VALDEZ . . . EXXON PUNISHED
An Alaska jury slammed Exxon with an award of $5 billion in punitive damages to 14,000 people affected by the 1989 Valdez spill in Prince William Sound. It was the last of three verdicts. The first verdict determined that Exxon was liable for punitive damages, and the second awarded $287 million to commercial fishermen in the region. Not surprisingly, Exxon is expected to appeal the decision. This final judgment nearly matches what the petroleum producer makes in annual profits. REMEMBER HAZELWOOD? The hapless Valdez captain, Joseph Hazelwood, had been acquitted of wrongdoing by another court in 1990, but this trial's jury ordered him to pay up too, to the tune of $5,000.
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RAY KELLY, New York City Police Commissioner, on the arrest of a New Jersey man in one of the nation's most baffling missing-children cases, the disappearance more than three decades ago of 6-year-old Etan Patz.
