It Figures

77%

The drop in first quarter net income reported by Allstate Corp., which said it was hurt by write-downs in its investments and larger-than-expected catastrophe losses. Net income fell to $348 million, or 62 cents a share, from about $1.5 billion, or $2.41 a share, in the year-ago quarter. Catastrophe losses for the quarter were $568 million, fueled by unusual tornado activity in the Southern U.S. earlier this year, an increase of $407 million over the same period a year ago.

$97 Million

The amount Fort Lauderdale, Fla. city commissioners agreed to pay to a Canadian tourist whose husband died after tripping on an uncovered water meter in the sidewalk. Gilles Massey and his wife were walking back to their hotel from the beach in March 2005 when he tripped and fell. The 65-year-old man fractured his right knee and was flown by air ambulance to Canada for surgery. A week later, he died from complications. Massey’s widow, Gisele St-Arneault, sued the city for negligence in 2007.

50.5

The height in feet at which officials projected the Mississippi River to crest on April 18 near Vicksburg, which would be the river’s highest level there since 1983 and the seventh highest ever recorded, according to Christopher Bannan, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Jackson.

2010

The year Georgia Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine said he will run for governor, making him the first to enter what could be a crowded field of Republican heavyweights jockeying to replace Gov. Sonny Perdue. Oxendine said gridlock in the recent legislative session helped convince him to get into the race.

70

The number of pharmaceutical companies to be tried in Alabama in a lawsuit accusing them of fraud for overcharging the state’s Medicaid program. The Alabama Supreme Court ruled April 18 that more than one pharmaceutical company can be tried at the same time in the state’s lawsuit. The drug companies had asked that each be tried separately.