GEOFF MULVIHILL | The Greenwood Commonwealth

Jayde Newton helps to set up cardboard gravestones with the names of victims of opioid abuse outside the courthouse where the Purdue Pharma bankruptcy is taking place in White Plains, N.Y., on Aug. 9, 2021. A three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York on Tuesday, May 30 overturned a lower court’s 2021 ruling that found bankruptcy courts did not have the authority to protect members of the Sackler family who own the company and who have not filed for bankruptcy protection from lawsuits. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

AP
premium content - for subscribers only
Click to subscribe

Ruling clears way for Purdue Pharma to settle opioid claims, protects Sacklers from lawsuits
By GEOFF MULVIHILL - Associated Press
Tue,05/30/23-9:41AM , 322 Reads
A federal appeals court cleared the way for the maker of OxyContin to settle thousands of legal claims tied to the opioid epidemic while shielding the wealthy owners of Purdue Pharma, the Sackler family, from future lawsuits.
READ MORE

Mae Keller, a senior, carries a "Trans Kids Matter" sign and cheers as hundreds of students walk out of school on Transgender Day of Visibility outside Omaha Central High School on March 31, 2023, in Omaha, Neb. Republican-controlled states across the U.S. are imposing restrictions aimed at transgender students. (Anna Reed/Omaha World-Herald via AP, File)

AP
premium content - for subscribers only
Click to subscribe

States add laws on pronouns, sports for transgender students
By GEOFF MULVIHILL - Associated Press
Fri,05/05/23-2:57PM , 406 Reads
Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb this week signed into a law a requirement that schools notify a parent when their student asks to be called a different name or uses pronouns that correspond with their gender, not their sex.
READ MORE

Mark Lee Dickson, a Texas pastor and anti-abortion activist, claps as members of the city council voted to approve an ordinance that would ban the mailing or shipping of abortion pills Tuesday, May 2, 2023 in Danville, Ill. The Illinois city near its eastern border with Indiana on Tuesday banned the mailing or shipping of abortion pills, defying the state's Democratic attorney general and the American Civil Liberties Union who have repeatedly warned that the move violates Illinois law's protection of abortion as a fundamental right. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune via AP)

AP
registered content - login required to view
Click to register / login

In latest abortion law chapter: Bill signings, court rulings
By GEOFF MULVIHILL - Associated Press
Thu,05/04/23-12:04AM , 313 Reads
Courts this week blocked abortion restrictions from taking effect in two states, while lawmakers in a third are forging ahead with a plan for a new ban that's less stringent than most.
READ MORE

OxyContin pills are arranged for a photo at a pharmacy in Montpelier, Vt., Feb. 19, 2013. Purdue and state, local and Native American tribal governments across the U.S. agreed to settle lawsuits over the toll of opioids more than a year ago, but the money isn't flowing yet because of a wait for a key court ruling.(AP Photo/Toby Talbot, File)

AP
registered content - login required to view
Click to register / login

Frustration grows over wait on OxyContin maker's settlement
By GEOFF MULVIHILL - Associated Press
Fri,04/28/23-11:17PM , 386 Reads
More than a year after OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma reached a tentative settlement over the toll of opioids that was accepted nearly universally by the groups suing the company — including thousands of people injured by the drug — money is
READ MORE

Subscribe to GEOFF MULVIHILL

The E-Edition

Wednesday, March 11, 2026

Join Those Who Support Local News

Local news matters to Greenwood. It keeps the people informed and connected. It asks the questions they want answered. It elevates what’s good, and it exposes what’s not.

To do that work well takes skilled reporters and editors, as many as a community can support through advertising, subscriptions and philanthropy.

The Greenwood Commonwealth expanded its newsroom in 2025 by adding Gerard Edic as a reporter covering public safety and other stories of interest to the community.

His position is partially funded by a two-year grant from Report for America, a national nonprofit. Generous supporters in the community donated the matching funds in the first year. We are now raising funds for Year 2.

Will you join this effort with a tax-deductible contribution?

Donate