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New Mexico and Walgreens reach $500 million opioid settlement | CNN Business

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New Mexico and Walgreens reach $500 million opioid settlement | CNN Business



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CNN
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New Mexico reached a $500 million settlement agreement with Walgreens over the pharmaceutical giant’s role in the opioid epidemic, lawyers for the state said Friday.

The plaintiffs argued Walgreens “dispensed millions of potentially harmful opioids into communities across New Mexico” by failing to red-flag prescriptions that weren’t needed for medical use, or by continuing to fill red-flag prescriptions.

Last fall, the state obtained another $274 million in settlements from Albertsons, CVS, Kroger, and Walmart, the lawyers said. The addition of the Walgreens settlement brings the total to $1 billion brought into the state through opioid litigation.

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“No amount of money will bring back the lives lost and ruined because of the over-prescription of prescription opioids,” New Mexico attorney Luis Robles said. “With the Walgreens settlement and others, the State of New Mexico can ramp up its efforts to redress the ravages which the opioids crisis brought to our state.”

Walgreens has to pay to help remedy the opioid addiction in the state as part of the settlement agreement.

Nearly 75% of drug overdose deaths in 2020 involved an opioid, CDC data showed, and more than 564,000 people died from overdoses involving any opioid, including prescription and illicit opioids, from 1999-2020.

The agreement, which followed five years of litigation, was reached in March but its confidentiality provision was lifted Friday. Walgreens said it is not commenting on the matter.

“This settlement is a major step in our effort to hold companies like Walgreens accountable for their egregious conduct,” co-lead counsel Dan Albertstone said in a statement.

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In May, Walgreens and San Francisco reached a $230 million settlement over the opioid crisis. The same month, Kroger also said it would pay $68 million to resolve a lawsuit in West Virginia alleging the company contributed to the oversupply of opioids in the state.

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the value of the settlement. It was $500 million.



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New Mexico

In a New Mexico Park, 2 Women Are Found Dead, With a Girl Critically Shot

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In a New Mexico Park, 2 Women Are Found Dead, With a Girl Critically Shot


Two women were found dead and a 5-year-old girl critically injured at a park near Clovis, New Mexico, authorities said Sunday. Meanwhile, the FBI found an abducted 10-month-old girl, who’s the daughter of one of the victims, reports CNN, and a suspect is in custody. The FBI didn’t disclose the condition of the infant, or the identity of the suspect, per CNN. Police have identified the dead women as Samantha Cisneros and Taryn Allen, both 23 years old and from Texico, New Mexico, reports the AP. They said at least one of the women was fatally shot. The 5-year-old girl was critically injured with a gunshot wound. New Mexico State Police issued an Amber Alert late Friday for the infant.

Cisneros was the mother of both children, and the fathers of the girls were cooperating with investigators and not believed to be suspects, according to police. The Eastern New Mexico News reports that the women were found at Ned Houk Park about 5 miles north of Clovis with their purses and belongings near the bodies, state police said. A car belonging to one of the women also was found at the scene. The FBI and Clovis police are asking the public to come forward with any tips or leads. A GoFundMe page has been set up by the family of Cisneros.

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(More New Mexico stories.)





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A 10-month-old girl is missing after police discovered two women dead and a 5-year-old injured in a New Mexico park | CNN

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A 10-month-old girl is missing after police discovered two women dead and a 5-year-old injured in a New Mexico park | CNN




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Authorities in New Mexico are searching for a 10-month-old girl they say was kidnapped from a park where her mother and another women were found dead and the infant’s 5-year-old sister was found injured.

“Investigators believe Eleia Maria Torres has been abducted by the perpetrator of this crime and is in immediate danger,” the Clovis Police Department said in a news release.

Eleia has brown hair and brown eyes, according to an Amber Alert notice.

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Police discovered the infant was missing after responding to a call shortly before 4:30 p.m. Friday about two women found dead at Ned Houk Park near Clovis, a city in eastern New Mexico that is more than 200 miles east of Albuquerque and about 100 miles southwest of Amarillo, Texas.

The women, both 23, were found with “apparent gunshot wounds” on the ground near a minivan, the police statement said.

The women were identified by investigators as Samantha Cisneros, Eleia’s mother, and Taryn Allen.

The 5-year-old was found “suffering from an injury to her head,” police said, and was rushed to a hospital for treatment. She is recovering from her injuries, police said at a news conference Sunday.

The fathers of both children have been working with the investigation team, police said at the news conference.

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At the scene, officers also discovered “an infant car seat, an infant stroller and a small baby bottle at the scene,” and began searching for a young child, police said.

“Through interviews with family members, investigators learned Samantha Cisneros was the mother to the young female child found at the scene and was also the mother to a 10-month-old child, Eleia Maria Torres,” the news release said.

The FBI is helping local police with the investigation.

“I promise that the FBI will be with Clovis until we find Eleia, and we find the individual or individuals responsible for these horrific acts,” Raul Bujanda, special agent in charge of the FBI Albuquerque Division, said during the news conference.

CNN’s Christine Sever contributed to this report.

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Two women shot dead, 5-year-old girl wounded, baby missing in New Mexico slaughter

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Two women shot dead, 5-year-old girl wounded, baby missing in New Mexico slaughter


Police are searching for a missing 10-month-old girl believed to have been kidnapped by the same person who fatally shot two women and critically wounded a 5-year-old girl in Clovis, New Mexico.

An Amber Alert was issued for the baby, Eleia Maria Torres, on Friday as cops sought the killer of Samantha Cisneros and Taryn Allen, both age 23 and from Texico, N.M.

Clovis Police Department

Amber Alert for Eleia Maria Torres. (Clovis Police Department)

A 911 call at about 4:30 p.m. Friday alerted police to the presence of the two bodies in Ned Houk Park, about five miles north of the 38,000-population city of Clovis. They found the two women dead of gunshot wounds and a 5-year-old child covered in blood, with a gunshot wound to the head. All of them were sprawled on the ground near a minivan. The girl was rushed to a hospital in Lubbock, Texas, about 100 miles southeast.

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Police also discovered an infant car seat inside the van, along with an infant stroller and a small baby bottle at the scene.

“Through interviews with family members, investigators learned Samantha Cisneros was the mother to the young female child found at the scene and was also the mother to a 10-month-old child, Eleia Maria Torres,” police said in a statement. “Investigators believe Eleia Maria Torres has been abducted by the perpetrator of this crime and is in immediate danger.”

Police described Eleia as 28 inches tall and weighing 23 pounds, with brown eyes and hair.

“There is currently no suspect in this incident,” New Mexico State Police said. “However, it is suspected the suspect was in a possible maroon Honda car, unknown model.”

With News Wire Services

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