It Figures

90 Percent

Michigan says nine in 10 school buses passed safety inspections last school year. Ten percent failed the checks. Some could continue operating as long as defects were repaired within two months. Eight percent of the 17,220 buses checked were put out of service until defects were fixed. The Michigan State Police said more school districts earned 100 percent pass ratings than at any time since the state began conducting mandatory inspections in 1990.

78

A Fargo, N.D., insurance agent has pleaded not guilty to stealing more than $5 million from clients. Larry Atkins is charged with 78 felony counts, including engaging in fraudulent practices and selling unregistered securities. Prosecutors say there are more than 30 victims in the investment scheme. The 65-year-old Atkins is being held in jail on $100,000 bond. His next court date is Oct. 29.

$400,000

A man accused of faking his own death to swindle a Chicago-area insurance company out of more than $400,000 has been arrested by FBI agents. Fifty-six-year-old Abdelhamid Sedrati was the subject of an eight-year international manhunt. FBI’s Chicago office says he was arrested at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on Oct. 1. The FBI says Sedrati allegedly faked his death in 1996 to scam Allstate Insurance Co. in suburban Northbrook, Ill., out of more than $426,000 in life insurance benefits paid to his sister.

$553.1 Million

Winds from Hurricane Ike will cost insurance companies at least $553.1 million to cover property damage and other losses in Ohio, making it the state’s most expensive natural disaster in more than three decades, a trade group said October 7. When other expenses are tallied, including government cleanup costs, last month’s windstorm may top financial losses reported after a 1974 tornado devastated the western Ohio town of Xenia, the Ohio Insurance Institute said. About 2.6 million Ohio utility customers lost power after remnants of Ike swept through the state, knocking down power lines and trees and damaging homes and businesses. At least seven of the 72 U.S. deaths blamed on Hurricane Ike were in Ohio.

Topics Ohio