Latest Texas Headlines
All the headlines from our Texas Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Coastal Texas Braces for Insurance Rate Increase at Upcoming TWIA Meeting
Jul 31 2024 // The Texas Windstorm Insurance Association, the state’s insurer of last resort for homes and businesses on the Gulf Coast, will consider raising rates as climate change increases the chances of more severe storms and...
Meta Platforms to Pay $1.4B to Settle Texas Lawsuit Over Facial Recognition Data
Jul 30 2024 // Meta Platforms has agreed to pay $1.4 billion to Texas to resolve the state’s lawsuit accusing the Facebook parent of illegally using facial-recognition technology to collect biometric data of millions of Texans...
Texas Crude Oil Pipelines Are Full to the Brim and Getting Worse
Jul 30 2024 // Crude oil pipelines connecting the busiest Texas oil fields to a critical export hub across the state are nearly out of space, threatening to cap US oil exports at a time when the world needs more. Key pipelines that...
Confie Acquires Insurance Agencies in Texas, Florida, North Carolina
Jul 30 2024 // Confie, a California-based personal lines distributor, has acquired three insurance agencies in the South, the firm said last week. Affordable Insurance in Hendersonville, North Carolina; US1 Insurance in Miami; and...
Texas Earthquakes Prompt Oil Regulator to Inspect Disposal Wells
Jul 29 2024 // The Texas oil regulator said it’s investigating after several earthquakes hit the Permian Basin last week. Extremely salty water that naturally comes out of oil wells is discarded by injecting the slurry back into...
ZestyAI Receives Texas Approval to Use Severe Convective Storm Products
Jul 26 2024 // ZestyAI, a provider of climate and property risk analytics solutions powered by artificial intelligence (AI), announced it has received approval for use in rating and underwriting from the Texas Department of Insurance for...
PCF Acquires Texas’ Montalvo Insurance Agency
Jul 26 2024 // PCF Insurance Solutions announced it has acquired the insurance business of Weslaco, Texas-based Montalvo Insurance Agency. Montalvo offers personal and commercial insurance coverage including homeowners, auto, general and...
ACLU: 51 Texas School Districts Not Complying With Ban on Hairstyle Discrimination
Jul 25 2024 // The ACLU of Texas said Wednesday it found 51 school districts in violation of the Texas CROWN Act, which bans race-based hair discrimination, and urged them to update their dress code policies. The Texas CROWN Act...
Ruling Paves Way to Restart Work on Exxon’s Texas LNG Plant
Jul 25 2024 // A bankruptcy judge on Wednesday approved a settlement between the joint venture building Exxon Mobil Corp.’s $10 billion gas export project in Texas and lead contractor Zachry Holdings Inc., allowing other companies...
Wife of Ex-Texas Trucking Magnate Sentenced in $9M Work Comp Fraud Scheme
Jul 24 2024 // The wife of a former San Antonio trucking magnate was sentenced this month in a multi-million-dollar fraud scheme. Frances Hall, former co-owner of Bill Hall Jr. Trucking, was sentenced for her role in a scheme to avoid $9...
Heat-Related Texas Deaths Climb After Hurricane Beryl Power Outages
Jul 23 2024 // SPRING, Texas (AP) — As the temperature soared in the Houston-area home Janet Jarrett shared with her sister after losing electricity in Hurricane Beryl, she did everything she could to keep her 64-year-old sibling...
Oil Slick Off Texas Coast Tied to Abandoned Platform in Gulf
Jul 22 2024 // Federal and state officials are developing plans to respond to an oil sheen in the Gulf of Mexico tied to an abandoned platform at least eight miles off the Texas coast. State officials were notified about the apparent...
Why Texas Mass Power Outages Continue to Happen
Jul 19 2024 // It’s become a familiar cycle: A powerful storm sweeps through a swath of Texas and takes the electric system down in its grip. Trees might bend and topple, crashing down onto a power pole. Sometimes the weight of ice...
Flooring Manufacturer Fined $300K for Exposing Texas Workers to Safety Violations
Jul 19 2024 // While one of the nation’s largest manufacturers of commercial flooring and surfaces — including recycled rubber products used throughout the nation in playgrounds, fitness centers and sports fields — touts its...
Texas Governor Criticizes CenterPoint Energy After Beryl Power Outages
Jul 17 2024 // The majority of Houston outages that followed Hurricane Beryl should be fixed by Wednesday, the city’s main utility company said as Texas Gov. Greg Abbott threatened to punish CenterPoint Energy even after the lights...
Horticultural Grower Fined $172K Over Sexual Harassment at Texas Location
Jul 17 2024 // Altman Specialty Plants, LLC, the largest horticultural grower in the United States, will pay $172,000 in monetary relief and furnish extensive injunctive relief to resolve a finding of sex discrimination and retaliation...
Texas Health System Loses COVID-19 Business Interruption Suit
Jul 15 2024 // A Texas nonprofit health system who purchased a specialized commercial property insurance policy is not covered for business interruption losses caused by COVID-19, a 5th Circuit Court of Appeals panel ruled, relying on...
Texas Steel Plant Fined $269K for Endangering Workers
Jul 12 2024 // Two years after the U.S. Department of Labor added Kyoei Steel LTD to its program for severe violators of federal safety and health regulations, inspectors returned for a follow-up inspection at the Vinton, Texas steel...
Texas Tank Cleaning Company Faces $800K Fine After Worker’s Fatal Injury
Jul 11 2024 // A La Porte, Texas tank cleaning company faces over $800,000 in fines after the company allegedly disregarded federal safety standards that may have protected their employees from hazardous working conditions and prevented...
‘We’re All Going to See the Impact’ – Beryl Could Worsen Texas Insurance Crisis
Jul 10 2024 // Insurance agent Ian Hartgrove was one of many Houston residents caught off guard by the size of Hurricane Beryl, which made landfall on the Texas Gulf Coast Monday morning. Beryl had weakened to a Category 1 hurricane by...
