PROTECT CONSUMER JUSTICE.ORG

USA Today: Brad Heath reports that federal criminal prosecutions for serious financial crime plummeted as the nation headed toward one of the worst economic meltdowns in U.S. history.

Washington Post: Binyamin Appelbaum reports that the federal government quietly agreed to forgo billions of dollars in potential tax payments from Citigroup as part of the deal announced this week to wean the company from the massive taxpayer bailout that helped it survive the financial crisis.

Huffington Post: Joanne Doroshow of the Center for Justice & Democracy writes about the CBO’s recent pronouncement that “tort reform,” including limits on damages paid to victims of medical negligence, would reduce health care costs by $54 billion over the next decade.

Bloomberg: According to a Bloomberg report, drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline has paid almost $1 billion to resolve lawsuits involving its antidepressant drug Paxil.

New Orleans Times-Picayune: Sean Payton, head coach of the NFL’s unbeaten (as of this writing) New Orleans Saints, will be the lead plaintiff in a federal class action suit against a Chinese drywall manufacturer.

Bloomberg: David Glovin reports that former Ropes & Gray attorney Brien Santarlas pleads guilty to charges for his role in the Galleon Group-Raj Rajaratnam insider-trading scheme, and is cooperating with authorities.

Orange County Register: Brian Joseph comes up with another strong story about conflicts of interest at the Board of Optometry. Here is our synopsis of one of his earlier reports.