NEW YORK—Health insurer WellPoint Inc. says it will cut about 1,500 jobs to reduce costs, a move that will cost the company $24 million in the fourth quarter. The Indianapolis-based company, which owns health insurer Anthem, will eliminate about 3.5 percent of its staff, which currently totals more than 42,000. More than 900 open positions and 600 associate jobs are being eliminated.

Employees at Genworth Financial Inc. are finding out this week just who will lose their jobs. The Henrico County-based insurance company is in the process of notifying 1,000 employees, or about 14 percent of its worldwide work force, that their jobs will be eliminated.

Words will never fully describe the everyday adversity and heartbreak young families face when autism envelops a son or daughter.

A real estate market under siege from subprime mortgages and the credit crunch could be hit with another twist. The bankruptcy case in Richmond of LandAmerica 1031 Exchange Services Inc. might harm the market for a key tax shelter used by people who buy investment properties. The consequences could reach far beyond central Virginia and the 450 customers of the now-closed exchange, which is a subsidiary of Henrico County-based LandAmerica Financial Group Inc.

Henrico-based insurance company Genworth Financial Inc. will cut 1,000 jobs, about 14 percent of its worldwide employees, as part of its reponse to the global recession. It would not say how many of the layoffs might be among its Richmond-area staff.

About 2,000 retirees from LandAmerica Financial Group lost health-care benefits or life insurance this week after the company canceled their coverage to cut costs.

Stock in Henrico-County-based LandAmerica Financial Group Inc., the third-largest U.S. title insurer, plunged yesterday after its planned sale to rival Fidelity National Financial Inc. was terminated Friday night. LandAmerica shares dropped $3.83 to 51 cents. The company has lost 98 percent of its market value this year. Shares in Fidelity advanced 13 percent to $8.35.

There is no Thanksgiving for LandAmerica Financial Corp. this year. The corporate shell that was to have transferred the venerable Henrico County-based insurer to a Florida competitor was to be called Thanksgiving Corp. The Nov. 7 merger agreement with Fidelity National Financial Inc. had offered LandAmerica a way out of a financial jam caused by the housing market collapse that has already taken down several financial giants. For $128 million, Fidelity would have acquired a competitor that had $3.7 billion in revenue last year.

LandAmerica Financial Group’s future was dealt a serious blow last night. The deal to sell the Henrico County-based title-insurance and real estate services provider to larger rival Fidelity National Financial Inc. was called off. Neither company gave a reason.