Latest Florida Headlines
All the headlines from our Florida Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Black Market AIDS Ring Members Apprehended for Diverting Drugs from Medicaid Recipients
Dec 1 2005 // Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist and U.S. Attorney Alexander Acosta today announced the arrests of four individuals, including two Miami physicians, for their participation in an organization that illegally diverted...
Florida Big ‘I’ Suggests Elimination of HRA Would Solve the State’s Wind Risk Problem
Nov 30 2005 // A proposed “solution” to Florida’s hurricane insurance problems, based on impressive research and an independent actuarial analysis showing hundreds of millions of dollars in savings has been announced by...
Florida ‘Fraud Fighters Program’ Pays $16,000 in Rewards to Tipsters Reporting Schemes
Nov 29 2005 // Five individuals who reported fraud perpetrators have received $16,000 in cash rewards from the Florida Financial Services Department after the recipients, including a child, provided information that led fraud detectives...
Florida Reduces 2006 Longshore Rates
Nov 29 2005 // Longshore rates in Florida have taken another reduction according to LIG Marine Managers of St. Petersburg, Fla. On top of the general rate reductions approved by the state, the Longshore surcharge has again been reduced...
Demotech Gives Nationwide of Florida an ‘A’ Rating
Nov 29 2005 // Demotech Inc. has confirmed that a Financial Stability Rating (FSR) of A, Exceptional, remains in place for Nationwide Insurance Company of Florida. The confirmation comes after NICOF received a capital infusion from...
Experts Predict More Advances Soon in Ability to Predict Hurricanes
Nov 28 2005 // Hurricane Wilma was briefly the most intense Atlantic storm on record as it moved through the Caribbean toward the Gulf Coast. That was the last thing Gulf residents wanted to hear. Two months earlier, Hurricane Katrina...
Busiest Hurricane Season on Record Ends Nov. 30
Nov 28 2005 // Hurricane Season 2005 officially comes to a close Wednesday Nov. 30 and according to Tom Gallagher, Florida’s CFO, people will be dealing with the aftermath for years to come. Nationwide, this season was the busiest...
Jacksonville Planners Preparing for 2006 Hurricane Season
Nov 25 2005 // Jacksonville, Fla. residents should begin to prepare now for the 2006 hurricane season according to Chip Patterson, chief of the city’s Emergency Preparedness Division. Patterson recently told the Chamber of...
Florida’s CFO Gallagher Backs National Catastrophe Fund
Nov 25 2005 // A National Catastrophe Fund that would provide assistance for insurance claims in Florida has been endorsed by Tom Gallagher, Florida’s CFO. The CFO’s recommendations came after officials, including Florida...
Best Removes FSR of Nationwide of Florida from Under Review
Nov 22 2005 // A.M. Best Co. has removed the financial strength rating of B (Fair) of Nationwide Insurance Company of Florida (NICOF) from under review. The rating outlook is negative. Removal of the under review status follows the...
Fla. CFO Gallagher Voices Support for Tax-Deferred CAT Fund Reserves
Nov 21 2005 // The serious challenge to Florida’s economy, the rising cost of property insurance and five solutions to hurricane issues were discussed on Nov. 7 in Tallahassee by Florida’s CFO Tom Gallagher at a briefing...
People & Places
Nov 21 2005 // David Stevoff Michael A. Moran has joined Insurance & Benefits Consultants of Sarasota, Fla., as president. Angela Peterson Moran’s new responsibilities were announced after Florida Preferred Administrators Inc....
USDA TO ASSESS WILMA’S CITRUS DAMAGE
Nov 21 2005 // In the aftermath of Hurricane Wilma, which struck Florida Oct. 24, the Florida Field Office of USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service announced plans to conduct a special citrus survey to assess current crop...
FAIA WEB SITE UPGRADED
Nov 21 2005 // The Florida Association of Insurance Agents in Tallahassee recently unveiled a new and improved version of its Web site at www.faia.com. Jennifer Pitts, FAIA webmaster said anyone using the site for research should be...
Contractors Backlogged With Work Orders, Predict a Long Wait for Repairs
Nov 20 2005 // South Florida roofing contractors, who were already overloaded and backlogged with work orders from previous hurricanes, say they are having difficulties facing nearly impossible demands in Dade and Bro-ward counties after...
FLORIDA
Nov 20 2005 // Brian, Brad and Dean Shecht-man, cousins who allegedly swindled more than 1,200 elderly victims out of millions of dollars in a bait-and-switch insurance scheme are in the limelight again as details surface about a...
Barbecues, Mobile Centers Encourage Auto Owners to Turn in Wilma Claims
Nov 20 2005 // South Florida insurance agents encouraged the thousands of automobile owners who had vehicle damage during Hurricane Wilma to report them as soon as possible so they could be repaired, some agencies even held weekend...
Fla. CFO Gallagher Voices Support for Tax-Deferred CAT Fund Reserves
Nov 20 2005 // The serious challenge to Florida’s economy, the rising cost of property insurance and five solutions to hurricane issues were discussed on Nov. 7 in Tallahassee by Florida’s CFO Tom Gallagher at a briefing...
Carriers Flooded With Auto Damage Claims
Nov 20 2005 // Plantation, Fla., ‘Insurance Village’ The “Insurance Village” established by Florida’s Depart-ment of Financial Services in Plantation, Fla. west of Fort Lauderdale, had a lot of damaged...
News Briefs
Nov 20 2005 // FloridaFAIA Likes Due-Diligence Decision The Florida Association of Insu-rance Agents has filed an amicus (friend of the court) brief with the First District Court of Appeals in a case involving an insurance agent who...
