Latest Texas Headlines
All the headlines from our Texas Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Texas Lawmakers Told Insurers Want ‘Seat at Table’ As Power Blackout Probe Begins
Feb 25 2021 // Texas state legislators on Thursday begin digging into the causes of deadly power blackouts that left millions shivering in the dark as frigid temperatures caught its grid operator and utilities ill-prepared for...
Texas’ Upland Capital Group Launches Excess Transportation Liability Program
Feb 25 2021 // Newly launched specialty lines insurer, Dallas-based Upland Capital Group (Upland), has added an Excess Transportation Liability (XTL) specialty insurance offering targeting fleet sizes up to 250 revenue producing...
Texas Insurance Exec, Harrison, Honored by Big ‘I’ with Woodworth Memorial Award
Feb 25 2021 // Longtime Texas insurance agency executive, William “Bill” E. Harrison Jr., has been honored by the Big “I” with its Woodworth Memorial Award, the national independent insurance agency...
Truck/Train Collision in Texas Results in Large Explosion, Fire
Feb 24 2021 // A tractor-trailer and a freight train collided Tuesday morning in central Texas, causing a large explosion and fire, authorities said. There were no immediate reports of injuries after the collision in Cameron, about 130...
Deadly Power Outages Lead to Board Resignations at Texas Grid Operator
Feb 24 2021 // Top board leaders of Texas’ embattled power grid operator have resigned following outrage over more than 4 million customers losing electricity during the mid-February deadly winter storm, including many whose frigid...
Minick Retiring from Texas Workplace Injury Benefit Risk Managing Firm, PartnerSource
Feb 24 2021 // Bill Minick, founder of Texas-based workers’ compensation/workplace injury benefit risk management firm, PartnerSource, will retire at the end of March. Jennifer Hurless, president of PartnerSource, will continue in...
$1B Class-Action Suit Filed Against Texas Wholesale Electricity Provider, Griddy
Feb 23 2021 // A Chambers County, Texas, resident has filed a class-action lawsuit against electricity retailer Griddy, accusing the provider of price gouging customers during last week’s freeze. She is seeking $1 billion in relief...
Texas Ranchers Scrambled to Keep Animals Alive in Extreme Cold
Feb 22 2021 // Texas ranchers worked overtime to haul water and hay to cattle to keep them alive during a freak winter storm, but some cows succumbed to unusual icy temperatures that also killed chickens, idled meat plants and threatened...
Mother of 11-Year-Old Who Died in Texas Freeze Sues Power Companies for $100M
Feb 22 2021 // The mother of an 11-year-old boy who died after they lost electricity and heat in their Texas mobile home during last week’s freeze has filed a $100 million lawsuit against two power companies for gross...
Bursting Pipes, Sagging Roofs Strain Texas Adjusters, Contractors
Feb 22 2021 // After the big freeze in Texas comes the big thaw — and the big demand for workers to repair the broken pipes and sagging roofs the retreating ice and snow will reveal. It could take months for contractors to fix the...
Tesla to Offer Auto Insurance Program in Texas
Feb 22 2021 // Not only is Tesla moving some manufacturing operations to Austin, Texas, its founder, Elon Musk, is said to be relocating there, and the electric car company will soon be offering its own brand of car insurance in the Lone...
Insurance Losses From Texas Storm May Set First Quarter Record: A.M. Best
Feb 21 2021 // Insurers could suffer record first-quarter catastrophe losses after the historic Texas winter storm, which crippled the state’s electrical grid and caused extensive property damage including collapsed roofs and...
Insurers Expect ‘Hundreds of Thousands’ of Claims from Texas Storm
Feb 19 2021 // U.S. property insurers are bracing for claims for damage from collapsing roofs, bursting pipes and lost business as Texas takes stock of its losses from a winter storm that has crippled its electrical grid. Insurers’...
Texas Leaders Failed to Heed Warnings About Vulnerability of Power Grid, Experts Say
Feb 18 2021 // Millions of Texans have gone days without power or heat in subfreezing temperatures brought on by snow and ice storms. Limited regulations on companies that generate power and a history of isolating Texas from federal...
NTSB Will Investigate Deadly 130 Vehicle-Plus Crash in Texas
Feb 17 2021 // National Transportation Safety Board said it would investigate a massive crash involving more than 130 vehicles on an icy Texas highway that killed six people and injured dozens more. The NTSB said on Twitter that its...
In Texas’s Black-Swan Blackout, Everything Went Wrong at Once
Feb 17 2021 // The finger-pointing began immediately: It was the frozen wind turbines that foolishly replaced traditional sources. No, fossil fuels were at fault. No, Texas’s deregulated power market, unique in the country, had...
Texas Ag Industry, Food Supply at Risk from Severe Weather, Official Says
Feb 17 2021 // Farmers and ranchers across Texas are seeing devastating effects from the cold weather on livestock, feed and agriculture products, Texas’ top agriculture official says. In a media release, Texas Agriculture...
Citrus Crop Losses Expected in Texas After Deep Freeze
Feb 16 2021 // The historic cold snap that has frozen Texas this week with brutal winter weather and brought snow all the way to beaches along the Gulf of Mexico is also bringing headaches for citrus growers at the southern tip of the...
Freeze Slams Texas; Power Could Be Out for Days
Feb 16 2021 // The deep freeze that has forced the shutdown of U.S. refineries, oil wells and meat plants, disrupted shipments of soybeans and corn, and is still leaving more than 3 million customers without electricity could continue to...
Brown Reappointed as Texas Workers’ Compensation Commissioner
Feb 16 2021 // Cassie Brown has been reappointed by Gov. Greg Abbott as Commissioner of Workers’ Compensation at the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) for a term set to expire on Feb. 1, 2023. Brown has led the Division of...
