Latest Texas Headlines

All the headlines from our Texas Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Texas Countertop Maker Faces $318.6K in Fines for Workplace Hazards

Jul 31 2018 // The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has cited Tyler, Texas-based Berry Marble Company Inc. – doing business as U.S. Granite – for exposing employees to machine...

Higginbotham, Sellers-Patterson Insurance Merge Operations in Tyler, Texas

Jul 30 2018 // Higginbotham and Sellers-Patterson Insurance have merged operations in Tyler, Texas. Sellers-Patterson, led by Linda Sellers, is Higginbotham’s second office in Tyler; the first established in 2014 when Higginbotham...

Where Oil Prices Meet Trucker Fatalities: ‘Death Highway’

Jul 30 2018 // Route 285 is the formal designation for one of the main roads used to carry supplies to and from the oilfields of West Texas. Locals call it something else: “Death Highway.” Last year, 93 people died in...

Texas Seeks Input on Draft of Revisions to Catastrophe Data Call Standards

Jul 27 2018 // Texas insurance regulators have responded to insurer requests for revisions to its standards for catastrophe data calls and is seeking input on the proposed changes. The Texas Department of Insurance said following...

Texas Contractor Ordered to Pay $250K After Worker Fatality at Dallas Site

Jul 26 2018 // A Texas construction contractor has been ordered to pay $250,000 in criminal and civil penalties an employee suffered a fatal fall at an apartment complex in Dallas, federal safety officials said. U.S. District Court Judge...

Petrobras Reaches $3.5M Settlement in Texas Refinery Emissions Case

Jul 26 2018 // A U.S. unit of Brazilian state-run company Petrobras agreed to pay $3.5 million to settle a lawsuit over alleged toxic emissions from its Pasadena, Texas, oil refinery, the company said. The settlement, which is subject to...

Berkshire Hathaway GUARD Now Writing Accountants Professional Liability in Texas

Jul 26 2018 // Berkshire Hathaway GUARD Insurance Companies is now offering professional liability insurance for accountants in Texas. The new accountants’ professional liability product is designed to meet the needs of smaller...

Aspen MGA, Tower Hill Specialty Partner on Property Programs in Texas

Jul 26 2018 // Aspen Managing General Agency, a division of Atlanta-based Allstar Financial Group, has partnered with Tower Hill Specialty (THS) to offer property insurance programs in Texas. Tower Hill Specialty offers a range of...

Texas Strikes ReliaMax From Eligible Surplus Lines List

Jul 26 2018 // Following its placement into liquidation by the South Dakota Division of Insurance in late June, the Texas Department of Insurance removed ReliaMax Surety Co. from the list of eligible surplus lines insurers in Texas, the...

Texas Woman Gets 30 Years in Prison for Arson, Insurance Fraud

Jul 26 2018 // A Dallas woman with a history of filing 31 insurance claims against a dozen companies got burned when one turned out to be arson, the Texas Department of Insurance announced earlier this month. Genevieve Thompson was...

Texas Sees 10.6% Growth in Surplus Lines Premium at Mid-Year

Jul 25 2018 // May 2018 was the highest-grossing month for surplus lines premium in Texas, with $681 million recorded, the Surplus Lines Stamping Office of Texas (SLTX) reported. Total premium in Texas has increased to $3.06 billion, as...

Wildfires Burn in Texas as High Heat, Low Humidity Persist

Jul 24 2018 // Triple digit temperatures, low humidity and extreme drought conditions across much of Texas have firefighters battling wildfires and residents doing their best to escape the heat. The state’s largest wildfire, the...

Texas Energy Services Firm to Pay $39K in North Dakota Racial Harassment Suit

Jul 24 2018 // The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission says a Texas-based oilfield service company operating in North Dakota will pay $39,900 to settle a racial harassment lawsuit. The EEOC’s lawsuit accused Cudd Energy...

AssuredPartners Acquires Hutson Insurance Group in Texas

Jul 23 2018 // AssuredPartners Inc. has acquired the Hutson Insurance Group located in Plano, Texas. The Hutson Insurance Group is a full-service insurance broker that has served the Plano and the North Texas marketplace for over twenty...

Texas Stamping Office: National E&S Insurance Premium Up 9.4% at Mid-Year

Jul 23 2018 // Excess and surplus lines (E&S) insurance premium recorded by the 15 managing service offices in the United States increased 9.4 percent as of the 2018 mid-year point, the Surplus Lines Stamping Office of Texas (SLTX)...

Baker Appointed Assistant VP at RHSB in Texas

Jul 20 2018 // Texas-based independent insurance brokerage firm, RHSB, has added Mike Baker as assistant vice president. He will be a part of the growing Commercial Property & Casualty sales practice. Baker has over a decade of...

Brown & Brown Subsidiary Acquires Texas MGA and Arkansas Affiliate

Jul 19 2018 // Texas Security General Insurance Agency LLC, a subsidiary of Brown & Brown Inc., has acquired substantially all of the assets of Loving and Etheredge Inc. d/b/a Texas Commercial Insurance Facilities (TCIF) and its...

Texas Insurers’ Trade Group Honors Gerik with Raymond Mauk Award

Jul 19 2018 // The Insurance Council of Texas (ICT) has honored Mike Gerik, executive vice president at the Texas Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Co., with the 2018 Raymond Mauk Leadership Award. ICT presented the Mauk Leadership Award to...

Explosions, Fire at Texas Gas, Cylinder Company Spur Evacuations but No Injuries

Jul 19 2018 // Authorities say nobody has been hurt in several explosions and a fire at a gas and cylinders company in rural Central Texas. Austin County Sheriff Jack Brandes said the accident at Western International Gas & Cylinders...

Baylor in Texas Settles Suit with Woman Who Accused Players of Rape

Jul 17 2018 // Baylor University has settled a federal Title IX lawsuit brought by a former volleyball player who alleged that she was drugged and gang raped by at least four football players in 2012. Terms of last week’s...