SPRINGFIELD -- A Lake County environmental group believes a former producer of asbestos products in Waukegan should face $84 million in state pollution fines rather than the "disgracefully low" $145,000 fine being sought by Attorney General Lisa Madigan.

MILLIS - It's official: Visitors can now safely return to the public library, which reopened last week after no traces of asbestos were found.

The number of cases has dropped steadily since May, when Circuit Judge Timothy McCarthy, who presides over the court's asbestos division, began questioning why thousands of claims were showing up in South Florida, even though they had no local connection.

COLUMBUS - Even as it made another stab at restricting lawsuit jury awards, the Ohio General Assembly was already anticipating a court challenge.

Ledyard - Ledyard Middle School officials moved students to another school Thursday after learning that ceiling tiles, some of which contained asbestos, may have been moved during the installation of new light sensors.

HELENA - Medical costs for people sickened by asbestos exposure in Libby are expected to top $32.2 million over the next five years, new estimates show.

Middlesex District Attorney Martha Coakley said yesterday she wants the state to move all her employees out of the Middlesex County courthouse in Cambridge as quickly as possible amid growing alarm over asbestos in the 22-story building.

HONOLULU (AP) _ The Hawaii State Teachers Association is criticizing state officials for the slow response to the discovery of asbestos at a Windward Oahu School.

Equitas, which reinsures and is running off liabilities of Lloyd's syndicates prior to 1993, said it needs more study before it decides if asbestos reserves will need strengthening.

EDWARDSVILLE - A Chicago-area man who sued in Madison County for his asbestos-related lung cancer has reached a settlement his attorney said will bring his total compensation to about $4 million.

A civil lawsuit filed in the 32nd Judicial Court on behalf of a Wisconsin man who died of asbestos-related cancer was settled out of court over the weekend.

KANEOHE, Hawaii -- The discovery of asbestos at King Intermediate School has some parents and teachers worried.

The teacher's union is advising its 71 members at the school to get chest X-rays and to file for worker's compensation to cover the cost of the X-ray, KITV 4 News reported.

WASHINGTON, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Sen. Arlen Specter, who is expected to be the next chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said on Wednesday he hoped to produce a bill early next year to create a national fund for compensating asbestos victims.

YONKERS - The Environmental Protection Agency fined Yonkers schools $131,000 for failing to comply with federal asbestos laws under a settlement that allows them to apply the penalty to repairs and training, according to an agreement released yesterday by federal authorities.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey may be liable for injuries resulting from second hand exposure to asbestos at its work sites, the Appellate Division, 1st Department, ruled Thursday.

People who lived near or worked in a Dearborn factory that spewed asbestos dust for decades will get guidance, advice and resources, federal and state officials promised at a public hearing.

ZURICH, Dec 6 (Reuters) - ABB (ABBN.VX: Quote, Profile, Research) has cancelled an offer to exchange two of its existing bonds for a new fixed-rate bond after a U.S. court last week rejected the Swiss engineering group's proposal to settle potentially ruinous asbestos claims.

HOUSTON - Halliburton Co. Friday said a federal court had signed an order that would end the company's asbestos liability later this month, clearing another hurdle for two of its subsidiaries to emerge from bankruptcy.

Making certain all buildings in the Montague Area Public Schools (MAPS) district are free of asbestos, work is already underway clearing material away from Oceana High School in Rothbury.

A QUEST for compensation begun by a man suffering from asbestos-related cancer has now been taken up by his widow in response to his final wishes.

Dec. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Shares of ABB Ltd., the world's biggest maker of electricity transformers, fell as much as 12 percent after a U.S. court threw out a $1.3 billion plan to resolve more than 135,000 asbestos lawsuits.

The claims from workers who suffered exposure to asbestos at ABB units including Combustion Engineering will now return to lower courts for renegotiation.

Opening statements regarding a civil lawsuit which was filed on behalf of a Wisconsin man who died of asbestos related cancer was heard Wednesday by a jury in the 32nd Judicial Court.

This fall, Kathy Rossland-Hulce, who for more than four years has led a grassroots effort to improve asbestos testing in the schools, submitted a petition with 73 signatures to the school board requesting that it accept an offer from some residents to pay for testing in the section of WMS that opened in 2001.

A Queens housewife says she contracted a fatal form of cancer from washing her husband's work clothes.

Now Elizabeth Holdampf, 59, of Bellerose is suing the Port Authority, which employed her husband for nearly four decades.