Latest Florida Headlines
All the headlines from our Florida Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Florida Mosque Arsonist Sentenced to 30 Years
Feb 8 2017 // An ex-convict who posted anti-Islamic rants online pleaded no contest and was sentenced to 30 years in prison on Monday for setting fire to a mosque that the Orlando nightclub shooter attended occasionally. Joseph...
Proof of Loss Deadline Extended for Florida Hurricane Matthew Claims
Feb 8 2017 // The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation announced that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has granted another extension giving National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) policyholders in Florida an additional...
Greene & Associates Opens Office in Florida; Adds Fuchs to Underwriting Team
Feb 8 2017 // Underwriting manager and wholesale broker in Greene & Associates, based in East Aurora, N.Y., has opened its an office in Bradenton, Fla., and hired Don Fuchs to its underwriting team. Fuchs has more than 35 years of...
Demotech Suspends Florida Insurer Rating Criteria; Says Downgrades Coming
Feb 7 2017 // Recent Florida Supreme Court decisions and ongoing abuse in Florida’s insurance market have led a ratings company to change the criteria it uses when rating insurers in the state. The announcement comes as insurers...
Food Poisoning Suspected of Sickening 28 Kids at Florida Science Fair
Feb 7 2017 // Authorities say more than two dozen kids attending a science competition in north Florida fell ill and were taken to the hospital after eating a catered lunch. The Columbia County Sheriff’s Office said on its...
Florida Approves 15K Citizens Policies for April Take-Outs
Feb 6 2017 // The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) has approved the following company to participate in the April Citizens Property Insurance Corp. take-out period. April 18, 2017 Personal Residential Take-Out Period:...
E&S Market Continues to See Growth in Premium: Texas Stamping Office
Feb 6 2017 // Overall, 2016 ended on a positive note for the U.S. excess and surplus lines insurance industry, according to the Surplus Lines Stamping Office of Texas (SLTX). Nationally, nearly $26 billion in surplus lines insurance...
Opinion: The Insurance Industry’s Image Problem & How They Can Fix It
Feb 3 2017 // The insurance industry has an image problem. That is probably not really breaking news to anyone reading this, but it’s an important topic to discuss and one the industry can address and, believe it or not, an issue...
104 Arrested in South Florida in $60M Identity Theft Ring
Feb 3 2017 // Federal authorities have charged 104 people with numerous identity theft and fraud offenses in the latest South Florida crackdown on a rampant problem involving tens of thousands of stolen personal identities. The charges...
Florida’s Rising Traffic Deaths Prompt Statewide ‘Arrive Alive’ Safety Campaign
Feb 1 2017 // Florida has rolled out an aggressive new campaign targeted at decreasing the number of traffic deaths in the state, which have steadily been rising since 2014. The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles...
ARC, Topa Insurance Launch Coverage for Post-Hurricane Losses in Florida
Jan 31 2017 // Topa Insurance Co. has formed an exclusive partnership with Assured Risk Cover (ARC) to launch StormPeace, an insurance product in Florida designed to protect insureds from economic loss incurred by a named hurricane and...
Next Level Administrators Of Florida Adds Blanch as VP of Business Development
Jan 30 2017 // Next Level Administrators (NLA), a Bradenton, Fla.-based data-focused claims administration organization, has appointed Angela Blanch as vice president of Business Development. Prior to joining the company, Blanch worked...
Florida-Based American Integrity Insurance Group Adds Brown as CFO
Jan 27 2017 // American Integrity has selected Cory Brown as its chief financial officer. He will lead the company’s accounting team and be an integral part of its executive leadership team, based in Tampa, Fla. Brown has nearly...
Florida Sheriff Asks for Ticket After Getting Caught Speeding
Jan 26 2017 // A Florida sheriff asked to be ticketed after a deputy pulled him over for speeding in his unmarked car. Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood tells The Daytona Beach News-Journal he wanted “to set an example”...
Willis Towers Watson Makes New Appointments in South Florida, Appoints Zutel to Lead
Jan 26 2017 // Willis Towers Watson has appointed Fred Zutel as head of Corporate Risk and Broking (CRB) in South Florida. The company also made four other hires, strengthening its presence in the South Florida market. Zutel worked with...
39 Possible Tornadoes Devastate Southeast, Leave 19 Dead
Jan 24 2017 // Chuck Stafford was watching the Atlanta Falcons rout the Green Bay Packers for the NFC title when bad weather suddenly began to pound his mobile home in southern Georgia. Stafford, 74, had just gotten to head to the...
Texas Stamping Office: Upward Trend Continues for Surplus Lines
Jan 24 2017 // Overall, 2016 ended on a positive note for the U.S. excess and surplus lines insurance industry, according to the Surplus Lines Stamping Office of Texas (SLTX). Nationally, nearly $26 billion in surplus lines insurance...
Death Toll Climbs From Weekend Tornadoes Across Southeast
Jan 23 2017 // A weekend of deadly weather in the Southeast killed at least 15 people and injured dozens more, authorities said Sunday morning, while residents along the Georgia-Florida line braced for more intense, fast-moving storms...
U.S. to Study Sand From Bahamas to Protect Florida Coast
Jan 23 2017 // A potential solution to a troublesome sand shortage off Southeast Florida is tucked away in a massive water resources funding bill President Barack Obama signed into law last month. The 2016 Water Resources Development Act...
Tornadoes, Hurricanes and Fires… Oh My! Southeast Weathers Tough 2016
Jan 23 2017 // It is fair to say 2016 was the year of the catastrophe in the Southeast. Tornadoes, drought, floods, hurricanes and wildfires impacted virtually every state in the region. For the insurance industry, these events made for...
