records, Utah expects to see nearly $495 million from opioid settlements over the next 17 years — about $248.7 million will go to the state government, and $242.3 million will be dished out to counties. The largest settlement is from the 'Big 3 Distributors,' according to state records, which are Cardinal, McKesson, and Amerisource Bergen — industry giants that, according to The New York Times, distribute about 90% of the country's drug and medical supplies. That settlement amounts to more than $219 million that will flow to the state and counties over the next 17 years. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
25-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
23andMe begins bankruptcy process — it may be time to delete your data
The biotechnology company 23andMe announced Sunday that company leaders have initiated Chapter 11 bankruptcy and plan on selling the company, raising sensitive data protection concerns. The company maintains that they will continue to 'safeguard customer data' and be 'transparent about the management of user data going forward,' but attorney generals across the U.S., including Utah Attorney General Derek Brown, have released alerts urging 23andMe patrons to delete their data. The Washington Post on Monday reported 'If you're one of the 15 million people who shared your DNA with 23andMe, it's time to delete your data.' 23andMe uses saliva to analyze a user's DNA to provide in depth information on their genetics, ranging from ancestry to potential health risks, as the Deseret News previously reported. However, after a massive data breach in 2023 exposing nearly 7 million customers' personal information over five months, the biotech company's stock has been on the decline. On Monday, the company's co-founder Anne Wojcicki resigned after failed attempts to take the company private, and shares fell 50% to 88 cents, per Reuters. The company is seeking approval from a bankruptcy court to run a 45-day auction to sell off its assets. In the meantime, the company has $35 million to keep day-to-day operations running, according to a 23andMe press release on Sunday. In the case of a change in ownership, the DNA genetic testing company states in their privacy section the following: 'If we are involved in a bankruptcy, merger, acquisition, reorganization, or sale of assets, your Personal Information may be accessed, sold or transferred as part of that transaction and this Privacy Statement will apply to your Personal Information as transferred to the new entity. We may also disclose Personal Information about you to our corporate affiliates to help operate our services and our affiliates' services,' it states. In a press release, Utah's Department of Commerce's Division of Consumer Protection and the Attorney General's office cited Utahns rights to protect their genetic data, as defined under the UCPA and GIPA. Those rights include the right to rescind access to your own genetic data, the right to request data destruction and the right to delete your own account. 'In light of the company's financial difficulties and the potential risks to your sensitive information, you may want to consider this,' the joint release stated. Similarly, California Attorney General Rob Bonta encouraged people in his state to delete their data and provided steps to take to do so. In a statement, he wrote, 'Given 23andMe's reported financial distress, I remind Californians to consider invoking their rights and directing 23andMe to delete their data and destroy any samples of genetic material held by the company.'
Yahoo
20-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Utah Attorney General Derek Brown joins the bipartisan fight against robocalls
Utah Attorney General Derek Brown has officially joined 27 other state attorneys general in the fight against robocalls. The AGs are supporting a rehearing by the National Consumer Law Center in a case between the Insurance Marketing Coalition Limited and the Federal Communications Commission. The AGs seek to defend a rule by the FCC that stops telemarketers from obtaining and selling consumers' phone numbers to robocallers without their consent. The brief hopes to 'shut the spigot of illegal robocalls' by giving the FCC authority to issue and enforce the one-to-one consent rule, which was defined in the Telephone Consumer Protection Act in 1991. Former Sen. Ernest Hollings, D-S.C., who sponsored the bill in the '90s, famously described robocalls as 'the scourge of modern society.' 'They wake us up in the morning; they interrupt our dinner at night; they force the sick and elderly out of bed; they hound us until we want to rip the telephone right out of the wall,' he said. But these robocallers are not merely annoying; they cost American consumers over $1.2 billion in 2023 alone, according to the Federal Trade Commission. In a statement to the Deseret News, Brown said robocalls 'target the most vulnerable members of our society.' He added, 'This FCC policy would cut off robocalls at the source. It is critical that we protect Utahns from scams that can lead to them losing millions of dollars.' The core legal change the AG brief supports is to uphold the FCC's one-to-one consent rule. This rule, according to an FCC consumer guide, 'prohibits lead generators, texters, and callers from using a single consumer written consent to inundate consumers with unwanted telemarketing robocalls and robotexts from dozens of sellers when consumers visit comparison shopping websites.' Currently, however, the one-to-one consent rule is not fully followed because a panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision invalidating it. The brief explains, 'The panel's decision invalidating this commonsense rule threatens Amici States' interest in protecting consumers, families, and businesses from the deluge of invasive robocalls,' asserting that the one-to-one consent rule must be followed for the AGs to protect American citizens. 'Americans passionately disagree about many things. But they are largely united in their disdain for robocalls,' Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh said in a 2020 appeal. The fight against robocalls in the U.S. is overwhelmingly bipartisan and largely against data collectors and harvesters.
