Latest Texas Headlines
All the headlines from our Texas Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Group Names Worst Texas Counties for Rail Safety
Jan 13 2009 // Harris County is the most dangerous county in Texas for railway accidents, according to a recently released report. There were 1,376 reported incidents including derailments, collisions, pedestrian trespassing and...
Fire Safety Checks Lagged at Texas Shelter Where 5 Died
Jan 13 2009 // Investigators probing a fatal fire at an East Texas homeless shelter have been unable to find evidence it was inspected for fire safety in recent years, according to local officials. While still early in the investigation...
Texas Mutual Pays $3.2M Dividend – Its Largest – to Restaurant Group
Jan 13 2009 // Texas Mutual Insurance Company recently announced a $3,162,738 dividend to the Texas Restaurant Association (TRA) group discount program. This marks the largest dividend in Texas Mutual’s history. It was based...
Windstorm Fund a Leading Issue With Lawmakers at Texas Capitol
Jan 12 2009 // Hurricane Ike was the big storm Texas officials feared would hit the coast – and the state’s way of paying for it afterward. When lawmakers convene Jan. 13, they’ll face the financial devastation left by...
Lifelines in the Storm: Pro-Policyholder Developments in 2008
Jan 11 2009 // In light of the enormous losses and cascading failures triggered by the financial crisis, companies across the full spectrum of U.S. industry will be looking to their insurance policies for loss mitigation. Fortunately,...
Lifelines in the Storm: Pro-Policyholder Developments in 2008
Jan 11 2009 // In light of the enormous losses and cascading failures triggered by the financial crisis, companies across the United States will be looking to their insurance policies for loss mitigation. However, recent developments in...
People
Jan 11 2009 // National managing general agent Burns & Wilcox has promoted Anthony Cugini to manager of the company’s Houston office. He is responsible for increasing sales across all product lines, including professional...
Texas, Oklahoma Among States Requiring Fire-Safe Cigarettes
Jan 11 2009 // Laws mandating stores only sell cigarettes that are slow-burning and fire-safe went into effect in five states on New Year’s Day, including Texas and Oklahoma. Those two states, plus Delaware, Iowa and Pennsylvania,...
Business Moves
Jan 11 2009 // Editor’s Note: For a comprehensive report of mergers and acquisitions for 2008, see Special Report: Agency Mergers in 2008 in the Dec. 22, 2008, edition of Insurance Journal. Brown & Brown, Insurance 1,...
Lifelines in the Storm: Pro-Policyholder Developments in 2008
Jan 11 2009 // In light of the enormous losses and failures triggered by the financial crisis, companies across the full spectrum of U.S. industry will be looking to their insurance policies for loss mitigation. Fortunately, developments...
States Rate Poorly on Consumer Insurance Information on Web
Jan 11 2009 // A national consumer group says state insurance departments vary in the quality of the information they provide consumers online, with differences in the usefulness of information such as the rates and practices of...
IMA of Texas Inc. Adds Jacoby, Smith and Shaffer
Jan 9 2009 // Risk management and insurance services provider IMA of Texas Inc. announced additions to its National Health Care, Employee Benefits and Surety departments. Michael J. Jacoby has been hired as vice president, National...
Texas Workers’ Comp Div. Assesses $285K in Fines June – Oct. 2008
Jan 9 2009 // The Texas Department of Insurance Division of Workers’ Compensation (TDI-DWC) from June through October 2008 assessed administrative penalties totaling $285,775 in disciplinary orders issued by Commissioner of...
Galveston Officials Paint Bleak Picture of Ike Recovery for Lawmakers
Jan 9 2009 // Galveston officials pleaded with state lawmakers Jan. 7 for help in rescuing their island city from the dire financial straits it finds itself in nearly four months after the devastation of Hurricane...
2 Plead Guilty in Texas Insurance and Construction Corruption Case
Jan 7 2009 // Two contractors pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges in Texas for offering thousands of dollars in kickbacks to four former Pharr-San Juan-Alamo Independent School District school board members and ex-superintendent Arturo...
Fire Fatalities Confirmed at North Texas Homeless Shelter
Jan 6 2009 // Fire ripped through a small-town homeless shelter in the Northeast Texas town of Paris early in the morning of Jan. 5, killing multiple people and forcing dozens to be relocated, the town’s fire chief said. Paris...
2008: Top Stories of the Year
Jan 5 2009 // 2008 can be described as a year like no other in the property/casualty insurance world. This year we saw the near death of the world’s largest and most successful insurance company, AIG. The soft market continued to...
Texas’ Workers’ Comp Discount Rate Set at 3.95%
Dec 29 2008 // The Texas Department of Insurance Division of Workers’ Compensation reported that the workers’ compensation interest/discount rate for Jan. 1, 2009, through March 31, 2009, will be 3.95 percent. The...
Former Mississippi Commissioner Featured at Texas Agents Event
Dec 23 2008 // The nation’s longest serving insurance commissioner, former Mississippi Insurance Commissioner George Dale, will share his unique post-Katrina insights on the regulatory challenges in the aftermath of large-scale...
Watkins Group to Market Cincinnati Insurance Business Policies in Texas
Dec 23 2008 // Cincinnati Financial Corporation’s property casualty insurance subsidiary, the Cincinnati Insurance Company, has appointed Watkins Insurance Group, with locations in Austin and Marble Falls, Texas, as the first...
