Latest California Headlines
All the headlines from our California Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Officials Blame Santa Barbara Wildfire on Bonfire
Nov 20 2008 // A bonfire built by college students and never fully extinguished was responsible for the massive wildfire in Santa Barbara that destroyed 210 homes, many of them multimillion-dollar properties, authorities said. An...
California’s Emergency Fire Costs Hit $305 Million; Governor To Propose Insurance Surcharge
Nov 20 2008 // The Southern California wildfires are burning a bigger hole in California’s budget, adding to the state’s $11.2 billion deficit, the governor’s finance spokesman said. The state has spent $305 million on...
Study Links Parkinson’s, Agricultural Fungicide
Nov 20 2008 // A new study has made a connection between Parkinson’s disease and residents in California’s San Joaquin Valley who have experienced long-term exposure to certain pesticides. A University of California, Los...
California State Fund Extends Credit Relief to Policyholders Affected by Southern California Fires
Nov 19 2008 // The California State Compensation Insurance Fund announced it will extend credit to policyholders who have suffered financial loss or business disruption caused by the fires in Montecito, Orange County and Sylmar. To date,...
California Assemblyman Dave Jones To Seek Insurance Commissioner Spot
Nov 19 2008 // Just two weeks have passed since the Nov. 4, 2008, election, but California Assemblyman Dave Jones has already announced plans to seek the state’s Insurance Commissioner position in 2010. Jones, D-Sacramento,...
Schwarzenegger Seeks Federal Disaster Declaration
Nov 19 2008 // California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is asking the Bush administration to declare Southern California a federal disaster site after fires tore through wide swaths of the region. According to a letter the governor sent to...
Majority of Southern California Wildfires Contained
Nov 19 2008 // Firefighters are still working on containing two of the fires burning in Southern California. In the past five days, more than 42,000 acres have burned, and close to 1,000 properties have been destroyed, according to CAL...
Obama Vows Climate Action Despite Financial Crisis
Nov 19 2008 // Barack Obama said Tuesday that the United States would “engage vigorously” in climate change talks when he is president, and he pledged to work to reduce emissions sharply by 2020, despite the financial...
Firefighters Make Gains on Southern California Wildfires
Nov 18 2008 // Firefighters made progress on extinguishing the fires burning in Southern California yesterday, thanks to reduced wind conditions. To date, three of the five fires have been contained, although more than 44,000 acres have...
Insurance Information Network Of California Offers Fire Victims Recovery, Claims Info
Nov 18 2008 // With displaced residents of the Southern California fires now returning to their neighborhoods, several home and business owners are now finding themselves facing dozens of questions before they rebuild. To help navigate...
Fire Victims Should Seek Safety, Make Contact with Insurers
Nov 18 2008 // As firefighters work to contain the Tea, Sayre, and Freeway Complex fires throughout Southern California, property/casualty insurance companies are on the ground reaching out to policyholders to facilitate immediate...
California Mobile Homes Could Face New Fire Prevention Building Codes
Nov 18 2008 // In response to the fires burning in Southern California, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has declared states of emergencies in Orange, Riverside, Los Angeles and Santa Barbara counties. Meanwhile, the Governor indicated during...
Southern California Battles Devastating Wildfires
Nov 17 2008 // Southern Californians weathered a fourth day of devastation on Sunday, as wind-blasted wildfires destroyed hundreds of residences, shut down major freeways and forced thousands of residents in the path of flames to flee to...
Explorer Insurance Cuts California Auto Rates 15 Percent
Nov 17 2008 // California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner announced a 15 percent rate cut for Explorer Insurance Co.’s auto insurance policyholders, saving them approximately $3.4 million. Explorer Insurance initially filed...
California Sends Assistance to Fire Victims
Nov 17 2008 // California Commissioner Steve Poizner has deployed more than two dozen California Department of Insurance (CDI) fraud division investigators to assist local law enforcement at the Sayre Fire in Southern California. CDI...
What Additional Living Expense/Loss of Use Coverage Means to California Fire Victims
Nov 17 2008 // The skies are filled with smoke, and thousands of homeowners being evacuated from their homes in Southern California. It has been a weekend of devastation with the fires still ablaze. Our Saturday night’s plans...
California Commissioner Declares Insurance Emergency to Expedite Fire Claims Processing
Nov 17 2008 // California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner declared an insurance emergency to cut red tape and allow insurance companies to use out of state adjusters to more quickly work through the spate of fire...
Business Moves
Nov 16 2008 // Medicus Insurance Company Medicus Insurance Company has been approved to write medical professional liability insurance in Arkansas. Medicus is a Texas-based insurance company specializing in providing medical professional...
Tough Economic Times Could Force Salary Freezes in Southern California
Nov 16 2008 // Given today’s tough economic times, most insurance agencies and carriers in the Southern California region are not planning to give their employees cost of living increases in 2009, although many companies have not...
Declarations
Nov 16 2008 // Financial Myth “This is a financially dangerous myth. … Just because the resale value of your home may have declined does not mean that the cost to rebuild it has also dropped—and that should be your target....
