NATION

NATION
Benefits insurer Anthembuys WellPoint networks
INDIANAPOLIS -- Health benefits insurer Anthem Inc. is buying bigger rival WellPoint Health Networks Inc. for about $16.4 billion in cash and stock in a deal that will combine the nation's two largest Blue Cross Blue Shield concerns. The combined company's name will be WellPoint Inc., with the corporate headquarters in Indianapolis.
Under the deal announced Monday a company would be created that will cover nearly 26 million people and operate in 13 states. Indianapolis-based Anthem, second-largest Blue Cross provider, will pay those who own shares in its larger rival $23.80 in cash and one share of Anthem common stock per WellPoint share. Anthem operates in Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Colorado, Nevada, Maine and Virginia. WellPoint operates in California, Georgia, Missouri and Wisconsin.
New York Times fills ombudsman position
NEW YORK -- The New York Times has named veteran editor and author Daniel Okrent as its first ombudsman, filling a position announced three months ago after an internal probe of the Jayson Blair scandal. Okrent will oversee coverage, review reader complaints and write a periodic column in the newspaper, the Times said in an article in Monday editions.
The paper created the position after the Blair debacle. The Times had published three dozen stories by Blair that were false, plagiarized or inaccurate.
Second, third largesttobacco companies merge
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. and rival Brown & amp; Williamson Tobacco Corp. have agreed to merge their American tobacco businesses, bringing together the marketing muscle of the nation's second and third largest tobacco companies.
The merged operation will be called Reynolds American Inc., with about $10 billion in annual sales. It will still trail industry giant Philip Morris USA, whose brands command about half the U.S. cigarette market.
R.J. Reynolds makes Camel, Winston, Salem and Doral, while Brown & amp; Williamson's top brands include Kool, Lucky Strike, GPC and Capri.
Associated Press