The CDC reports: Shigellosis is a nationally notifiable diarrheal illness caused by gram-negative bacteria. Shigella infection is spread through fecal-oral transmission and sexual contact. Although most infections are self-limited, antibiotics are indicated for severe illness or to reduce transmission in settings with high risk for spread. Since 2015, a growing proportion of cases has been caused by […]
As Becky Kramer reported for the Spokesman Review in her article Campaign launched for education trust fund, with more than 200,000 signatures to collect by July 2, the League of Education Voters is starting to fire up its initiative campaign. After a year of collecting input from parents, educators, business people and community members throughout […]
As Joshua L. Kwan reported in his San Jose Mercury News story Woman’s son sues over E. coli death, the son of an 85-year-old woman who died last year during an E. coli outbreak at a Portola Valley nursing home has sued the food service company that supplied contaminated spinach to the home. ”The wrong […]
As Tim Hay of the San Mateo County Times reported in his story Firm sued over E. coli outbreak, my firm has filed a lawsuit on behalf of the son of 85-year-old Alice McWalter, one of at least 16 Sequoias Portola Valley residents and workers sickened with E. coli from eating spinach purchased and served […]
The Associated Press reported this morning that Chi Chi’s bankruptcy judge approved the mediation agreement which will allow claimants 45 days to submit lawsuits to nonbinding mediation, beginning in about two weeks. In the past, notices of court orders like the one signed Thursday have been run in newspapers and on radio broadcasts advising people […]
The agreement to approve a mediation system to handle major legal claims against Chi Chi’s was going to be presented on Tuesday, but was delayed because one of the attorneys couldn’t sign off on it until Wednesday. The agreement will create a 45-day window during which those who got sick could submit their pending lawsuits […]
As Joe Mandak of the Associated Press reported today, Chi Chi’s hepatitis claims may go to mediation. As the AP reported, I have been working for two months to come up with a solution for people who want to get their claims settled. My firm represents 67 people who intend to sue Chi-Chi’s. The bankruptcy […]
I left Pullman in the spring of 1982 with bachelor’s degrees in English, economics and political science with the goal of never looking back. But, similar to many students who have made that vow, I did come back – more often than ever since 1997 when Gov. Gary Locke appointed me to the WSU Board […]
Richard Roesler of the Spokesman Review reported today in his story Education plan faces uncertain fate, that the League of Education Voters has proposed a one-penny sales tax hike which would raise $1 billion a year for schools. As the Spokesman Review reported today: Washington State University Regent Bill Marler said he was surprised that […]
A few months ago, the nation’s worst outbreak of hepatitis A killed three people and sickened 660 others in Beaver County, Pennsylvania. More than 9,000 frightened people flocked to hospitals for tests and inoculations. Now that Chi-Chi’s has reopened its doors, loyal customers are happily returning. But as the “Hepatitis Claims?” billboard on Route 60 […]
As the president of WSU’s Board of Regents, I’m seeing first hand the damage being done by the current college funding crisis. As school budgets are cut, qualified students are turned away. As Jake Ellison of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported today in his article College crisis puts potential students at risk, colleges in this state […]
As I said in my op-ed Secretary Veneman: you have not put me out of business yet, as a trial lawyer I spend much of my time looking for fault. But, from my mother, I learned to compliment and thank someone for doing the right thing, whatever their motives. So, thank you Agricultural Secretary Veneman […]
Does America really have the safest food supply in the world? The Center for Disease Control estimates that each year over 76 million of us become ill, 300,000 are hospitalized and over 5,000 die, just from eating food contaminated with a food borne pathogen. As I said in a recent op-ed What to do about […]
Yesterday, Joe Mandak of the Associated Press reported in his story Hepatitis plaintiffs want judge to OK lawsuits against Chi-Chi’s, that we have asked the bankruptcy judge to lift the automatic stay to sue the restaurant chain. Lifting the stay will be our first step in accessing the $51 million in liability insurance held by […]
Idaho state government earned notoriety two years ago when it cut its higher education budget by 10 percent. As draconian as that was, however, Idaho’s college and university system has not seen the reductions that Washington’s has. In the Evergreen State, the cuts have been more gradual, but more relentless. Too many Washingtonians are unaware […]
About 50 people have submitted paperwork so far to recover medical costs and lost wages related to the hepatitis A outbreak at the Beaver Valley Mall Chi-Chi’s. Many of them have already been issued checks, generally for less than $3,000 each. Any claim higher than $3,000 requires review from either insurance companies or the bankruptcy […]