Latest Illinois Headlines
All the headlines from our Illinois Topic Page, ordered by recency.
The Feds, the States and Self-Driving Cars
May 2 2016 // A big question looming is whether the federal government or state governments will play the primary role in setting standards for self-driving cars. Historically, the federal National Highway and Transportation Safety...
Illinois Volunteer Firefighter Accused of Starting Fires with Cigarettes
Apr 29 2016 // A 20-year-old northern Illinois volunteer firefighter accused of starting five fires allegedly tossed lit cigarettes to spark at least two of the blazes, according to court documents. Kenneth Grabow of Orangeville was...
$1M Settlement Reached with Building Owners in Fatal Illinois Apartment Fire
Apr 29 2016 // Relatives of six people who perished five years ago in an apartment building fire in suburban Chicago have reached a $1 million legal settlement. Surviving family members sued the building owners, claiming they did not...
Mercury Insurance Launches Ride-Hailing Coverage in Illinois
Apr 27 2016 // Mercury Insurance is now offering ride-hailing insurance to cover Uber, Lyft and other Transportation Network Company (TNC) drivers in Illinois. This new coverage will provide drivers with insurance that will bridge the...
Sanford Joins ECC Insurance Brokers in Illinois
Apr 19 2016 // ECC Insurance Brokers Inc., a subsidiary of Brown & Brown Inc., has added Stephen Sanford in Oak Brook, Ill., as vice president. Sanford joins ECC from Hiscox Insurance’s Executive Liability Group where he was...
Arthur J. Gallagher Acquires Insurance Plans Agency in Illinois
Apr 14 2016 // Arthur J. Gallagher& Co. has acquired Insurance Plans Agency Inc. in South Barrington, Ill. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Established in 1983, Insurance Plans Agency Inc. (IPA) is a retail insurance...
1 Killed, 3 Injured as 45-Ton Beam Falls on Illinois Construction Site
Apr 7 2016 // Federal officials are investigating two companies after a construction worker was killed and three others were injured in suburban Chicago. The accident happened early on April 5 when a 40-ton steel bridge beam fell on the...
Affirmative Insurance Ordered into Liquidation
Apr 4 2016 // Affirmative Insurance Company (Affirmative or AIC) was ordered into liquidation in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois, on March 24. Acting Illinois Insurance Director Anne Melissa Dowling filed a Complaint for...
Illinois Lawmaker: ‘Uninsured’ State-Owned Vehicles Should Come Off Road
Apr 3 2016 // A state lawmaker says Illinois should pull state-owned vehicles off the road during its budget stalemate unless money is appropriated to self-insure them. Republican state Rep. Bill Mitchell of Forysth says one of his...
Chicago Auto Insurance Fraud Ring Can Be Tried in Iowa: Court
Mar 28 2016 // Three people from Wisconsin or Illinois who are charged with operating a car insurance fraud ring can be prosecuted in Iowa, even though they never set foot in the state, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled. Police say the trio...
Illinois Agency Joins Missouri-Based Insurance Agency Alliance
Mar 24 2016 // Larry Goss Insurance in Mt. Vernon, Ill., has joined Valley Insurance Agency Alliance (VIAA), a network of 100 independent insurance agencies in Missouri and Southern Illinois. Larry Goss Insurance is a full-service...
Affirmative Insurance Liquidation Hearing Set for March 24 in Illinois
Mar 22 2016 // On March 1, 2016, Affirmative Insurance Co. was declared insolvent by at least $31 million by Acting Illinois Insurance Director Anne Melissa Dowling, who filed with the Illinois Supervising Court a Complaint for...
Midwest Pounded by Tornado-Packing Storms
Mar 18 2016 // The National Weather Service confirmed that on tornadoes touched down this week in parts of eastern Iowa that also endured heavy rain and hail as large as golf balls. Tornadoes also touched down at least five times in...
Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Acquires Braband Insurance in Illinois
Mar 11 2016 // Itasca, Ill.-based insurance broker, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., has acquired Vincent L. Braband Insurance Inc. in Arlington Heights, Ill. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Established in 1930, Vincent L....
Lawmakers Seek Audit of Mine Cleanup Insurance Program
Mar 9 2016 // Federal auditors should examine a program that has allowed leading coal companies to lower cleanup insurance costs and could leave taxpayers on the hook if the miners declare bankruptcy, Democratic lawmakers said on...
Security Video Shows Hoverboard Catching Fire in Illinois Home
Feb 29 2016 // A security camera inside a suburban Chicago home recorded a hoverboard catching fire shortly after a child left the house, which was extensively damaged by the blaze. Homeowner Dan Perper says the video shows his...
Illinois County Seeks Insurance Recovery for Employee Fraud Loss
Feb 22 2016 // A northern Illinois county purchasing director allegedly spent more than $60,000 on personal items, according to a draft of an insurance claim Winnebago County plans to file. The Rockford Register Star reports the claim...
Demotech Affirms Ratings of Midwest Public Entity Pools
Feb 17 2016 // Ohio-based Demotech Inc. recently affirmed the financial stability ratings (FSRs) assigned to six self-funded public entity pools in the Midwest. Demotech reviews and rates more than 415 insurers, writing every line of...
Midwest Group Challenges Peabody Energy’s Plan to Self-Bond Mines
Feb 16 2016 // A Midwestern environmental group has followed through on its promise to formally challenge Peabody Energy’s ability to guarantee it has enough money for future cleanup of its Illinois and Indiana coal mines. The...
NTSB Blames Poor Oversight in Deadly Illinois Truck Crash
Feb 11 2016 // Failed safety oversight was partly to blame for a deadly crash near Chicago in which a truck driver for a company already flagged as high-risk fell asleep and plowed into emergency vehicles, a federal accident...
