NEWS OF THE DAY

From Across the Nation

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Opioid “kingpin”: Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter described consumer products giant Johnson & Johnson as the “kingpin” company that helped fuel the state’s opioid crisis during closing arguments in the state’s case against the drugmaker. Closing arguments were delivered Monday before Cleveland County District Judge Thad Balkman, who is expected to issue his ruling at a later date. Oklahoma’s is the first state case to proceed to trial and could help shape negotiations in roughly 1,500 similar lawsuits filed by state and local governments that have been consolidated before a federal judge in Ohio. Oklahoma claims the company based in New Brunswick, N.J., aggressively marketed opioids in the state in a way that overstated their effectiveness to treat chronic pain and understated the addiction risks. Attorneys for Johnson & Johnson say the company acted responsibly.

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Beekilling pesticide: Just days after another federal agency suspended its periodical study of honey bee populations, the EPA greenlighted the wider use of a pesticide that environmental activists warn could further decimate the pollinators. A study published in the journal Nature found exposure to sulfoxaflor reduced bees’ ability to reproduce. The EPA said Friday it was permitting the broader use of the pesticide sulfoxaflor, a move that follows a request by chemical manufacturer Dow AgroSciences LLC. Dow Chemical Co., the former parent of Dow AgroSciences, gave President Trump $1 million for his 2017 inauguration, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

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Gerrymandering trial: A partisan gerrymandering trial began Monday in North Carolina, where election advocacy groups and Democrats hope state courts will favor them in a political mapmaking dispute that the U.S. Supreme Court just declared is not the business of the federal courts. Lawyers for Common Cause, the state Democratic Party and more than 30 registered voters who sued contend Republican lawmakers so etched politics into the state House and Senate district lines that the constitutional rights of Democratic voters were violated. Republicans counter that the Democrats are simply asking courts to use “raw political power” to take redistricting responsibilities from the Legislature. Both sides pitched their arguments at the start of the trial, expected to last up to two weeks.

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2nd life term: An avowed white supremacist was sentenced to life in prison plus 419 years Monday for deliberately driving his car into a crowd of antiracism protesters at a rally in Virginia, killing 32yearold paralegal and civil rights activist Heather Heyer and injuring dozens. James Alex Fields Jr., 22, remained stoic as Circuit Court Judge Richard Moore formally imposed the recommendation of a state jury that convicted him in December of murder and malicious wounding charges for his actions in Charlottesville on Aug. 12, 2017. Last month, Fields received a life sentence on 29 federal hate crime charges.