Figures

$20 billion

The federal flood insurance program may be going broke after incurring $20 billion in debt from recent storms like Hurricane Katrina. But that hasn’t stopped politicians from trying to extend the taxpayer-subsidized coverage for some of the riskiest — and potentially most valuable — properties in the country. For all it didn’t accomplish this year, Congress passed two bills carving out exceptions to a law passed years ago to phase out federal spending that might encourage development in environmentally sensitive and disaster-prone areas.

One of the bills benefited Jekyll Island, a vacation spot off Georgia’s coast that is poised for redevelopment, while the other helped a mostly undeveloped 10-lot subdivision on Florida’s Gulf Coast.

$67,500

The insurance company for the Wisconsin North Lake Fire Department says it paid $67,500 to settle a federal lawsuit over a confrontation by two firefighters with a fisherman last year. The amount was disclosed by Continental Western In-surance Co. after repeated requests by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel for settlement terms. It was only a portion of the settlement Mark Bratton and his relatives received. Then-North Lake Fire Chief Terrence Stapleton had homeowner insurance through Acuity, and then-firefighter Mark Weber had personal insurance through American Family Insurance. Representatives of those insurance companies have not released their settlement terms, saying that the proceedings were confidential.

Source: AP

$19 million

MetLife Inc., the largest group life insurer in the nation, will pay $19 million and change some of its business practices to end an investigation of payments made to brokers to steer clients its way, New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer said. The settlement came as part of a multiyear investigation of bid rigging and price fixing in the insurance industry. Spitzer has argued that “contingent commissions” paid to brokers and agents to steer business to insurance companies are the equivalent of kickbacks that unfairly increase the prices paid by insurance clients.

New York-based MetLife will ban contingent commissions and disclose broker payments as part of the settlement. The company will pay $16.5 million in restitution to policyholders and penalties of $2.5 million.

Source: AP

81

Preliminary statistics show that the number of fatalities on Indiana’s roadways this year has dropped significantly from 2005, according to data from the Indiana State Police (ISP). Through Dec. 22, there have been 81 fewer fatalities compared to the same period in 2005 and there has been 75 fewer crashes.

Source: AP