NewsChannel 5's Jennifer Kraus is still hot on the trail of what has happened at and what will happen to HRC Medical Centers. Her latest piece looks at the new owners of what had been HRC's clinic on 14th Avenue North and finds some familiar faces in HRC's ex-VP of medical operations and the manager of the clinic that has changed hands.

"This is stuff that happened before, or much of it, happened before I was here" Cannata shared when asked about the various allegations made in the attorney general's lawsuit.

Now, he insisted, changes have been made.

"Our contracts are certainly different. Our salespeople are not commissioned. Our sales people are hourly paid. The disclosures are very thorough and list all of the side effects," he said.

The office of Attorney General Bob Cooper has filed suit against HRC Medical, the multi-state chain of hormone replacement therapy clinics run by brothers Don and Dan Hale. The state is accusing the company of, among other things, endangering patients by using excessive treatment doses and — shades of meningitis here — using a pharmacy in the Northeast with a history of quality issues.  Jennifer Kraus at NewsChannel 5 has the full story, which includes these details.

According to the complaint, Dr. Hale, who claimed to be an expert in hormone therapy, got most of his training from a two-day conference. The lawsuit claims that HRC's therapy program was created with an unlicensed medical assistant who had no formal training, just a medical assistant's certificate from the Nashville Court Reporting Academy.

The $45 million agreement reached between the Federal Trade Commission and shoemaker Skechers USA, Inc., has a major Tennessee component.

The Tennessee Attorney General Office, joined by its peer AG office in Ohio, spearheaded the effort for 42 states and the District of Columbia. Under the settlement agreement, Skechers — accused of deceptive advertising related to claims of improved health and appearance (and using Kim Kardashian and Brooke Burke to showcase their shapes) — will pay $40 million, to be refunded to consumers who purchased Shape-Ups, Tone-Ups, and the Skechers Resistance Runners. It is the largest such pool in history for an advertising substantiation case.  As part of the settlements, Skechers will pay an additional $5 million to the states.

Under the settlement, which Davidson County Circuit Court Judge Hamilton Gayden Jr., signed Wednesday, Skechers is prohibited from making future claims unless it has adequate substantiation to do so.

Skechers does not admit any wrongdoing and denies the factual allegations asserted in the attorney general’s complaint.

The Tennessee Supreme Court said Monday it will not let Attorney General Bob Cooper appeal a lower-court decision to allow Fisk University to share its Stieglitz Collection with the Crystal Bridges Museum in Arkansas.

One of the items that must be sorted out in chancery court is whether that fund is large enough for the task at hand. Fisk also must show that the gallery where it displays the collection on campus has been adequately refurbished.

Tennessee Attorney General Bob Cooper has filed an appeal contesting the $30 million agreement to share Fisk University's Stieglitz art collection with the Crystal Bridges Museum in Arkansas. Cooper says rulings by Davidson County Chancery Court and the Tennessee Court of Appeals judges approving the sale could have an impact on the management of other charitable gifts throughout Tennessee.