Fort Lauderdale, Florida - Three residents of Lima, Peru, pleaded guilty Wednesday to extortion for overseeing a ring of call centers that threatened and extorted Spanish-speaking victims in the United States, the Department of Justice and U.S. Postal Inspection Service announced.

Sacramento, California - Governor Gavin Newsom today released the following statement regarding the California Legislature’s Conference Committee on the Budget:

Washington, DC - The Federal Trade Commission and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Friday sent four warning letters to firms that manufacture and market flavored e-liquid products. The letters cite postings by influencers on social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter that endorse the target companies’ products, without any warnings that the products contain nicotine, an addictive chemical.

Los Angeles, California - Food Tank has gathered 29 books to add to every summer reading list. These newest titles in food will inspire farmers to adopt better agricultural practices, eaters to select more ethically grown foods, city designers to incorporate more equitable green space, policymakers to support indigenous food sovereignty, and much more. Whether destined for a vacation across the world or simply tucked away at home for the season, any reader can delve into familiar and new topics surrounding the food system with these books.

Washington, DC - There are those who dismiss George Santayana’s claim that “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." Among them was the late American author Kurt Vonnegut who is quoted as saying “we're doomed to repeat the past no matter what.”

Washington, DC - Opioid manufacturer Insys Therapeutics agreed to a global resolution to settle the government’s separate criminal and civil investigations, the Department of Justice announced Wednesday. As part of the criminal resolution, Insys will enter into a deferred prosecution agreement with the government, Insys’s operating subsidiary will plead guilty to five counts of mail fraud, and the company will pay a $2 million fine and $28 million in forfeiture. As part of the civil resolution, Insys agreed to pay $195 million to settle allegations that it violated the False Claims Act. Both the criminal and civil investigations stemmed from Insys’s payment of kickbacks and other unlawful marketing practices in connection with the marketing of Subsys. Insys’s drug Subsys is a sublingual fentanyl spray, a powerful, but highly addictive, opioid painkiller.