ECONOMY
From Times Staff and Wire Reports
Jobless Claims Drop for 3rd Straight Week: The number of Americans filing new unemployment claims fell by 2,000 last week, to 349,000, the Labor Department said. It was the third consecutive week of small-scale improvement, although the number of new claims remains well above the level reached in late December. States with the largest declines were Michigan, 8,100; California, 3,012; New York, 2,237; Pennsylvania, 1,737, and Illinois, 1,685.
