Latest USA Headlines
All the headlines from our USA Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Human Activity Muddies Causes of Texas Floods
Aug 14 2013 // Periodic flooding in Texas — one the most flood-prone states in the nation — cannot be firmly linked to climate change due to numerous dams and other man-made structures introduced over the years, according to a...
U.S. Judge Denies Motion to Dismiss Oklahoma Healthcare Reform Lawsuit
Aug 14 2013 // A federal judge has denied most of the federal government’s motion to dismiss Oklahoma’s legal challenge to implementation of the new federal healthcare law. In a 27-page decision, U.S. District Judge Ronald...
Report Urges Pressure on Utilities to Protect Electric Grid From Storms
Aug 14 2013 // Power companies should be pressed by government to install technologies including smart meters and energy-storage devices to shield the electric grid from more frequent disruptions tied to weather, according to a...
Atlantic Hurricane Season to Enter Most Active Phase Next Week
Aug 14 2013 // The Atlantic hurricane season is about to enter its most active phase as conditions for the powerful storms improve across the basin. Wind shear that can tear budding storms apart has been decreasing, said Dan Kottlowski,...
Lessons from U.S. Blackout of 10 Years Ago: Kemp
Aug 14 2013 // Exactly 10 years ago, at 15:05 Eastern Time on August 14, 2003, an overhead power line came into contact with an overgrown tree near Cleveland, Ohio. What happened next is a frightening case study of how vulnerable modern...
Endurance Appoints Head of U.S. Financial Institutions Insurance in New York
Aug 13 2013 // Endurance Specialty Holdings, a Bermuda-based specialty provider of property/casualty insurance and reinsurance, appointed Fred Cooper as executive vice president and head of U.S. financial institutions insurance, based in...
Kaufman Financial Group Acquires ISI Insurance Services in Pennsylvania
Aug 13 2013 // The H.W. Kaufman Financial Group announced the acquisition of ISI Insurance Services, a Uniontown, Penn.-based provider of premium audits, loss control and inspection services. ISI will join the team at US-Reports, a...
Rates for Same Workplace Injuries Vary by State: Study
Aug 13 2013 // Rates of serious workplace injury and illness vary significantly between states, even for workers in the same industries, according to a recent report. Allsup, a provider of Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI)...
Tower Group, Meadowbrook Delays on Filings Could Trigger Shareholder Actions
Aug 13 2013 // After two property/casualty insurers—Tower Group International Ltd. and Meadowbrook Insurance Group—said they would delay scheduled Securities and Exchange (SEC) filings last week, law firms set the wheels in motion...
India’s MRPL to Receive Iranian Oil Cargo after 4-Month Gap
Aug 13 2013 // India’s Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd said on Monday it expects to receive an Iranian oil cargo by the end of this week, the firm’s first purchase from the sanctions-hit nation since April. The...
Republican Sen. McConnell Calls for Delay in Obamacare Insurance Exchanges
Aug 13 2013 // Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell on Monday called on the Obama administration to delay the Oct. 1 opening of exchanges where uninsured Americans will be able to buy health insurance until the U.S. government can...
Property Losses Rose for U.S. Captives in 2012: A.M. Best
Aug 12 2013 // Captive insurance companies tightened margins and used capital more efficiently in 2012, according to research by ratings firm A.M. Best Co. Among A.M. Best’s captive composite, the loss and loss adjustment expense...
Railroads Win Class Certification Appeal in Shippers’ Price Fixing Case
Aug 12 2013 // The four largest U.S. railroad companies won their bid to reverse a ruling that turned a price- fixing lawsuit against them by shippers into a group lawsuit with potential damages of at least $10 billion. A three-judge...
Tennessee’s Heavy Rains Tested Lessons from 2010 Flood
Aug 12 2013 // Unusually heavy summer rainfalls in Tennessee have given the agencies involved in flood control and emergency management a chance to show that they have learned to cooperate after the disastrous missteps of...
Cat Bonds, Sidecars Keeping Reinsurance Rates Low Says Guy Carpenter
Aug 12 2013 // Reinsurance market rates continued to be driven by an influx of capital from third-party investors at the July 1 renewals, in spite of catastrophe losses reaching approximately $20 billion during the first six months of...
NSA Leaks Could Stymie U.S. Cyber Policy Progress: Officials
Aug 9 2013 // Weeks of revelations about secret U.S. surveillance programs could stymie progress on negotiations over new laws and regulations meant to beef up the country’s defenses against the growing threat of cyber attacks,...
Catlin Group Six Months Underwriting Results Steady; Net Income Falls
Aug 9 2013 // The Bermuda-based Catlin Group Limited listed the following highlights for the financial results for the six months ended 30 June 2013. — Strong Underwriting Reflected in 88.9 percent Combined Ratio — Strong...
Railway in Quebec Train Disaster Gets Canada Bankruptcy Protection
Aug 9 2013 // The U.S. railway whose runaway train killed 47 people in a tiny Quebec town last month was granted bankruptcy protection from a Canadian court on Thursday and took steps in that direction in a U.S. court as well. Montreal...
Small Cars Are Big Losers in Safety Crash Tests
Aug 8 2013 // The auto industry continued its poor performance in an influential U.S. safety group’s new crash test as half of the small cars tested did not fare well. Six of the cars tested, most of which were 2013 models, were...
Third Point Re Claims Eligibility for U.S. Jobs Act Disclosure Limits with No U.S. Staff
Aug 8 2013 // Billionaire hedge-fund manager Daniel Loeb’s Third Point Reinsurance Ltd., which has no staff in the U.S., said it can limit financial disclosure after a public offering because of rules promoting domestic job...
