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Certain Losses

“Those cars are going to be losses.”

—U.S. Postal Service spokesman Pete Nowacki said up to 30 postal vehicles and an undetermined number of employee cars were submerged behind a mail-sorting facility in downtown Minneapolis, Minn., after a massive water main break. The break sent 14 million gallons of water gushing into downtown streets, flooding vehicles and forcing local businesses to shut down. Insurers are expected to cover some of the expenses. The break happened at the site of a $70 million apartment-retail development.

One Too Many

“One injury or one death is one too many.”

—Ron Ness, president of the North Dakota Petroleum Council. According to North Dakota Workforce Safety and Insurance data, 29 workers were killed on the job in the fiscal year that ended in July. Thirteen of the fatalities occurred in oil patch-related occupations, and seven of those deaths were from vehicle crashes. The energy sector has spurred the state’s economy, and increased the number of employers, workers and claims. Work-related deaths in all occupations rose from nine in 2010 and 14 in 2011, data show.

An Impressive Year

“2012 was an impressive year with 11 recorded billion-dollar events.”

—Adam Smith, an applied climatologist at National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Climatic Data Center. NOAA reported that the United States in 2012 experienced 11 events that caused more than $1 billion in losses each. A total of 349 lives were lost as a result of the seven severe weather/tornado events, two tropical storm/hurricane events and the yearlong drought and associated wildfires last year.

High Five

“Thank You – We Did It. Today warrants a celebration like no other in ÌìÃÀÍøÕ¾´«Ã½´«Ã½’s history and places well in the past a crisis none of us will ever forget.”

—ÌìÃÀÍøÕ¾´«Ã½´«Ã½ CEO Robert Benmosche in a memo to ÌìÃÀÍøÕ¾´«Ã½´«Ã½ staff after the U.S. Treasury sold its last remaining shares of ÌìÃÀÍøÕ¾´«Ã½´«Ã½ stock on Dec. 14, 2012. The company has launched an advertising campaign thanking America for its support and highlighting ÌìÃÀÍøÕ¾´«Ã½´«Ã½’s recovery, repayment and a combined positive return to taxpayers of over $22 billion.

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