Latest Texas Headlines
All the headlines from our Texas Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Thousands Lose Electricity in Texas Thunderstorms
Jun 14 2012 // More than 20,000 homes and businesses lost electricity after storms rolled through parts of Texas. Utility officials say the largest outage area Wednesday was near Houston, in north Harris and Montgomery...
Texas Offers $5.7M In Grants For Alt Fuel Vehicles
Jun 13 2012 // The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality is offering $5.7 million in grants to replace diesel vehicles with ones that use hybrid or alternative energy technology. The grants are available under the Texas Clean Fleet...
Climate Change Will Alter Risks of Wildfire Worldwide: Study
Jun 12 2012 // Climate change is widely expected to disrupt future fire patterns around the world, with some regions, such as the western United States, seeing more frequent fires within the next 30 years, according to climate scientists...
Texas Windstorm Insurance Technical Advisory Group Members Named
Jun 11 2012 // Texas top insurance regulator has named eight industry professionals to participate in an advisory group to work on issues related to windstorm insurance along the state’s coast. The Texas Department of Insurance...
Workers’ Comp Market Injured But Still Standing
Jun 8 2012 // Like the economy, the workers’ compensation market has suffered in recent years. Results for 2011 were no better than 2010. The good news: results for the workers’ comp market were not worse either. The...
Lawyer, Accident Case Runner in Texas Sentenced on Felony Charges
Jun 5 2012 // An attorney and a case runner have been sentenced in Texas on felony charges related to soliciting business from victim’s family after a fatal accident. Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott announced in late May that...
Experts: Oklahoma, not Texas, Had Hottest Summer Ever
Jun 4 2012 // Oklahoma and Texas have argued for years about which has the best college football team, whose oil fields produce better crude, even where the state border should run. But in a hot, sticky dispute that no one wants to win,...
TWIA to Raise Rates, Remain Under Administrative Control
Jun 4 2012 // Texas’ insurer of last resort for wind and hail in coastal counties will remain under the administrative control of state regulators and in August will file a 5 percent rate increase to become effective Jan. 1,...
Delcarations – South Central
Jun 4 2012 // Critical Restructuring “Restructuring is critical to TWIA’s ongoing operations so we don’t keep digging a deeper hole for ourselves. There will be no eminent decisions on the administrative...
Business Moves – South Central
Jun 4 2012 // BenefitSpecialists, Higginbotham Insurance Group Higginbotham Insurance Group and BenefitSpecialists announced the merger of their operations in Houston. BenefitSpecialists, an employee benefits broker in Houston, will...
Why Workers’ Compensation Claimants Hire Attorneys
Jun 4 2012 // Workplace trust, fear of claim denial and injury severity are the main reasons for attorney representation in workers’ compensation claims, according to Bogdan Savych, a public policy analyst with the Workers...
Texas Steps Up Insurance Fraud Fight with New Prosecuting Teams
Jun 4 2012 // Two of Texas most populated counties now have teams dedicated to fighting insurance fraud. Harris County (Houston) and Bexar County (San Antonio) both have new insurance fraud prosecutors and investigators whose salaries...
Travelers Introduces New Wind Credit for Fortified Homes in Texas
Jun 1 2012 // Travelers Insurance announced it is introducing a wind credit for fortified homes in Texas that meet established standards designed to resist the impacts of tropical storm and hurricane winds. Travelers currently offers...
Can Texas Escape Another Hurricane Season?
Jun 1 2012 // Today marks the start of another hurricane season and many Texans are wondering if we can go one more year without a destructive storm. The last hurricane to strike Texas proved to be the costliest. Hurricane Ike struck...
SIAA Master Agency, CoVerica, Signs 50th Member Agency
Jun 1 2012 // Texas-based CoVerica Agency Alliance, a master agency member of SIAA, has signed its 50th member agency — Knott Insurance Group of Desoto, Texas — bringing SIAA’S national total to more than 4100 signed...
Lobell, Tutt Join Louisiana-Based Specialty Risk Associates
May 30 2012 // Specialty Risk Associates Inc., headquartered in Shreveport, La., has added Rhonda Lobell as a commercial lines underwriter and Dolores Tutt as a personal lines underwriter. Lobell will be working at the Baton Rouge, La.,...
Personable Insurance Acquires Texas-Based Endeavor General Agency
May 29 2012 // Excellere Partners, a Denver-based private equity firm, announced that its subsidiary, Personable Insurance, has acquired Endeavor General Agency LLC, a Royce City, Texas-based non-standard personal automobile managing...
Connealy Appointed Texas State Fire Marshal
May 28 2012 // Texas has a new state fire marshal. Texas Insurance Commissioner Eleanor Kitzman has appointed Chris Connealy, former fire chief for Cedar Park, as the state’s new fire marshal, A Texas Advisory Council on Arson...
Bexar County, Texas, Gets Special Insurance Fraud Prosecutor
May 25 2012 // The Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) has expanded its fight against insurance fraud into San Antonio. TDI Commissioner Eleanor Kitzman has announced the placement of a special insurance fraud prosecutor and investigator...
Texas Mutual to Distribute $150M Policyholder Dividend
May 24 2012 // Texas Mutual Insurance Co.’s board of directors has approved the company’s plan to distribute $150 million in workers’ compensation dividends. This marks the 14th consecutive year the board has approved a...
