Hunt Valve contracts

Hunt Valve contracts

SALEM

Hunt Valve Co. Inc., 1913 E. State St., doing business as Union Flonetics, won two federal contracts totaling $139,690 from the Defense Logistics Agency for the manufacture of safety-relief valves.

Toyota must pay $16M in dealer recall suit

SANTA ANA, Calif.

Toyota has been ordered to pay nearly $16 million to a Southern California dealer who alleged the company’s Prius recalls didn’t fix safety problems. The Los Angeles Times said an Orange County jury decided Monday that Toyota had breached “good faith and fair dealing” with Roger Hogan, who has dealerships in Claremont and San Juan Capistrano.

Hogan alleged Toyota retaliated after he began raising safety concerns about the Prius electric power system in 2017. Hogan’s attorney says jurors specifically ruled on Hogan’s claim that he faced Toyota’s wrath after contending a 2014 Prius recall didn’t fix defects.

Former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens dies

washington

John Paul Stevens, who served on the Supreme Court for nearly 35 years and became its leading liberal, has died. He was 99.

Justice Stevens’ influence was felt on issues including abortion rights, protecting consumers and placing limits on the death penalty. He led the high court’s decision to allow terrorism suspects held at Guantanamo Bay to plead for their freedom in U.S. courts.

He retired in June 2010 at age 90, the second oldest justice in the court’s history.

Planned Parenthood to defy referral rule

WASHINGTON

Federally funded family planning clinics, including Planned Parenthood, are defying the Trump administration’s ban on referring women for abortions, drawing a line against what they say amounts to keeping patients in the dark about legitimate health care options.

“We are not going to comply with a regulation that would require health care providers to not give full information to their patients,” Jacqueline Ayers, the group’s top lobbyist, said Tuesday. “We believe as a health care provider it is wrong to withhold health care information from patients.”

The fallout from the confrontation between the Trump administration and the clinics remains to be seen, but groups such as the American Medical Association have been warning that many low-income women could lose access to basic services like contraception.

Police: Don’t flush drugs; you might make a ‘meth-gator’

LORETTO, Tenn.

Police in Tennessee have asked residents not to toss drugs down the toilet, saying it could create “meth-gators” and stoned waterfowl.

Loretto Police Department issued the Facebook warning “on a more or less serious note” after arresting a man accused of trying to flush methamphetamine.

The statement says flushed items end up in retention ponds frequented by ducks and geese. It then warns that if the drugs made it far enough, “we could create meth-gators” in the Tennessee River. In a follow-up post, the department noted it was using humor to make its point.

Staff/wire reports