1. Allstate vows to scale down Florida
coverage - May 19, 2005, money.CNN.com
'Good Hands' letting go in Florida
Reeling from last
year's hurricane season, Allstate to cut almost 100,000 residential
policies.
May 19, 2005: 2:10 PM EDT
By Aaron Smith, CNN/Money staff
writer
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Still reeling from last year's
hurricane season, Allstate Insurance said it will not renew about 100,000
insurance policies in Florida and plans to gradually discontinue most commercial
property coverage in the state.
Also, Florida policy holders should expect to see their rates
rise over the next year because Allstate needs to pay for a new reinsurance
policy to guard against future hurricane damages, the company said this week.
An advocate for the insured blasted the move.
--
2. Getting over material
losses
Grief over things lost in 2003's
Old Fire is replaced by familiar things
August 13, 2005
By PAUL DeCARLO / The Riverside
Press-Enterprise
YUCAIPA - Two years later,
Ron Serber can still recall the dread he felt when he realized the strings lying
in the charred ruins of his home belonged to his 100-year-old tiger oak piano.
The antique-filled Victorian Farmhouse that Serber and
his wife, Corliss, lived in for 18 years atop Waterman Canyon had been destroyed
in the 2003 Old Fire.
--
3. Wrestling
Wildfires
Thin out the dry, crowded
forests,and quit building on trees' periphery
August 13, 2005
By GENE ZIMMERMAN, published
in the Riverside Press Enterprise
A new report by the Riverside Forest Fire Laboratory has shown that the
cost of the 2003 fires in San Bernardino County totaled $1.2 billion.
The report adds up the
out-of-pocket expenses resulting from the Old, Grand Prix and Padua fires, and
finds them to be much higher than the $61 million initially reported for fire
suppression.
--
4. Trying to Stay
Airborne
County's
rescue and firefighting helicopters are often grounded by difficult maintenance
and a shortage of parts and mechanics.
August 14, 2005
By Jack Leonard, LA Times Staff
Writer
Helicopter 18, a multimillion-dollar rescue and firefighting powerhouse,
has protected scores of Los Angeles County homes from advancing brush fires,
buzzing rooftops to douse a flaming hillside with up to 360 gallons of water.
It's raced heart attack victims to faraway hospitals; it's landed on freeways to
transport injured motorists faster than a wheeled ambulance.
--
5. A Wave of Relief After 1986 Flood
Victims of
a levee break near Sacramento are paid by the state for damages, which now total
$464 million. Some fear setting a precedent.
August 16, 2005
By Nancy Vogel, LA Times
Staff Writer
LINDA, Calif. — California taxpayers gave hundreds of
thousands of dollars last month to Wayne Hall and his son, Dale, 19 years after
a flood submerged their butcher shop in 6 feet of water. The settlement resolved
a bitter legal battle so prolonged that nearly 500 victims of the disaster died
waiting for similar payments.
--
6. Trip to be a factor in sentencing of
hunter
By Onell R. Soto
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
August 16, 2005
A federal judge said yesterday he
wants to visit the spot near Pine Hills where the largest wildfire in state
history began before he sentences a novice hunter for causing it.
Sergio Martinez, 34, has admitted
setting what became the Cedar fire, saying he was lost, dehydrated and
disoriented after going deer hunting Oct. 25, 2003. He pleaded guilty March 10
to setting timber afire, a federal felony, and faces up to five years in prison.