Latest Texas Headlines
All the headlines from our Texas Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Dabney Named VP, Corporate Underwriting, at Texas Mutual Insurance Co.
Aug 18 2020 // Richard Dabney has been appointed vice president of corporate underwriting at the Austin-based workers’ compensation insurer, Texas Mutual Insurance Company. In this newly created VP position within the underwriting...
Texas Insurance Commissioner Sullivan Returning to Private Sector
Aug 18 2020 // Texas Insurance Commissioner Kent Sullivan will resign from his post in September and return to the private sector, the Texas Department of Insurance reported. In his three years at the agency, Sullivan, who took the top...
Texas Forest Service Warns of Increased Wildfire Activity, Fuel Dryness
Aug 17 2020 // Continued hot and dry conditions across much of the state have resulted in increased wildfire activity, particularly in north central Texas and in areas along the Interstate-35 corridor, the Texas A&M Forest Service...
Judge Tosses Texas Barbershops’ Suit Against Insurer Over Coronavirus Losses
Aug 16 2020 // A federal judge has agreed with an insurer that a group of barbershops in the San Antonio, Texas-area have no basis for claims seeking coverage under their commercial insurance policies for business interruption losses...
Dallas Doctor Sentenced to 5.5 Years in Prison for Health Care, Insurance Fraud
Aug 14 2020 // A Texas-based anesthesiologist has been sentenced to five and a half years in prison and ordered to pay more than $82.9 million in restitution for his part in a $200 million healthcare and insurance fraud scheme, according...
Texas Mutual Names Strong VP, Underwriting Operations
Aug 13 2020 // Paschal Strong has been appointed vice president of underwriting operations at workers’ compensation insurer, Texas Mutual Insurance Co. In this newly created position within the underwriting division, Strong will be...
Texas to Add New Fee to Insurance Form Filings Starting in September
Aug 11 2020 // There will be an additional $20.50 fee on insurance form filings beginning Sept. 1 in Texas, the state insurance department has reported. The Texas Department of Insurance said fee will support a technology project that...
Texas Windstorm Insurance Company: No Rate Change for Now
Aug 11 2020 // The board of directors of Texas’ property insurer last resort for wind and hail in the state’s coastal counties has voted to file a 0% rate change with the Texas Department of Insurance. The Texas Windstorm...
Texas Governor Extends Disaster Declaration for COVID-19
Aug 10 2020 // Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has extended a statewide disaster declaration he first issued in March to allow the state to better respond to the coronavirus pandemic. “Renewing this Disaster Declaration will provide...
Texas Reports Nearly 9,200 New COVID Cases, 245 Deaths
Aug 6 2020 // Texas health officials reported almost 9,200 confirmed new coronavius cases Tuesday as a convention center in the hard-hit Rio Grande Valley opened as a makeshift hospital for COVID-19 patients. The Department of State...
Urban Flooding Is On The Rise, So What Can Be Done?
Aug 6 2020 // As hurricane season heats up, a growing number of properties located outside of FEMA-designated high-risk flood zones are already flooding. The problem is especially bad in the urban areas of America’s cities. A...
Houston Will Enforce Masks With Fines as Texas Deaths Topped 7,000
Aug 5 2020 // Houston’s mayor has instructed police to begin issuing $250 fines for flouting statewide mask orders in hopes that August will stamp out a grim summer resurgence of COVID-19 that is now responsible for at least 7,000...
Texas Mutual, VFIS of Texas Award $500K to Emergency Service Groups
Aug 4 2020 // Texas Mutual Insurance Co. and Volunteer Firemen’s Insurance Services of Texas are awarding $500,000 to nonprofit emergency service organizations across Texas through two separate grant programs. $200,000 will be...
One80 Intermediaries Acquires National Underwriting Services in Texas
Aug 4 2020 // One80 Intermediaries has acquired National Underwriting Services Inc. in San Antonio, Texas. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. National Underwriting Services is a specialty underwriter of medical stop loss coverage for...
5th Circuit: Texas Carrier Must Defend Against Claim Despite Policy Exclusion
Aug 3 2020 // Texas law requires an insurer to defend the grandparents of a 10-year-old boy who was killed while driving their all-terrain vehicle against a negligence lawsuit, even though the carrier says neither the boy nor the crash...
Texas Gas Pipeline Erupts After Being Cut by Contractor
Jul 31 2020 // A natural gas pipeline erupted in flames near Houston after it was accidentally cut Wednesday afternoon by a contractor, officials said. The accident happened about 4:45 p.m. in the town of Mont Belvieu, about 30 miles...
Megadroughts Brought by Climate Change a Challenge for Texas Ranchers
Jul 31 2020 // Arthur Uhl III has been ranching for 30 years and routinely has the same lament: “It doesn’t rain enough.” Uhl, who works on his family’s San Angelo-area ranches, needs the rain to grow the grass...
Schools, not Local Health Officials, Decide on Class Start, Texas AG Says
Jul 31 2020 // Local health officials in Texas do not have the authority to close schools to prevent spread of the coronavirus, state Attorney General Ken Paxton said July 28, pushing that decision solely into the hands of school...
RMS Estimate: Insured Losses from Hurricane Hanna Won’t Exceed $400M
Jul 30 2020 // Catastrophe risk products and services company, Risk Management Solutions Inc. (RMS), has estimated that insurance losses in the U.S. from Hurricane Hanna will not exceed $400 million. This estimate represents insured...
COVID-19 Surge in Texas Sparks Worry Amid Hurricane Hanna Cleanup
Jul 28 2020 // As recovery and cleanup efforts got underway on July 27 in South Texas in the wake of a downgraded Hurricane Hanna, worried residents confronted the prospect of undertaking the effort amid a surge in coronavirus cases that...