CALIFORNIA: AIDS Foundation To Receive Settlement
Hailing the arrangement as "vindication," the AIDS Healthcare Foundation in Los Angeles Monday applauded a settlement with Los Angeles County, bringing to a close a lawsuit filed earlier this year and securing $600,000 for the foundation. The Los Angeles Times reports that the AIDS Healthcare Foundation alleged that the county withheld money earmarked for the AIDS group "under federal law ... because the organization had criticized the county's slow pace in securing federal AIDS funding." Although the county Board of Supervisors agreed to settle the suit, it "denied that it was an admission of any wrongdoing against the foundation." By a four-to-one vote, board members moved to settle, and county officials similarly decided against pursuing the foundation for the $653,000 it allegedly "overbilled the government in AIDS funding" (Los Angeles Times, 12/22). AHF President Michael Weinstein said, "This marks the end of a bitter era of confrontation, and instead ushers in a hopeful time for our patients. Instead of fighting the county in court and in the press, in 1999 we can focus our combined strength on offering life-saving medical care for needy, HIV-infected Angelenos" (AHF release, 12/21). Click here for Daily Report coverage of AIDS funding in Los Angeles County.
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