Latest California Headlines
All the headlines from our California Topic Page, ordered by recency.
People Moves: Crest in Arizona Names Pallesen Vice President; Bender in California Adds Pazar
Oct 19 2021 // Crest Insurance Group of Tucson, Ariz., named Russell Pallesen vice president of commercial sales. Russell has previously been a branch manager for Enterprise Rent a Car, and has worked in pharmaceutical sales. In 2017, he...
Southern California Wildfire Almost Fully Contained, Residents Go Home
Oct 19 2021 // Residents who fled the Alisal Fire west of Santa Barbara have been allowed to return home. All evacuation orders and warnings were canceled Sunday afternoon. The fire was 87% contained Monday morning and its size was...
California City Paying $11M to Settle Fatal Crosswalk Crash
Oct 15 2021 // Sacramento has paid $11 million to settle a lawsuit after a car hit a boy and killed his grandmother in 2018, one of the city’s largest such payouts. QuiChang Zhu, 72, and her grandson Jian Hao Kuang, 6, were using a...
California Highway Reopens, Wildfire Still Threatens Homes
Oct 15 2021 // A key Southern California highway closed for days because of a wildfire was reopened Thursday evening but authorities warned that flames still posed a threat to remote properties in a coastal mountain range. The Alisal...
California FAIR Plan to Appeal of Court’s Ruling on Expanded Coverage
Oct 14 2021 // The California FAIR Plan Association (FAIR Plan) says it will appeal a ruling by the Los Angeles Superior Court the association believes will lead to unnecessary rate increases for all FAIR Plan policyholders and...
People Moves: CSAA Promotions Launch Enterprise Strategic Initiatives Office in California
Oct 14 2021 // CSAA Insurance Group announced new promotions to lead its product management division and newly formed Enterprise Strategic Initiatives Office. Laurna Castillo was named senior vice president of state product management...
Mercury Insurance Reports a 40% Spike in California Comprehensive Car Claims
Oct 14 2021 // Mercury Insurance is reporting a dramatic increase in vehicle vandalism and auto theft in California, with comprehensive auto insurance claims reportedly up 40% since pre-pandemic levels. While the increase in theft and...
California Insurance Commissioner Touts Bills Signed by Governor
Oct 13 2021 // California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara thanked Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday for protecting the state’s consumers through the signing of 11 bills that Lara sponsored this legislative session. According to...
Legal Fights over California Oil Spill Likely to Last Years
Oct 13 2021 // It took little more than 48 hours from the moment a major oil spill was discovered off Southern California until the first lawsuit was filed against the Houston company that owns and operates the ruptured pipeline. Finding...
Surging California Winds Spark New Wildfires, Power Outages
Oct 13 2021 // Blustery winds still surged through California on Tuesday after downing trees, fanning wildfires and shutting off power to about 21,000 customers in northern and central regions. Red flag warnings of dangerous fire...
Popular California Beach City Reopens After Massive Oil Spill
Oct 12 2021 // A Southern California beach that was closed more than a week ago because of a leak of crude oil from an undersea pipeline reopened on Monday, far sooner than many expected, City and state beaches in Huntington Beach...
Hub Acquires Assets of Baird in California
Oct 11 2021 // Hub International Ltd. acquired the assets of Jerry Baird Insurance Agency and Baird Crop Insurance Agency. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Fresno, Calif.-based Baird specializes in crop and commercial insurance,...
California Spill Not the Environmental Disaster First Feared
Oct 11 2021 // After a crude oil sheen was detected on the waters off the Southern California coast, environmentalists feared the worst: A massive spill that would wreck the ecosystem. A week later, the region and its signature beaches...
Liberty Company Acquires Rubicon M&A Insurance Services in California
Oct 11 2021 // The Liberty Company Insurance Brokers has acquired Rubicon M&A Insurance Services LLC in California. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Rubicon M&A, led by its founder Patrick Stroth, specializes in executive...
California Encourages Prescribed Burns to Counter Wildfires
Oct 8 2021 // California is encouraging more use of fire to fight fire, such as when deliberately set burns were recently used to protect giant sequoias from a raging wildfire. But sometimes what are known as prescribed fires themselves...
Investigators Board Ship That Was Anchored Near California Oil Pipeline
Oct 8 2021 // U.S. Coast Guard investigators have boarded a massive cargo ship as they probe what caused the rupture of an offshore oil pipeline that sent crude washing up on Southern California beaches. The Coast Guard is investigating...
Hub Acquires Assets of Verity and Bellehaven in California
Oct 8 2021 // Hub International Ltd. acquired the assets of Verity Insurance Services Inc. and Bellehaven Management Inc. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Located in Covina, Calif., Verity Insurance is an independent...
California Governor Signs Hemp Bill Setting up Regulatory Framework
Oct 7 2021 // California Gov. Gavin Newsom this week signed a bill into law establishing a comprehensive regulatory framework for the manufacture and sale of hemp products in California. Newsom signed Assembly Bill 45. The bill alters...
California City Paying Black Worker Who Claimed Discrimination
Oct 7 2021 // San Diego will pay nearly $100,000 to a former city Streets Division worker who filed a lawsuit claiming he faced discrimination because he is Black and was retaliated against for complaining about unsafe work...
California Pharmacy Owner Gets 5 Years for $13M Scheme Involving Insurance Fraud
Oct 7 2021 // A man who owned a Southern California pharmacy was sentenced to over five years in prison after he admitted submitting more than $13 million in fraudulent insurance claims for expensive medication. Thu Van Le, 42, pleaded...
