Register NOW for our Annual President's Meeting & Advanced PI CLE! | Online registration is now open for our year-end conference, featuring an innovative and interactive Advanced PI CLE (Dec 4th) and our Annual Board & Membership Meeting (Dec 5th). Register now to attend at the Sheraton Hotel in Austin. Other events include the Advocates Annual Meeting, Awards Reception, and PAC event. Click on the link above to learn more and register. Watch for updates on Twitter @ttla_ #ttlaannual. | Texas Tribune Daily Brief | | Eagle Ford Traffic Clogs a Lifeline | | Medical centers in rural South Texas have always been few and far between, and getting care is especially difficult for those who cannot drive. The Southwest Area Regional Transit District, a 33-year-old organization financed largely through state grants, has used drivers to help shuttle people who cannot otherwise get to their medical appointments. But a rush to the Eagle Ford Shale ' the oil-rich fields that have brought prosperity to many here ' is clogging that lifeline. Roads are crumbling under the weight of oil tankers blowing out tires, breaking axles and cracking windshields. And 18-wheelers crowd the roads, contributing to accidents and long waits in traffic. As a result, bus drivers must start earlier, and some patients must wait longer for rides home from their appointments. Such conditions are common across parts of South and West Texas, where a drilling bonanza has transformed life for better and for worse. Jim Malewitz, Texas Tribune 11/10/2014 | Read Article: Texas Tribune | Salix Pharmaceuticals Faces Financial Reporting Lawsuit | | Salix Pharmaceuticals is facing a lawsuit by a group of its shareholders who allege that the company made false and misleading statements about the demand for its drugs. The lawsuit against the pharmaceutical company, based in Raleigh, N.C., came after its market value was reduced by $3 billion as the stock fell 34 percent last Friday. The lawsuit alleges that the company's earning reports overstated quarterly and annual net revenue and earnings per share which caused shareholders to suffer loss. The filing also contends that the company had weak internal control over its financial reporting. The lawsuit is seeking more shareholders to join the lawsuit. David Braken, News & Observer 11/10/2014 | Read Article: News & Observer | Report: Laundry 'Pods' Sent 1 Child a Day to Hospitals | | The single-use packets ' often called "pods" after the popular Tide Pods brand ' sent an average of one child a day to hospitals in 2012 and 2013, the first two years they were widely available in the United States, says the report out Monday in Pediatrics. During those two years, poison control centers took more than 17,000 calls, roughly one an hour, about children under 6 exposed to the concentrated detergents in the packets, researchers say. Numbers for 2014 are not yet available, but the danger persists, says lead researcher Gary Smith, director of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. Kim Painter, USA Today 11/10/2014 | Read Article: USA Today | GM Ordered Switches Nearly 2 Months Before Recall | | Emails released in a court case show that General Motors Co. ordered a half-million replacement ignition switches nearly two months before telling the government that its small cars should be recalled because the switches were defective. The chain of emails between lower-level GM workers and Delphi Corp. seem to indicate that GM knew at least by Dec. 18, 2013, that the switches were the cause of air bag non-deployment in certain models such as the Chevrolet Cobalt and needed to be recalled. The Valukas report, which didn't mention the switch order, said GM executives didn't decide internally on a recall until January 2014, and alerted the government about the decision on Feb. 7. Also, the order was not mentioned when CEO Mary Barra subsequently testified before Congress. Associated Press, Houston Chronicle 11/10/2014 | Read Article: Houston Chronicle | Major Banks Request Dismissal of Lawsuit | | A group of major banks have requested the dismissal of a lawsuit alleging that they manipulated financial benchmarks which set rates for loans, credit cards and some complex derivatives. The civil class action lawsuit was filed by U.S. municipalities and financial funds who allege they suffered loss as a result of the banks' manipulation. The group of banks named in the lawsuit include JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Bank of America. The lawsuit contends that they rigged the benchmark results in order to boost their trading profits. In their request for dismissal, the banks claim that they are not responsible for the alleged losses suffered by the plaintiffs. Kevin McCoy, USA Today 11/06/2014 | Read Article: USA Today | | |