Latest Texas Headlines
All the headlines from our Texas Topic Page, ordered by recency.
New Markets
Feb 21 2010 // The following markets were selected from the MyNewMarkets database of 25,000 coverages and programs. To find additional markets, or to submit markets, go to www.MyNewMarkets.com. Livestock Mortality Insurance Market...
Austin Plane Crash – Intentional Act or Terrorism?
Feb 19 2010 // Austin, Texas, Police Chief Art Acevedo stopped short of calling the crashing of a small plane into a commercial office building in northwest Austin on Feb. 18 a terrorist act, but U.S. Representative Mike McCaul said he...
Jeter Elected Chair of Texas Automobile Insurance Plan Association
Feb 18 2010 // For the first time in Texas Automobile Insurance Plan Association (TAIPA) history a public member has been elected to lead the organization’s board. Long-time Board member Bill Jeter, of College Station, Texas, was...
Plane Crashes into Commercial Building in Austin, Texas
Feb 18 2010 // A small plane crashed into a commercial office building in northwest Austin, Texas, just before 10 a.m. on Feb. 18, creating a huge fireball and causing extensive damage to the structure. According to various media reports...
Record Snowstorm Pushes North Texas Losses to $25M
Feb 16 2010 // Recent record snowfall in the Dallas/Fort Worth area resulted in insured losses at $25 million, the Insurance Council of Texas reported. The snow accumulations of up to a foot paralyzed the area’s transportation...
Galveston Residents Urged to Seek Federal Help for Ike Rebuilding
Feb 12 2010 // Galveston, Texas, officials are encouraging residents whose homes were battered by Hurricane Ike to seek federal rebuilding assistance. The city on Feb. 28 has to report to the state its progress in administering the $104...
ATF Blames Texas Church Fires on Serial Arsonist
Feb 11 2010 // Federal authorities believe a spate of church fires in eastern Texas is the work of a serial arsonist or group of arsonists who have evaded law enforcement for more than a month. Clay Alexander of the U.S. Bureau of...
Auto Injuries, Fatalities Down in Texas
Feb 10 2010 // The Insurance Council of Texas reports that the number of people injured and killed in automobile accidents in Texas has continued to decline since 2003. Both fatalities and injuries are down more than 20 percent since the...
Allstate Selects San Antonio for New Customer Call Center
Feb 10 2010 // Allstate Insurance Company said it will open an $11.6 million customer information center in San Antonio, Texas, and is planning to hire 600 employees as part of that move. Allstate vice president of direct sales and...
El Nino Drowning Texas Wildfire Threat
Feb 9 2010 // Central Texas rancher Debbie Davis can hardly believe the turnaround in rainfall. While her pastures were parched and withered last summer after nearly two years without appreciable rain, the area northwest of San Antonio...
Business Moves
Feb 7 2010 // Fiesta Auto Huntington Beach, Calif.-based Fiesta Auto Insurance is combining its two business models — insurance and tax preparation — under one roof, quadrupling its presence to more than 80 locations....
It Figures
Feb 7 2010 // $12 Billion Hurricane Ike, which struck Galveston on Sept. 13, 2008, is so far the costliest weather catastrophe in Texas history, racking up nearly $12 billion in windstorm and flood insurance claims. Windstorm claims in...
On Average, Texas Homeowners Rates Are Down, Agents Group Says
Feb 7 2010 // Reduction Is in Cost per $1,000 in Property Value There’s a common perception that homeowners insurance rates in Texas go up and up, and never come down. That’s not necessarily true, however, according to the...
People
Feb 7 2010 // Excess and surplus lines wholesale broker Maclean Oddy & Associates Inc. appointed Stan Ackerman senior vice president and manager of the property division in its Houston office, and Nancy Self vice president and...
Texas Mutual Awards $300K in Safety Education Grants
Feb 5 2010 // Texas Mutual Insurance Company has awarded a combined $300,000 in grants to Kilgore College, Midland College and College of the Mainland in Texas City. The grants will fund free workplace safety courses for employers,...
Agents Honor Texas House Speaker with Leadership Award
Feb 3 2010 // The Independent Insurance Agents of Texas (IIAT) on Feb. 2 presented its 2010 Independent Leadership Award to Joe Straus III, speaker of the Texas House of Representatives. Speaker Straus was elected to the House of...
Agents’ Group: On a Cost per Home Value Basis, Texas Rates Are Down
Feb 2 2010 // Texas insurance agents — want to show your customers that the common perception that homeowners rates in Texas always go up but never come down is false? Look to your agency management system, say educators from the...
Hurricane Ike Claims Total Nearly $12B in Texas
Jan 29 2010 // Hurricane Ike, which struck Galveston on Sept. 13, 2008, has proved to be the costliest weather catastrophe in Texas history by a large margin. The storm racked up nearly $12 billion in windstorm and flood insurance claims...
Texas Agent and Former Windstorm Association Chair Dies at 81
Jan 29 2010 // Corpus Christi independent insurance agent and former Texas Windstorm Insurance Association chairman, Lloyd L. Grove Jr., passed away Jan. 24 at the age of 81. Throughout his 50-year career Grove was actively involved in...
Texas Workers’ Comp Medical Costs per Claim Stabilized
Jan 28 2010 // Medical costs per workers’ compensation claim in Texas were stable in 2007, following several years of dramatic decreases, according to a new study by the Workers Compensation Research Institute (WCRI). The decline...
