Bathroom break nearly derails $22 million project at city council meeting
A brief break during Wednesday's city council meeting in Saskatoon nearly cost the city dearly.
Electronic cigarette-maker Juul Labs Inc. will pay US$462 million to six states and the District of Columbia, marking the largest settlement the company has reached so far for its role in the youth vaping surge, the attorneys general in several states announced Wednesday.
The agreement with New York, California, Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Mexico and Washington, D.C. is the latest in a string of recent legal agreements Juul has reached to settle lawsuits related to the way it marketed addictive nicotine products. Critics said Juul was trying to lure children too young to smoke.
Like some other settlements reached by Juul, this latest includes restrictions on the marketing and distribution of the company's vaping products. For example, it is barred from any direct or indirect marketing that targets youth, which includes anyone under age 35. Juul will also limit the amount of purchases customers can make in retail stores and online.
"Juul lit a nationwide public health crisis by putting addictive products in the hands of minors and convincing them that it's harmless," New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement. "Today they are paying the price for the harm they caused."
A spokesperson for Juul said with Wednesday's settlement, the Washington D.C.-based company was "nearing total resolution of the company's historical legal challenges and securing certainty for our future."
The spokesperson added that underage use of Juul products has declined by 95 per cent since 2019 based on the National Youth Tobacco Survey. According to the CDC though, since surveys were administered online instead of on school campuses during the pandemic, the results cannot be compared to prior years.
Juul rocketed to the top of the U.S. vaping market about five years ago with the popularity of flavors like mango, mint and creme brulee. But the startup's rise was fueled by use among teenagers, some of whom became hooked on Juul's high-nicotine pods.
Parents, school administrators and politicians have largely blamed the company for a surge in underage vaping.
District of Columbia Attorney General Brian Schwalb said in a statement that Juul "knew how addictive and dangerous its products were and actively tried to cover up that medical truth."
In September, Juul agreed to pay nearly US$440 million over a period of six to 10 years to settle a two-year investigation by 33 states into the marketing of its high-nicotine vaping products to young people. That settlement amounted to about 25 per cent of Juul's U.S. sales of US$1.9 billion in 2021.
Three months later, the company said it had secured an equity investment to settle thousands of lawsuits over its e-cigarettes brought by individuals and families of Juul users, school districts, city governments and Native American tribes.
The vaping company, which has laid off hundreds of employees, recently agreed to pay West Virginia US$7.9 million to settle a lawsuit alleging the company violated the state's Consumer Credit and Protection Act by marketing to underage users, West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey announced Monday. Last month, the company paid Chicago US$23.8 million to settle a lawsuit.
Minnesota's case against Juul went to trial last month with the state's Attorney General Keith Ellison asserting that the company "baited, deceived and addicted a whole new generation of kids" as youth cigarette smoking rates fell.
A brief break during Wednesday's city council meeting in Saskatoon nearly cost the city dearly.
Research shows that art experiences, whether as a maker or a beholder, transform our biology by rewiring our brains and triggering the release of neurochemicals, hormones and endorphins.
Mackenzie Hughes had the dream scenario of winning the RBC Canadian Open in his hometown within reach but then it all slipped away.
A motorcycle driver is facing charges after being caught on Highway 417 doing wheelies and weaving in and out of traffic, the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) says.
The Edmonton Oilers rode their special teams and goaltender to victory on Sunday, beating the Dallas Stars 2-1 to win the National Hockey League's Western Conference and earn a berth in the Stanley Cup final against the Florida Panthers.
The Abbot Pass hut stood for decades in a rugged saddle between two iconic peaks, overlooking the limpid turquoise of Banff National Park's Lake Louise — a destination for alpinists from around the world until the ground melted beneath it and forced its closure.
South Korea said Sunday it’ll soon take retaliatory steps against North Korea over its launch of trash-carrying balloons across the border and other provocations.
People around the world are observing National Cancer Survivor Day, an annual celebration held to honour patients who have been through the often difficult and traumatic experience of living with cancer.
Emergency response crews are on the scene Sunday morning after a vehicle plunged into the Riviere des Prairies in Montreal.
Car 14 is a luxury passenger car that once made regular runs from London to Port Stanley starting in 1917.
A hefty donation by a renowned local activist to the University of Winnipeg has created what is believed to be the most comprehensive two-spirit archives in all of Canada.
Leanne Van Bergen discovered a skulk of 10 baby foxes, and two mothers, had made themselves at home on her property in Beausejour.
An 81-year-old Waterloo, Ont. woman thought she’d never ride a horse again after a brain bleed led to severe physical complications.
A CP24 camera caught the moment a driver frantically got out of her car as it was being dragged by a truck on Avenue Road Wednesday afternoon.
Prince Edward Island is celebrating its first-ever International Day of Potato on Thursday.
The president of Covered Bridge Chips in New Brunswick is hoping to have his factory rebuilt for late 2025 following a devastating fire last year.
Students and staff at Winnipeg’s Westwood Collegiate had a unique problem to solve this month; how do you lead ducks to water from the school’s courtyard when 12 of them can’t fly yet?
Debby Lorinczy remembers her father as an amazing person and as a man who also made an amazing discovery.