Latest Arkansas Headlines
All the headlines from our Arkansas Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Arkansas Workers’ Comp Insurance Rates to Decrease in 2022
Mar 14 2022 // Arkansas Insurance Commissioner Alan McClain announced on March 10 that Arkansas businesses could see another rate decrease in workers’ compensation insurance in 2022. The Arkansas Insurance Department (AID) approved...
Arkansas Teachers Fund Agrees to $643M Settlement With Allianz Over Losses
Mar 3 2022 // A pension fund for teachers in Arkansas has settled with Allianz and dropped its lawsuit over losses in a multibillion-dollar trading debacle at the German insurer’s funds arm, according to a court document. The...
Arkansas Medical Supply Owner, CEO Indicted For Allegedly Conspiring to Defraud Workers’ Comp Insurers
Mar 2 2022 // Both the former owner of a Rogers, Arkansas-based medical supply and billing company and its former chief executive officer have been indicted by a federal grand jury for their roles in three separate conspiracies to...
Fire That Killed Dozens of Animals at Arkansas Petting Zoo Under Investigation
Feb 28 2022 // Dozens of animals including prairie dogs, lemurs and hedgehogs were killed when a fire broke out in a barn at an Arkansas petting zoo, according to a woman who volunteers at the zoo. At a news conference Feb. 25, Jennifer...
8th Circuit: Insurer Owes Nothing to Arkansas Man Who Lied on Proof of Loss Statement
Feb 23 2022 // After his house burned down in 2015, Rick Merechka turned in a sworn proof of loss statement telling his insurance company that the replacement value of his household goods was $607,640. But in December 2010, Merechka and...
People Moves: Madigan Joins Alliant in Arkansas; BXS Adds Breaux in Texas
Feb 16 2022 // Alliant Adds James Madigan as Senior Vice President Within Employee Benefits Group Alliant has added James “Jimmy” Madigan as senior vice president within its employee benefits group. Based in Fayetteville,...
Arkansas Judge Dismisses Duggar Sister’s Suit Over Records’ Release
Feb 14 2022 // A federal judge on Feb. 9 dismissed a lawsuit four sisters of Josh Duggar filed over the release of records from a police investigation that concluded the former reality television star fondled them. U.S. District Judge...
Arkansas Lawmakers Clear Way For Agencies to Enforce Vaccine Requirement
Feb 1 2022 // Arkansas lawmakers on Jan. 28 cleared the way for state-run health care facilities to require employees to get the COVID-19 vaccine after officials warned that blocking the move would jeopardize more than $700 million in...
Arkansas Insurance Commissioner to Chair NAIC Workers’ Comp Task Force
Jan 28 2022 // Arkansas Insurance Commissioner Alan McClain has been appointed by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) to serve as the Chair for the Workers’ Compensation (C) Task Force, a subgroup of the...
Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas Among States With Highest Frozen Pipe Claims
Jan 25 2022 // State Farm paid more than $471 million in claims from frozen pipes in 2021, and more than two/thirds of claims can be rooted back to one state: Texas. The Lone Star State accounted for $343 million of frozen pipes claim...
Disaster Recovery Centers to Open in Northeast Arkansas
Jan 18 2022 // Three joint state and federal disaster centers are set to open in northeast Arkansas to assist those affected by tornadoes that killed two people in the area in December. Officials with the Federal Emergency Management...
Arthur J. Gallagher Acquires Arkansas’ The Robbi Davis Agency
Jan 7 2022 // Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has announced the acquisition of Little Rock, Arkansas-based The Robbi Davis Agency, Inc.. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Founded in 1996, RDA is a full-service insurance agency...
Trean Insurance Group Launches Arkansas E&S Carrier, Benchmark
Dec 29 2021 // Benchmark Insurance Company, subsidiary of Trean Insurance Group Inc. and a writer of program business, has formed a new excess and surplus lines subsidiary, Benchmark Specialty Insurance Company, an Arkansas domestic...
Federal Relief Funding Available in Five Arkansas Counties Following Tornadoes
Dec 27 2021 // President Joe Biden has declared a major disaster in Arkansas, making federal relief funding available in five north eastern counties hit by tornadoes that ripped through the Midwest and South this month. The declaration...
Arkansas Flooring Manufacturer Faces $204K in Proposed Fines for Unsafe Workplace
Dec 20 2021 // A knot saw operator suffered a partial amputation of an index finger in June 2021 when his hand came in contact with a rotating blade that lacked adequate machine guarding. A few weeks earlier, a similar saw at the Maxwell...
Tornados Leave 2 Dead in Arkansas; Governor Says State Avoided Worst of Storm
Dec 13 2021 // Two people were killed in northeastern Arkansas as tornadoes struck several states in the region, Gov. Asa Hutchinson said Saturday, Dec. 11 in Monette. One person at Monette Manor nursing home in Monette and one person...
Arkansas Sues Medical Supplier for $11M for Failed COVID Supplies Delivery
Oct 29 2021 // The state of Arkansas filed a consumer protection lawsuit Wednesday against a Virginia-based medical supplier for nearly $11 million for failing to deliver supplies during the coronavirus pandemic, Attorney General Leslie...
Arkansas Company Sued for Race Discrimination in Hiring
Sep 30 2021 // A federal agency has charged in a lawsuit that an Arkansas site preparation company steered Black applicants into lower-paying positions and paid Black applicants less money at hire. In its lawsuit the U.S. Equal...
Arthur J. Gallagher Acquires Arkansas’ Alpha Surety & Insurance
Sep 30 2021 // Arthur J. Gallagher& Co. has acquired Little Rock, Ark.-based Alpha Surety & Insurance Brokerage LLC. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Founded in 2002, Alpha Surety focuses primarily on selling direct...
Inmates at Arkansas Jail Unaware They Were Given Anti-Parasite Drug to Treat COVID-19
Sep 3 2021 // inmates at a northwest Arkansas jail said they weren’t told a medication they were given to treat COVID-19 was actually an anti-parasite drug that federal health officials have warned should not be used to treat the...
