10
Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe has declared disasters in 10 more counties, bringing the total of declared disaster areas to 42 due to heavy rain and floods this spring. Beebe added Ashley, Cleburne, Greene, Howard, Jackson, Marion, Nevada, Ouachita, Pike and Polk counties. Individual assistance for eligible flood victims is available in Arkansas, Ashley, Bradley, Cleburne, Grant, Union, Clark, Dallas, Jefferson, Garland, Lonoke, Miller, Monroe, Phillips, Poinsett and Saline counties. Beebe earlier asked the federal agriculture department to provide emergency loans to farmers in 24 Arkansas counties.
2,300
The number of Houston-area homes flooded during heavy rains in late April, among the highest totals since 73,000 homes were damaged by Tropical Storm Allison in 2001. More than 11 inches of rain fell in some areas of Houston on April 27 and 28. A spokeswoman for the Harris County flood control district said more than half of the flooded houses weren’t in a mapped flood plain.
2
The number of wrongful death lawsuits filed so far against a Locust Grove, Okla., restaurant where an E. coli outbreak killed one man and sickened hundreds last August. The latest was filed by Cynthia Ingle, the widow of victim Chad Ingle, in Mayes County District Court against the owners of the Country Cottage restaurant. Chad Ingle died a week after eating at the eatery. His was the only fatality blamed on the outbreak, which became the largest in U.S. history for the rare E. coli strain O111. In March, a couple filed a complaint claiming the outbreak caused one of them to become seriously ill.
$72.6 Million
A federal court jury returned a $72.6 million damage award against Dallas-based law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld over a botched patent application for a safety device designed to help save downed firefighters. Louis Herbert Stumberg and his late partner James Fulton invented the device. The plaintiffs hired an attorney with Akin Gump in 1989 to file a series of patents. The suit alleged Akin Gump failed to disclose to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office information material to the patent, and did so with an intent to deceive the office. AP
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