The U.S. Justice Department is accusing Walgreens of filling millions of prescriptions in the last decade and more without a legitimate purpose, including for dangerous amounts of opioids, according to a lawsuit filed this week.

The Justice Department (DOJ) on Wednesday announced a lawsuit against the pharmaceutical chain CVS, accusing it of filling vast amounts of illegal opioid prescriptions and then billing it to the federal government.

The department claimed that the company, beginning in October of 2013, contributed to the opioid epidemic by ignoring red flags on prescriptions, filling dangerous quantities of opioids and dangerous combinations of drugs, which was then billed to the federal government.

The Supreme Court rejected a settlement with OxyContin manufacturer Purdue Pharma that would have shielded the Sackler family from legal liability for the company’s role in exacerbating the disastrous opioid crisis.

The U.S. Supreme Court rejected on Thursday the Securities and Exchange Commission's in-house enforcement of laws protecting investors against securities fraud, dealing a blow to the agency's powers in a ruling that could reverberate through other federal regulators.

The decision - a setback for President Joe Biden's administration - upheld a lower court's decision siding with George Jarkesy, a Texas-based hedge fund manager who contested the legality of the SEC's actions against him after the agency determined he had committed securities fraud.

The Supreme Court temporarily put on hold on Thursday an Environmental Protection Agency plan to curtail air pollution that drifts across state lines, dealing another blow to the Biden administration’s efforts to protect the environment.

The ruling followed recent decisions chipping away at the agency’s authority to address climate change and water pollution.

It's a common sight on the streets of downtown Portland, Oregon: people in front of stores, trendy restaurants and hotels, on sidewalks, corners, and benches, crouched over torch lighters held up to sheets of tinfoil or meth pipes.

Some drape blankets over their heads, or duck behind concrete barriers. Others don’t try to hide.

"All summer long, we were right out in the open. You didn't have to be paranoid anymore, you didn't have to be worried about the cops," said John Hood, a 61-year-old drug addict living on the streets of Oregon’s most populous city.

Back and neck pain afflicts millions of American adults, driving many to seek relief from their family doctor or even the local emergency room.

When these episodes of pain are acute and nonspecific — meaning there's no clear cause or explanation — it's generally advised to start off with everyday remedies like over-the-counter anti-inflammatories, and alternatives like heat therapy, massage or exercise.

If that's not doing the trick though, doctors may prescribe a short course of opioids, with the goal of relieving pain and improving a patient's function.

Republican Wisconsin Rep. Scott Fitzgerald introduced legislation Wednesday in the House to combat the ongoing opioid epidemic. Sen. Ron Johnson is set to soon introduce a Senate companion.

President Donald Trump has expressed willingness to interfere in the West Coast’s seemingly intractable “homelessness” problem: “Donald Trump said he might ‘intercede’ to ‘clean up’ homelessness in San Francisco and Los Angeles, noting that world leaders ‘can’t be looking at that.’”

Surgeon General Jerome Adams on Wednesday rejected the provision of supervised injection sites, facilities where people can inject themselves with illegal drugs under medical supervision, as a response to the opioid crisis, citing safety concerns.

“I’m not bashing any particular person or group,” Adams said at the libertarian Cato Institute in Washington, D.C., “But the truth is, I have looked at the data, and I have seen little to no data suggesting they are overall more effective than expanding syringe services programs.”