The Year in Preview
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Tobacco: Although the tobacco companies put their worst legal fear behind them when they reached a $206-billion litigation settlement with state attorneys general in November, they still face dozens of private class-action suits on behalf of smokers and health-care payers. Also, there will be pitched battles in every state legislature to divide the spoils of the settlement with attorneys general. Anti-smoking groups want funds earmarked for tobacco-control programs. Other groups seek tax relief and public works programs.
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The latest effort is coming from the L.A. County Board of Supervisors. They just announced a $3 million program in conjunction with some nonprofits groups to test and clean the soil at homes still standing in the areas impacted by the Eaton Fire.
California once bet big on offshore wind to help power its clean-energy future, but the Trump administration is now paying developers billions to walk away from their projects. As California’s remaining offshore-wind leases hang in the balance, the state is fighting back in court.
The Hillside Strangler murders terrorized Los Angeles in the late 1970s. The killers were a pair of sadistic cousins. One confessed. The other was set to stand trial—until L.A. prosecutors flinched.
