State Farm suspends writing new policies

Mississippi

Mississippi's largest home-insurance company said Wednesday it has had enough of the "untenable" legal and political climate and is suspending writing new homeowners and commercial policies in a state still struggling to recover from Hurricane Katrina.

A spokesman for State Farm Insurance said the decision was due in part to the wave of lawsuits the company has encountered since the Aug. 29, 2005, storm. State Farm has more than 30 percent of the homeowners policies and 8.5 percent of the commercial policies in Mississippi. The company said the suspension would begin Friday and continue until the business climate in the state is more palatable.

As far as its current homeowner and commercial policies in the state, the company said in a statement that it continues to assess its position in the Mississippi marketplace "to determine what further steps, if any, are necessary."

New York

Report: Teens abuse medications

Marijuana use by U.S. teenagers is declining, but their abuse of prescription drugs is holding steady or in some cases increasing, a new report says.

Many teens are obtaining drugs over the Internet, getting them free from friends or taking them from someone's medicine cabinet, said White House drug-policy chief John Walters, who released the report Wednesday.

According to an analysis of national surveys prepared by Walters' office, 2.1 million teenagers abused prescription drugs in 2005, the most recent year for which figures are available.

While their use of marijuana declined from 30.1 percent to 25.8 percent from 2002 to 2005, use of OxyContin, a painkiller, increased from 2.7 percent to 3.5 percent over the same period. Use of Vicodin, another painkiller, increased slightly from 6 percent to 6.3 percent.

Teens are also abusing stimulants such as Adderall and anti-anxiety drugs such as Xanax.

Pahrump, Nev.

Board rescinds law on official language

The board of this growing desert town has struck down a law that made English the official language and barred residents from flying a foreign flag by itself.

The ordinance, which briefly put this community 60 miles from Las Vegas in the middle of the national immigration debate, was enacted in November but never enforced. The Pahrump Town Board repealed it Tuesday.

Board member Laurayne Murray said Tuesday she hoped the repeal will let the community and board focus on other matters: "We have way more urgent business to address in this community."

Las Vegas

Commissioner sentenced to prison

A former Clark County commissioner was sentenced to six years in prison Wednesday for delivering bribes to politicians on behalf of a strip-club owner.

U.S. District Judge Larry Hicks branded Lance Malone the "organizer, manager and leader" of "probably as gross a case of political corruption in the state of Nevada, certainly, that has ever occurred and been successfully prosecuted."

Hicks blamed Malone for distributing up to $550,000 in bribes to three former commission colleagues from 2000 to 2003.

Seattle Times news services