Latest Texas Headlines
All the headlines from our Texas Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Texas High Court Finds for Insurer in D&O Coverage Dispute
Mar 20 2017 // The Texas Supreme Court recently ruled in favor of an insurer in a case that hinged on the applicability of an insured-v.-insured exclusion in the carrier’s directors and officers (D&O) liability policy. The...
Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas Wildfires Tracked by New Satellite
Mar 16 2017 // When wildfires scorched more than 1 million acres in early March across parts of the Texas Panhandle, Oklahoma and Kansas, forecasters used a new weather satellite to see the infernos developing, almost in real time. The...
Texas’ Costliest Year for Hailstorms Began on March 16, 2016
Mar 16 2017 //
Statewide Ban on Texting While Driving Passed by Texas House
Mar 16 2017 // The Texas House on March 15 passed a statewide ban on texting while driving. Members voted 113-32 to tentatively approve the legislation, which will get a final vote in the House before it can proceed to the Senate. A...
Texas Mutual Launches e-Learning Tool for Policyholders
Mar 15 2017 // Workers’ compensation Texas Mutual Insurance Co. has launched a free workplace safety training tool for policyholders called e-Learning. e-Learning gives business owners access to a library of more than 200 modern,...
Author of Texas ‘Hailstorm’ Bill Says ‘Significant Changes’ Made
Mar 15 2017 // The Texas Senate Business and Commerce Committee on March 9 heard testimony on a revised bill that aims to limit the number of policyholder lawsuits filed against property insurance companies following severe weather...
Texas Bill Banning Texting While Driving Statewide Goes to Senate
Mar 14 2017 // A bill that passed the Texas Senate State Affairs Committee on March 13 aims to restrict texting while driving statewide. While several cities already have ordinances that restrict texting while behind the wheel, SB 31 by...
Details Emerge on What Went Wrong in Tour Bus, Train Accident in Mississippi
Mar 14 2017 // The Texas tour bus hit by a freight train in a deadly crash in Mississippi wasn’t supposed to have taken the road where it got stuck at a rail crossing earlier this week, a federal official said Thursday. National...
6 Texas Counties Declared Disaster Areas Following Wildfires
Mar 13 2017 // Six counties in the Texas Panhandle have been declared disaster areas by Gov. Greg Abbott following the deadly wildfires that swept through the area on March 6 – 7 burning more than 440,000 acres. Abbott’s March 11...
Agency Cluster, Direct Access Insurance, Expands into Texas
Mar 13 2017 // California-based Direct Access Insurance Services (DAIS) is opening up its cluster membership to independent property/casualty agencies in Texas. DAIS said it is appointing Texas agencies that are looking to improve market...
Suspect in Texas Mosque Fire Feared Muslims, Investigator Says
Mar 13 2017 // A man suspected of burning down a Texas mosque believed its worshippers were terrorists and may have been looking for other mosques to target, authorities alleged during a hearing pertaining to an unrelated case against...
Texas Oil Services Company Sued for Race-Based Harassment, Retaliation
Mar 10 2017 // A Texas-based manufacturer of equipment used in hydraulic fracturing (fracking) has been sued by the the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) over charges of racial harassment and retaliation. The EEOC says...
Ranchers in Midwest Assessing Damage After Wildfires
Mar 10 2017 // Kansas rancher Greg Gardiner got into some of his scorched pastures for the first time on March 8 and surveyed what he likened to a battle zone: carcasses of dead cattle everywhere. “It’s pretty much a...
Woman Seeks $350M in Suit Over 2015 Texas Biker Shootout
Mar 10 2017 // A Texas woman is asking for $350 million in damages after alleging in a federal lawsuit filed Wednesday that her civil rights were violated when she was wrongfully arrested in the wake of a deadly 2015 gun battle involving...
Louisiana Woman Pleads Guilty in Texas in Opioid Pill Mill Case
Mar 9 2017 // Carolina Giselle Berrio, a/k/a “Carolina Slocum Berrio,” “Karrie,” 37, of Lafayette, Louisiana is the latest defendant to plead guilty to being involved in a large opioid “pill mill”...
Deadly Wildfires Force Thousands from Homes in 4 States
Mar 8 2017 // Emergency crews on March 7 struggled to contain deadly wildfires that have scorched hundreds of square miles of land in four states and forced thousands of people to flee their homes ahead of the wind-whipped flames. The...
Texas Re-Certifies 7 Companies to Self-Insure for Workers’ Comp Claims
Mar 7 2017 // The Texas Department of Insurance’s Division of Workers’ Compensation (DWC) re-certified seven employers to self-insure workers’ compensation claims. Together, the companies employ about 30,000 people in...
Texas Ex-Postal Employee Sentenced for Workers’ Comp Fraud Scheme
Mar 7 2017 // McArthur Baker, 69, a former U.S. Postal Service employee, has been sentenced to 21 months in federal prison for his role in a scheme to defraud the Department of Labor’s (DOL) Office of Workers’ Compensation...
People
Mar 6 2017 // Texas Insurance Commissioner David Mattax has been reappointed to the post by Gov. Greg Abbott, the governor’s office announced. His term expires Feb. 1, 2019. Mattax has served as insurance commissioner since...
Within Space of One Week, 2 Tornado Outbreaks in Texas
Mar 6 2017 // At least six tornadoes blew through Central Texas overnight on Feb. 19 and 20, damaging more than 100 structures in the San Antonio area, just days after another six were reported near Houston. The mayor of San Antonio...
