Latest USA Headlines
All the headlines from our USA Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Powerful Hurricane Irma, on Path to Slam Caribbean Then Florida, Could Surpass Katrina
Sep 5 2017 // Hurricane Irma, the most powerful storm to form in the open Atlantic Ocean, made landfall in the Caribbean early Wednesday and barreled toward Puerto Rico on a path that may bring it ashore in Florida and destroy so much...
Former Louisiana Police Officer Pleads Guilty in Insurance Fraud Scheme
Sep 5 2017 // A former Louisiana police officer has pleaded guilty to his role in a vehicle fraud theft and insurance scheme. Acting U.S. Attorney Alexander C. Van Hook, in a news release, said 52-year-old Donald W. Malray entered the...
Western U.S. Wildfires Force Evacuations of Thousands
Sep 5 2017 // Wildfires forced thousands to flee their homes across the U.S. West during a sweltering, smoke-shrouded holiday weekend of record heat. The fires caused evacuations in Glacier National Park in Montana and many other parts...
Pre-Monte Carlo Outlook: Reinsurance Rates to Drop Up to 7.5% Despite Harvey
Sep 5 2017 // Global reinsurance rates are likely to fall by up to 7.5 percent at Jan 2018 renewals due to strong competition, despite the impact of Hurricane Harvey, ratings agencies said on Tuesday. Reinsurers, which help insurers...
Florida in State of Emergency as Category 5 Hurricane Irma Threatens
Sep 5 2017 // Florida declared a state of emergency before a possible hurricane strike after Irma strengthened to become a Category 5 storm on its approach to the Caribbean. Irma’s maximum winds rose as high as 175 miles an hour...
AGCS Expands Terrorism, Political Violence Coverage for U.S. Businesses
Sep 5 2017 // Allianz Group’s specialist corporate insurer Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS) has launched coverage for U.S. businesses when faced with loss related to terrorism and political violence both at home and...
Harvey Leaves Texans to Clean Up Amid Health and Environmental Dangers
Sep 4 2017 // Harvey has moved on from the U.S. Gulf Coast, leaving behind a toxic stew of human sewage, dead cattle, leaking chemical plants, spilled gasoline storage tanks and abandoned pickup trucks. The cleanup will take patience,...
Southern U.S., Caribbean Islands Brace for Hurricane Irma
Sep 4 2017 // Hurricane Irma, barreling toward the Caribbean and the southern United States, was upgraded to a powerful Category 4 storm on Monday as islands in its path braced for a possible onslaught. Hurricane advisories were issued...
Flood Insurance Losses from Harvey Could Match Katrina’s, I.I.I. Says
Sep 4 2017 // Flood damage in Texas from Hurricane Harvey may equal that from 2005’s Hurricane Katrina, the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history, according to an insurance research group. As heavy rain pounded Houston and...
Middle Market Growth Spells Opportunity for California’s Insurance Community
Sep 4 2017 // The insurance community has at least two reasons to be interested in a new report on middle market companies, particularly those who are doing business in California. According to a report from American Express and Dun...
Judge Won’t Allow Challenge to Seattle’s Rideshare Driver Union Law
Sep 4 2017 // A federal judge has rejected a challenge to Seattle’s first-in-the-nation law allowing drivers of ridesharing companies such as Uber and Lyft to unionize over pay and working conditions. U.S. District Judge Robert...
Business Moves
Sep 4 2017 // Widerman & Company, Smith Brothers Insurance Widerman & Company Insurance of Haddonfield, N.J., has merged its business with Smith Brothers Insurance of Glastonbury, Conn. This combination allows Widerman &...
Report: Climate Change May Pose Threat to Nation’s Electric Grid
Sep 4 2017 // Climate change may pose a serious risk to the nation’s electric grid, according to a new report. The report was prepared by Johns Hopkins University with help from Swiss Re. “Lights out: The risks of climate...
Northern Underwriting Managers’ Fendler Indicted Again; Faces 20 Fraud Counts
Sep 4 2017 // The owner of multiple property/casualty insurance operations in northern Illinois has been indicted once again, this time on charges that he defrauded more than 100 clients. Todd J. Fendler, of Rockford, Ill., previously...
Judge Throws Out Obama Rule Hiking Overtime Pay
Sep 1 2017 // A federal judge in Texas on Thursday struck down an Obama administration rule that would have extended mandatory overtime pay to more than 4 million U.S. workers, siding with business groups and 21 states that had...
House to Vote Next Week on Bill to Speed Autonomous Vehicles
Sep 1 2017 // The U.S. House of Representatives will vote Wednesday on a sweeping proposal to speed the deployment of self-driving cars without human controls and bar states from blocking autonomous vehicles, congressional aides...
As Harvey Winds Down, Hurricane Irma Waiting in Wings
Sep 1 2017 // Hurricane Harvey has left major devastation in Texas, but there is another hurricane called Irma out in the Atlantic that could take aim at the United States within the next week or so. Irma became a hurricane early on...
Arkema Plant Fires Underscore Chemical Industry Risk Management Challenge
Sep 1 2017 // In its devastatingly slow crawl up the industrial Gulf Coast, Hurricane Harvey is proving to be the biggest test yet of the safety and vulnerabilities of the U.S. chemicals industry. A Houston-area chemical plant was hit...
Thousands of Harvey Victims Rescued; At Least 38 Deaths; Damage Survey Begins
Sep 1 2017 // Soldiers and police in helicopters and high-water trucks rescued thousands of Texans stranded by floodwater from Hurricane Harvey on Thursday, which has killed dozens of people and displaced more than a million others as...
Judge Says Yahoo Must Face Data Breach Lawsuit
Sep 1 2017 // A U.S. judge said Yahoo must face nationwide litigation brought on behalf of well over 1 billion users who said their personal information was compromised in three massive data breaches. Wednesday night’s decision...
