Latest Florida Headlines
All the headlines from our Florida Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Northeast Coast Spared Hermine’s Worst
Sep 5 2016 // Atlantic storm Hermine drifted north on Monday off the U.S. East Coast, still packing near-hurricane strength winds but far enough from land to spare the Middle Atlantic states. Forecasters warned swimmers and boaters...
Insurers Seen ‘Easily’ Handling Hermine Losses
Sep 2 2016 // Hurricane Hermine, which is poised to land in Florida Friday, may result in “manageable” losses for the insurance industry, according to Keefe Bruyette & Woods analyst Meyer Shields. The storm is forecast...
Hermine Weakens As It Hits Florida Panhandle; Some Flooding, Power Outages Expected
Sep 2 2016 // Hermine, the first hurricane to strike Florida since 2005, has weakened to a tropical storm as it moves inland, after threatening soy and cotton crops and leaving large swaths of the region at risk of...
Florida Finds First Local Mosquitoes With Zika Virus
Sep 2 2016 // Florida officials on Thursday said they have trapped the first mosquitoes that tested positive for the Zika virus in the Miami area, further confirming reports of local U.S. transmission of the illness that can cause...
Gulf Coast Prepares for Tropical Storm Hermine as Possibility of Hurricane Looms
Sep 1 2016 // Florida is being warned to prepare for arriving Tropical Storm Hermine, which is expected to dump heavy rain, bring strong winds and the possibility of isolated tornadoes across parts of the state, according to the Florida...
Commentary: It is a Catastrophe that No One Listens to the Experts on Florida
Sep 1 2016 // “If you don’t read the newspaper, you are uninformed. If you do read the newspaper, you are misinformed.” Although the author is unknown, this comment is often attributed to Mark Twain or Thomas...
Tropical Weather System Approaches Southeast States
Aug 31 2016 // Crowds thinned Tuesday on the beaches of North Carolina’s Outer Banks ahead of a tropical weather system that threatened to bring strong winds and heavy rains that could flood low-lying areas. Elsewhere, a powerful...
How Florida Insurers Can Prepare for Claims from a Major Hurricane
Aug 31 2016 // After eight hurricanes in two years between 2004 and 2005, we haven’t seen a hurricane in Florida for over 10 years. Has the state learned from those storms? Are the insurance companies ready? What about the...
More Than 1K Bee Hives Stolen From Florida Bee Farmers
Aug 30 2016 // Southwest Florida bee farmers are having a difficult summer because thieves have been stealing their hives, lots of them, to the tune of $150,000 or more. So far, none of the hundreds of stolen hives have been recovered,...
A.M. Best Downgrades Ratings of Florida-Based American Capital Assurance
Aug 30 2016 // A.M. Best has downgraded the financial strength rating to A- (Excellent) from A (Excellent) and the issuer credit rating to “a-” from “a+” for American Capital Assurance Corp (ACAC) of St....
Florida Woman Caught Faking Injury in Attempt to Collect Workers’ Comp Payments
Aug 26 2016 // The Department of Financial Services’ Division of Investigative and Forensic Services (DIFS) announced the arrest of a Fort Lauderdale woman after she attempted to fraudulently collect workers’ compensation...
Opioid Overdoses in Florida County Jump 75% in 2016
Aug 25 2016 // Firefighters in Palm Beach County, Fla., have been responding to an average of five opioid-related overdoses every day this year. The Palm Beach Post reports that county firefighters are handling 75 percent more...
Brown & Brown Florida Office Denies EEOC Allegations of Pregnancy Discrimination
Aug 25 2016 // The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has filed suit against national insurance brokerage firm Brown & Brown, based in Daytona Beach, Fla., over allegations it violated the Civil Rights Act by...
Zika Case Found in Florida County Hundreds of Miles From Miami
Aug 23 2016 // Florida officials on Tuesday announced the first case of Zika acquired by local mosquitoes in Pinellas County, located some 265 miles (425 km) from Miami, where the first locally transmitted U.S. cases were...
Officials: No Long-Term Impact on Florida Tourism Expected Despite Zika Spread
Aug 23 2016 // The discovery of Zika-carrying mosquitoes in South Florida certainly isn’t ideal for tourism, but local officials and business leaders are confident the long-term impact on the tourism industry will be...
Business Moves
Aug 22 2016 // U.S. Risk, Kohlberg & Co. Dallas-based international specialty lines underwriting manager and wholesale broker U.S. Risk Insurance Group Inc. has agreed to partner with the private equity firm Kohlberg & Co....
<em>Source: Locally Transmitted Zika Virus Found in Miami Beach</em>
Aug 19 2016 // Florida health officials have found evidence of local Zika virus transmission in Miami Beach, one of the world’s most popular tourist destinations, opening a new front in the fight against the mosquito-borne virus,...
American Integrity Insurance Launches Umbrella Coverage for Florida Homeowners
Aug 19 2016 // Tampa-based American Integrity Insurance Co., a Florida property insurance company, has launched a new umbrella policy for Florida consumers and property insurance policyholders. The new coverage offers up to $5 million in...
Florida Insurers UPC Insurance, American Coastal Insurance Enter Merger Agreement
Aug 18 2016 // United Insurance Holdings Corp. (UPC Insurance), a property and casualty insurance holding company, has entered into a merger agreement with RDX Holding, LLC, the parent of American Coastal Insurance Co. (ACIC or American...
Litigation Insurance Reimburses Plaintiff Lawyers Losing Cases on Contingency
Aug 17 2016 // When David Brill lost a trial for a client who fell off his neighbor’s ladder, it was a rare failure for his three-member Florida law firm. It also cost him $30,000 in expenses since he’d taken the case on...
