Latest Texas Headlines
All the headlines from our Texas Topic Page, ordered by recency.
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...
Texas Number 1 in Fatal Crashes, Alcohol-Impaired Driving
Mar 6 2017 // Texas highways continue to be deadly, with an increase in traffic crashes involving injuries and fatalities. Last year, 3,390 traffic crashes resulted in 3,757 fatalities and 175,347 traffic crashes resulted in 263,536...
Hub International Acquires Texas-Based Tri-Star Insurance
Mar 3 2017 // Hub International Limited (Hub) has acquired the assets of Tri-Star Insurance Professionals Inc. (Tri-Star) in Plano, Texas. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Tri-Star specializes in personal lines and...
Faulty Fire Sprinkler at Texas Library Damages Thousands of Books
Mar 3 2017 // Workers at a North Texas library estimate more than 3,000 books have water damage after a fire sprinkler wrongly went off and flooded a first-floor area. The Wichita Falls Public Library reopened on March 2 amid cleanup...
Firefighters Gaining on Control of 2 Large Texas Wildfires
Mar 2 2017 // Firefighters have more fully contained two large wildfires in West Texas, including one that destroyed four homes and prompted the evacuation of nearly 1,200 others. Texas A&M Forest Service spokesman Phillip Truitt...
Texas Businesses Line Up Against Lt. Governor’s High-Priority Insurance Bill
Mar 2 2017 // Major business interests are lining up against one of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s top priorities — a bill that would make it harder for Texans to force their insurance companies to pay up when calamity strikes. Patrick...
Texas Lawmaker Seeks Insurance Policy Abortion Ban
Mar 2 2017 // An effort to prohibit coverage of abortion by many health insurance plans in Texas is back, despite stalling in previous years. Republican Sen. Larry Taylor of Friendswood is seeking to bar health insurance plans offered...
Tornado-Spawning Storm System Killed 3 in Midwest, Moved Eastward
Mar 2 2017 // A spring-like storm system that killed at least three people as it spawned tornadoes and damaged dozens of homes in the central U.S. rumbled eastward on March 1, putting about 95 million people in its path, forecasters...
Texas High Court Finds for Insurer in D&O Coverage Dispute
Mar 1 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 Bill Would End ‘Wrongful Birth’ Suits Against Doctors
Feb 28 2017 // Texans would no longer be allowed to sue doctors for a “wrongful birth” under a bill approved unanimously by the Senate State Affairs Committee. According to the announcement released by the Senate, wrongful...
Officials: Drone Interrupted Texas Wildfire Control Efforts
Feb 26 2017 // State fire officials say a drone being operated near a wildfire southwest of Fort Worth hampered firefighting efforts by forcing aircraft carrying retardant to be grounded. The Texas A&M Forest Service says two air...
Texas Bill Seeks Limits on Hailstorm Lawsuits
Feb 24 2017 // A bill has been filed in the Texas Senate that seeks to curb what the authors of the legislation say is a skyrocketing number of lawsuits filed against insurers for bogus or inflated hailstorm claims. Senate Bill 10, filed...
Brinson Takes Over as President of Texas Surplus Lines Assoc.
Feb 24 2017 // Teri Brinson, executive vice president of M.D. Jensvold & Co., has taken over as president of the Texas Surplus Lines Association (TSLA) for 2017. She brings more than 35 years of experience and leadership in the...
Texas Neurosurgeon Gets Life Sentence for Maiming Patients
Feb 22 2017 // Jurors on Feb. 20 sentenced a former Dallas neurosurgeon to life in prison for maiming patients who had turned to him for surgery to resolve debilitating injuries. The decision came almost a week after the Dallas County...
Despite Increase in Lawsuits, Texas Homeowner Insurance Complaints Remain Low
Feb 21 2017 // Despite a half million hail claims resulting in a record $4 billion in insured losses last year, homeowner complaints to the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) were the lowest number ever recorded, the Insurance Council...
