His Holiness Pope Francis has drawn some criticism in recent months for his failure to speak out more forcefully on the issue of child sexual abuse by clergy or take meaningful action. This week, however, he did publicly announce that the Chuch is “working on” the sexual abuse and exploitation of nuns by male clergy.

Global climate change has begun a vicious cycle in California. What was once a seasonal hazard is now 12 months a year, according to a report published earlier this month in Bloomberg. Because of warming, large areas of the Golden State have been “riddled with pockets of dry bush” and nearly 130 million trees have died. As a result, wildfire danger is now constant, not just during summer and early fall.

For the first time in U.S. history, the risk of dying from an opioid overdose is greater than that of being killed in a traffic accident. Opioids also exceed slip and fall incidents, drowning, and fire as causes of unintentional deaths. Furthermore, only 13 states (including the District of Columbia) are making any progress in dealing with the crisis.

This week, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan reported that more than 500 cases of child sexual abuse were swept under the rug by the six Roman Catholic dioceses across the state. Earlier, the Church reported 185 members of the clergy who had “credible allegations” leveled against them. However, according to AG Madigan's report, the real number is 690.

One of the challenges when it comes to determining damages in injury lawsuits is putting a monetary value on intangible losses, such as pain and suffering, emotional distress, and anxiety. These are considered to be “non-economic damages,” and fall under the category of “mental anguish.” Putting a dollar figure on emotional pain is difficult, but it is nonetheless a factor that can diminish the quality of life as surely as a crippling injury.

On November 13^th, a report in Fortune magazine stated that Bayer, Monsanto's new parent company, was “doubling down” on the herbicide Roundup, despite a huge verdict against the company earlier this year.

Environmental activist groups in Canada have accused the country's health ministry, Health Canada, of being secretly influenced by Monsanto when it renewed its approval of the chemical glyphosate, the primary ingredient in the company's flagship product, Roundup^TM.

Australian researchers recently published a study that has found a link between the use of proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) and iron deficiency. When iron levels in the body are insufficient, it can lead to anemia, a condition in which the amount of hemoglobin (red blood cells) decline to dangerously low levels. Untreated, anemia puts excess strain on the heart muscle, causing a lack of oxygen and leading to serious organ damage. In extreme cases, it can be fatal.

In a recent decision by a Florida federal judge, Abilify maker Otsuka Pharmaceuticals was absolved of responsibility to preserve company e-mails that might have served as evidence for plaintiffs in current Abilify litigation.  The reason: the emails were written years ago, long before the company could reasonably have anticipated having to defend itself against lawsuits.