Latest Texas Headlines
All the headlines from our Texas Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Safety an Issue as Oilfield Companies Cut Costs During Downturn
Mar 13 2015 // A deadly oil well explosion in Texas’ Permian Basin this week offers a cautionary note of the industry’s challenges as companies cut costs during a market downturn. Even as deaths in the industry have climbed...
3 Killed in West Texas Oil Field Explosion
Mar 12 2015 // An oil field rig exploded in West Texas killing three workers on March 10. Investigator Dusty Kilgore of the Upton County Sheriff’s Office said the accident happened Tuesday morning near Rankin, about 40 miles south...
U.S. Safety Agency Says Trinity Did Not Hide Guardrail Defects
Mar 12 2015 // The Federal Highway Administration rejected assertions from two guardrail-industry professionals who said Trinity Industries Inc. tried to hide defects in its roadway safety system by secretly developing a version of the...
IICF Announces $505K in Grants at Dallas Benefit Dinner
Mar 11 2015 // The Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation’s (IICF) Texas/Southeast Division announced it is providing a record-breaking $505,000 in grants to area and regional nonprofits in 2015. The grants total is the largest...
Study Links Flooding, Drought to Urban Expansion
Mar 11 2015 // A heads-up to New York, Baltimore, Houston and Miami: a new study suggests that these metropolitan areas and others will increase their exposure to floods even in the absence of climate change, according to researchers...
Texas Commissioner Files Revised Farmers Insurance Refund Settlement
Mar 10 2015 // On the heels of a recent multi-million dollar refund agreement with the state’s largest homeowners insurer, Texas Department of Insurance Commissioner David Mattax announced a revised settlement with the second...
More States Eye Use of Drug Formularies in Workers’ Compensation
Mar 10 2015 // While workers’ compensation pharmacy benefit managers have been utilizing drug formularies to control prescription drugs costs and monitor medical treatments for a long time, states are now catching on. Drug...
Jury Verdict Favors Texas Insurer in Hidalgo County Hail Claim Case
Mar 9 2015 // A Texas-based insurance company has prevailed in the first lawsuit to go to trial over claims from two massive hailstorms in Hidalgo County, Texas, in 2012. The 12-member jury in Amaro v. National Lloyds found that...
Texas Lawmaker Files Insurance Department Transparency Bill
Mar 9 2015 // A bill filed by state Rep. Todd Hunter, R-Corpus Christi, would require the Texas Department of Insurance to post on its website information regarding insurance rates of every residential property and personal auto insurer...
Texas Bill Would Create Roofing Contractor Registration
Mar 9 2015 // Texas Rep. Kenneth Sheets filed legislation that would establish a voluntary roofing contractor registration program with the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI). Sheets said House Bill 1488, known as the Roofing...
People – South Central
Mar 9 2015 // Carrollton, Texas-based Hotchkiss Insurance Agency (HIA) announced a new leadership team. Mike Hotchkiss is now the CEO, Ken Hotchkiss is the chief operating officer and Greg Hotchkiss is the chief financial officer. HIA...
State Farm to Pay $352.5M to Settle Texas Residential Overcharges Case
Mar 9 2015 // A settlement has been reached in a long-running dispute between the nation’s largest homeowners insurer and the state of Texas over premium overcharges. The Texas Office of Public Insurance Counsel (OPIC) announced...
Report: Wildfire Reconstruction of West’s Riskiest Homes – $237B
Mar 9 2015 // In the Western United States there are nearly 900,000 homes representing an estimated reconstruction cost of more than $237 billion considered at “very high” or “high” risk from wildfires, a report...
What’s Driving Nonstandard Auto – Technology, Consolidation, Population Changes, Fuel Specialty, Opportunity
Mar 9 2015 // The nonstandard auto market is characterized by substandard operating performance. Since 2007, carriers writing nonstandard auto policies have reported deteriorating operating performance and many are struggling to...
Tapping Into the Talent Pipeline
Mar 9 2015 // By 2020, the entire insurance industry will have 400,000 positions to fill. About 120 academic programs exist worldwide offering courses, concentrations and majors in risk management and insurance. About 80 are located in...
Texas-Based National Lloyds Sees Record Earnings in 2014
Mar 6 2015 // National Lloyds Corp., a Waco-based insurance holding company, announced its best yearly earnings in the company’s history with $25.7 million of pre-tax income. Over the past several years, storm activity in Texas...
Road Funding Bill Passed by Texas Senate
Mar 6 2015 // The Texas Senate has approved the first bill of the legislative session, with speedy passage of a plan to shift billions of dollars generated by vehicle sales taxes to building and maintaining roads strained by the...
Texas Businesses Oppose ‘Pro-Discrimination’ Legislation
Mar 6 2015 // Two proposed constitutional amendments that supporters say would protect Texans from government intrusion into their free exercise of religion are meeting resistance from a coalition led by a former adviser to George W....
Tennessee Lawmakers Introduce Work Comp ‘Option’ Legislation
Mar 6 2015 // Tennessee may soon have its own answer to an alternative workers’ compensation insurance option through new legislation by Republican lawmakers known as the Tennessee Employee Injury Benefit Alternative. Tennessee...
Texas Insurance Agencies Higginbotham, Aycock & Fowler Merge
Mar 4 2015 // Fort Worth, Texas-based Higginbotham and Aycock & Fowler, in Lubbock, Texas, have merged. Both are independent insurance firms providing property and liability insurance, risk management and employee benefit services...
