Latest Texas Headlines
All the headlines from our Texas Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Many Texans Earn Low Pay, Hold Few Assets
Feb 7 2012 // Texas politicians like to tout the state’s economic growth, but more and more Texans are finding themselves teetering on the edge of poverty. There is little doubt Texas has survived the Great Recession better than...
Copper Thieves Plaguing Texas Businesses
Feb 7 2012 // Despite new laws making any theft of copper a state jail felony, thieves continue to plague Texas businesses by ripping away copper tubing from commercial air conditioning units. Several Texas businesses have been hit more...
Newton Joins AmWINS Brokerage of Texas in Houston
Feb 6 2012 // Daniel Newton has joined AmWINS Brokerage of Texas as an assistant vice president and a marketing manager in the company’s Houston office. Newton formerly was territory manager – commercial lines with America First...
People
Feb 6 2012 // Sandra Helin has been elected president of Southwestern Insurance Information Service. Helin will succeed Jerry Johns, who retires March 1, 2012. A 13-year veteran of SIIS, Helin previously served as director of public...
Texas Medical Loss Ratio Waiver Request Rejected
Feb 6 2012 // A request by Texas to be excluded from a new law that limits how much health insurance companies can spend on overhead has been rejected. The medical loss ratio requirement is part of the Affordable Care Act, the federal...
Business Moves
Feb 6 2012 // R-T Specialty, Maclean, Oddy & Associates R-T Specialty LLC, the wholesale broker of Ryan Specialty Group LLC, has acquired Texas-based insurance wholesale firm Maclean, Oddy & Associates Inc. (MOA). MOA is a...
TDECU Insurance Acquires 2 More Texas Independent Agencies
Feb 3 2012 // TDECU Insurance Agency LLC announced it has acquired two independent insurance agencies: Assurance Insurance Agency Inc. (Assurance) based in Bellville, Texas, and Burridge Insurance Agency Inc. (Burridge) based in...
Farmers Insurance Rate Hike in Texas Set for March
Feb 3 2012 // Farmers Insurance will raise homeowner premiums by nearly 10 percent after Texas regulators declined to object to the increase. The Dallas Morning News reported that the rate hike, set for mid-March, will apply to about...
Texas Agents Honor State Lawmakers with Independent Leadership Award
Feb 2 2012 // The Independent Insurance Agents of Texas (IIAT) has presented Independent Leadership Awards to the Honorable Kelly Hancock, Texas House of Representatives, and the Honorable John Carona, Texas Senate. With close to 10...
Texas Business Pleads Guilty to Hiding Payroll
Feb 2 2012 // A Midland, Texas-based company has pleaded guilty to misrepresenting the payroll of an affiliated firm, according to workers’ compensation insurer Texas Mutual Insurance Co. AB Abatement Inc. of Midland, pled guilty...
Builder Agent Network Expands Program for Texas Construction Industry
Feb 1 2012 // Builder Agent Network has launched a product for home building and contractor markets in Texas. The company, which functions as the managing general agency for Builders Insurance Group’s Texas products, will start...
Texas High Court Reaffirms Bar Against Policyholder Negligence Claims
Feb 1 2012 // In a decision that workers’ compensation experts say is good for Texas employees and employers alike, the Supreme Court of Texas issued a unanimous opinion on January 27, 2012, that bars negligence claims against...
Arkansas Family Sues Driver, Company Over Teen’s Death
Jan 31 2012 // The family of an Arkansas teenager who died after being hit by a tractor-trailer in Texas last year has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the driver of the truck and his employer. The lawsuit filed in U.S. District...
Texas Mutual Pays $450K Dividend to NFIB Construction Group
Jan 31 2012 // Texas Mutual Insurance Co. announced a $450,058 workers’ compensation dividend to the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) construction safety group. The dividend was based largely on the safety...
Florida’s FCCI Names Executives for Texas, Maryland Expansion
Jan 30 2012 // FCCI Insurance Group has announced it is expanding its commercial insurance offerings into Maryland and Texas. The company has named several executives to serve in a new home office that will oversee operations in those...
Federal Government Rejects Texas Insurance Waiver
Jan 30 2012 // The federal government has rejected a request by Texas to be excluded from a new law that limits how much health insurance companies can spend on overhead. The law is part of the Affordable Care Act, changes made in...
Kaufman Financial Acquires London’s Chesterfield Group, Texas MGA
Jan 27 2012 // The H.W. Kaufman Financial Group, parent company of wholesale broker and underwriting manager Burns & Wilcox, has purchased Chesterfield Group Ltd., a London-based insurance broker and underwriting organization with...
Severe Storms Drench Texas, at Least 3 Tornadoes Reported
Jan 26 2012 // Buckets of rain and powerful winds that likely spawned several tornadoes swept across Texas on Jan. 25, forcing drivers to abandon cars on flooded roads but not dropping enough water to make up for a historic dry...
Lubbock Office of Shofner, Lynch & Shulse Joins MHBT
Jan 25 2012 // Two well-known Texas independent insurance agencies have merged. Dallas-based McQueary Henry Bowles Troy (MHBT) and Shofner, Lynch & Shulse LLC (SLS) announced that the SLS Lubbock office joined MHBT effective Jan. 1,...
Hailstorms, Heat and Wildfires Made 2011 a Rough Year in Texas
Jan 24 2012 // With weather forecasters issuing severe weather alerts for Texas as a slow moving cold front rolls across the state, many Texans may be reminded of the natural forces in 2011 that destroyed lives and property in all...
