Recently unsealed court documents show that AstraZeneca hid the results of unfavorable clinical trials for its antipsychotic drug Seroquel. According to a 1999 e-mail from an AstraZeneca official, the drug maker suppressed the results of at least three trials and used selective information from other trials to promote the drug. AstraZeneca faces thousands of lawsuits accusing the company of hiding the dangers of Seroquel and marketing the drug for unapproved uses.

A Texas company bilked older investors for about $30 million using a fraudulent life insurance securities scheme, state officials said Thursday. The state alleges that executives at National Life Settlements of Houston used the money to finance their personal lifestyles rather than purchasing life insurance policies on the behalf of clients. A Texas State Securities Board official said they are continuing criminal and civil investigations into the matter.

The parents of more than 70 youths jailed by two Pennsylvania judges filed a lawsuit Thursday accusing the judges of denying the juveniles their right to a fair and impartial trial. In the lawsuit, which seeks class-action status, plaintiffs claim that the two judges placed the youthful offenders in juvenile detention centers in return for financial gain. The two judges pleaded guilty earlier this month to charges of taking $2.6 million in kick-backs from private juvenile detention centers.

The family of a victim of the Flight 3407 crash in New York earlier this month has filed a lawsuit over the deadly crash. An attorney for one family said he believes the crash was caused by a combination of substandard deicing equipment and pilot error. The lawsuit names Continental Airlines, Pinnacle Airlines, Colgan Air and Bombardier Aerospace Corp. as defendants.

A Texas-based direct seller of dietary supplements has agreed to pay $4 million in restitution to settle claims that it made false statements about its products. According to reports, Mannatech Inc. claimed that its supplements could cure conditions ranging from asthma to cancer. A related lawsuit against three other defendants linked to the company is still pending.

If memory serves me right, Bush is no longer in office and the Democrats won the White House, and control the Senate as well as the House of Representatives.

So what does the Senate do? They vote to investigate the CIA’s actions under Bush, and are preparing to launch an investigation of the CIA’s detention and interrogation programs under President Bush, setting the stage for a sweeping examination of some of most secretive and controversial operations in recent agency history.

Those policies, in all likelihood, kept us free from another 9/11.

The new probe is aimed at uncovering new information on the origins of the programs as well as scrutinizing how they were executed — from the conditions at clandestine CIA prison sites to the interrogation regimens used to break Al Qaeda prisoners, according to Senate aides familiar with the inquiry plans.

One has to wonder where the members of the Senate Intelligence Committee (is that an oxymoron?) are going to hide when we get hit again?

The Los Angeles times reports that Federal regulators ignored repeated warning signs about Pasadenaâ??s IndyMac Bancorp., and their failure to prevent the mortgage lenderâ??s collapse last year cost the FDIC $10.7 billion â?? nearly $2 billion more than previous estimates, according to a report released today.

A federal jury Wednesday awarded almost $1.3 million in civil damages to a Glendale,California man who was falsely accused of murder and spent eight months in a Los Angeles County jail before being cleared of the charges.

Attorneys for the man sued the Glendale Police Department in U.S. District Court for false imprisonment and malicious prosecution, saying that detectives who arrested him in connection with a 2005 home invasion slaying ignored exculpatory evidence, including his alibi.

The decision by the jury means Ovasapyan will receive $1.1 million in compensatory damages. They also found Det. Arthur Frank and Lt. Ian Grimes liable for $150,000 in punitive damages.

Ford Crown Victoria police cruisers and mechanically similar models are prone to gas leaks and fires when involved in rear-impact crashes, critics of the vehicles charge. According to an attorney familiar with Crown Victoria-related litigation, the location of the gas tank makes it highly vulnerable to rupture and explosions. The Ford Crown Victoria police cruiser is driven by about 85 percent of officers nationwide.

A commonly used antiseizure drug may cause serious metabolic problems in epilepsy patients, federal health regulators recently warned. According to the Food and Drug Administration, Zonegran and its generic counterpart zonisamide can create dangerous chemical imbalances in the blood that lead to difficulty breathing, irregular heart rhythms and other long-term health problems. Zonegran producer Eisai Inc. said it was currently considering labeling changes for the drug.