It Figures

3,300

The number of Georgia victims affected by the Mother’s Day tornadoes who filed for help with medical and dental expenses, lost belongings, repair to homes and businesses and funeral costs. Officials approved more than $600,000 in federal disaster aid for residents. The severe storms on May 11 and May 12 killed three people and caused more than $125 million in damage, prompting Gov. Sonny Perdue to declare a state of emergency in 13 counties.

$193,000

The amount Occupational Safety and Health Administration fined three contractors after determining a combination of construction and design problems triggered the collapse of a Jacksonville, Fla. parking garage in December 2007. OSHA cited the contractors with nine safety violations. Two of the companies plan to appeal.

2.9%

An average decrease in State Farm auto insurance rates Mississippi Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney approved in May for consumers. The premium reductions for renewals and new business will become effective June 23, 2008. Chaney credited improvement in accident frequency as a factor in the rate reductions.

$5 Million

The amount a Georgia jury awarded in May to the family of a woman who drowned in a Gwinnett County hospital bathtub shower eight years ago. Wendy Wyckstandt, then 34, entered Gwinnett Medical Center in Lawrenceville four days after giving birth due to complications. Family attorney Jeff Harris said Wyckstandt’s mother found her dead in the bathtub after she collapsed in the shower. The hospital said a nurse had checked on her minutes before she collapsed, but Harris said video surveillance outside the room showed that nurses had not checked on her that day.

$29 Million

Funding a North Carolina Senate panel approved to send the University of North Carolina system for campus security improvements. The plan would help the system’s schools implement a number of safety measures to help prevent school shootings. The recommendations were proposed by a special panel charged with studying ways to improve on-campus security and communication following the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting. The bill also would make it a felony to threaten mass violence on school grounds.