It Figures
42
The number of chemical plants in New Jersey affected by the state’s expanded chemical safety rules. Chemical facilities using extremely hazardous substances must now weigh using safer options and plant workers can now join state inspections under new rules announced by Gov. Jon S. Corzine.
$400 million
How much it would cost to replace a key weather satellite that is already beyond its expected life span, according to National Hurricane Center Director Bill Proenza. He said the satellite, designed to last five years, is in its seventh year of operation, and it is only a matter of time until it fails. He said he did not know of any plans to replace it. Without its data, two-day forecasts could become 10 percent less accurate, and the three-day predictions could lose 16 percent accuracy, Proenza said.
82%
The pay raise that State Farm Insurance’s chairman and CEO received after the company posted a record profit last year. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Ed Rust Jr. got a $5.26 million raise. He earned $11.66 million in 2006 with a base salary of $1.77 million and results-based bonus of $9.89 million, the statement said. Rust made $6.4 million in 2005 and $5.5 million in 2004.
$47.5 million
The total damages ordered to be paid by Merck & Co. after an Atlantic City, N.J., jury found its painkiller Vioxx contributed to an Idaho postal worker’s heart attack, reversing the verdict in the man’s first trial. It was one of Merck’s biggest losses over the drug so far. The jurors awarded the man and his wife $20 million in compensatory damages, then $27.5 million in punitive damages. Merck has now won nine cases and lost five in the mushrooming litigation over its former blockbuster arthritis pill.
$27 million
The reserves set aside by U.S. Fidelity & Guarantee to guarantee a contractor’s work on the apparently botched widening of Interstate 84 in the Waterbury, Conn., area. The insurer is now suing the contractor, claiming the firm siphoned off millions of dollars for personal use and other projects. The contractor says that’s not true. USF&G bonded North Haven contractor L.G. DeFelice Inc.’s work on a $54 million widening of I-84 in Cheshire and Waterbury, with the understanding that it would be reimbursed by the contractor for any claims. Last month, the state Department of Transportation estimated it would cost around $27 million to tear up and repair defective drains along a 3.5-mile section of the highway. The state fired DeFelice last fall. The insurer and the state have not yet agreed on the contractor’s portion of repair costs.
250
The number of sandbags per hour that the National Guard placed throughout downtown Montpelier, Vt., as the city mobilized for a possible spring flood from melting ice. Gov. Jim Douglas authorized the National Guard to assist in the assembly and distribution of the sandbags.