Latest USA Headlines
All the headlines from our USA Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Rain and Snow Help Ease Plains/Midwest Drought
Feb 20 2013 // Crop-friendly rain and snow is blanketing much of the drought-stricken U.S. Plains hard red winter wheat region and the dry western Midwest, an agricultural meteorologist said on Wednesday. “Widespread coverage of...
US Security Group Suspects Chinese Military Unit behind Hacking Attacks
Feb 19 2013 // A secretive Chinese military unit is believed to be behind a series of hacking attacks, a U.S. computer security company said, prompting a strong denial by China and accusations that it was in fact the victim of U.S....
Catholic Bishops Urge Birth Control Reprieve in Fiscal Bills
Feb 18 2013 // U.S. Roman Catholic bishops stepped up their battle against President Obama’s contraceptives policy on Friday by urging Congress to use its fiscal debate to free religious employers from a mandate requiring insurance...
Travel Industry Unfazed by Latest Carnival Cruise Ship Saga
Feb 18 2013 // Global cruise giant Carnival Corp. found itself in deep doo-doo this week, due to alarming reports about an engine room fire that left one of its jam-packed U.S. passenger ships adrift and awash in raw sewage in the Gulf...
Upstate New York Woman Sentenced for Crash Fraud Scheme
Feb 15 2013 // Authorities announced this week that a Utica, N.Y., woman has been sentenced for her role in an insurance and health care fraud scheme. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of New York said Cynthia...
Judge Accepts Transocean Settlement in Gulf Oil Spill
Feb 15 2013 // A federal judge on Thursday accepted a guilty plea by rig contractor Transocean Ltd. for violating the U.S. Clean Water Act along with a $400 million criminal fine for its role in the 2010 disaster at BP Plc’s...
G20 Wrangles over Currencies, Borrowing, Deficits at Moscow Talks
Feb 15 2013 // The Group of 20 major economies struggled on Friday to find common ground on currencies and borrowing, exposing rifts between advocates of a dash for growth and supporters of more austerity to revive the world economy. A...
Former Wisconsin Insurance Executive Sentenced to 5 Years for Fraud
Feb 15 2013 // A former Wausau, Wis., insurance agency executive has been sentenced to five years in prison for a fraud scheme. Former J.N. Manson Agency Inc. (Manson) CEO Timothy Mathwich had been indicted by a grand jury in June 2012...
Toyota Finalizes $29 Million Multi-State Settlement Over Acceleration
Feb 14 2013 // Toyota Motor Corp. will pay $29 million as part of a multi-state settlement agreement finalized on Thursday over the Japanese automaker’s failure to quickly notify drivers of defects that wound up triggering the...
U.S. Wants Gaylord’s Tennessee Flood Suit Against Army Corps Dismissed
Feb 14 2013 // A federal judge is scheduled to hear arguments on whether to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the Gaylord Entertainment Co. seeking money for property damage to its luxury hotel and convention center, the Grand Ole Opry and...
National Hurricane Center Report: Sandy Was 2nd-Costliest Hurricane in U.S.
Feb 14 2013 // Superstorm Sandy was the deadliest hurricane in the northeastern U.S. in 40 years and the second-costliest in the nation’s history, according to a report released Tuesday, Feb. 12.Sandy damage in Ortley Beach, N.J....
U.S. Government Adds Climate Change, Weather Data Gaps to ‘High Risk’ List
Feb 14 2013 // Climate change and gaps in weather satellite data have been officially added to the list of high risks facing the federal government, a list that already includes the federal flood insurance program, Medicare and the Post...
U.S. Chamber, Europe Business Group Welcome U.S-EU Free Trade Talks
Feb 14 2013 // In a joint statement the U.S. Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Thomas J. Donohue and the President of BUSINESSEUROPE Jürgen R. Thumann welcomed the release of the final report of the U.S.-EU High Level Working Group...
California Commissioner Fingers Insurers for Iran Investments
Feb 13 2013 // California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones on Wednesday singled out eight insurers licensed to do business in the state that continue to have investments tied to Iran’s energy, military and nuclear sectors. During...
Courts Upholds $28 Million Award in Grand Canyon Skywalk Case
Feb 13 2013 // A federal court dealt a blow to the business arm of a northern Arizona tribe that owns the Grand Canyon Skywalk by upholding a $28.5 million judgment in favor of a Las Vegas developer who invested the money to build the...
Goals of the U.S.-EU Free Trade Agreement; Re/Insurance Regs Reconsidered
Feb 13 2013 // Negotiations for a free-trade agreement between the United States and the European Union are set to begin within months, almost two decades after the idea was first floated between the world’s two largest...
Aspen Posts $2 Mn Q4 Net Income; FY $280.4 Mn; No Plans to Exit U.S. Property
Feb 13 2013 // Bermuda-based Aspen Insurance Holdings Limited reported net income after tax of $2.0 million for the fourth quarter of 2012, compared to $12.4 million in Q4 2011. After tax net income for the full year was $280.4 million,...
International Chamber of Commerce Survey Finds Improved Economic Climate
Feb 13 2013 // The Paris-based International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and the Munich-based Ifo institute for economic research have released findings, which conclude that the “world economy is showing signs of brightening after...
Rules for Dodd-Frank Top Republican House Agenda
Feb 12 2013 // Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives are gearing up to overhaul the housing finance system this year and will soon map out ways to monitor Wall Street reform rules, according to a draft agenda circulating on...
U.S. Chief Claims Officer Named for Navigators Management Co. in N.Y.
Feb 12 2013 // The Navigators Group Inc. recently appointed Christopher Finneran as U.S. chief claims officer of Navigators Management Company Inc., the Group’s principal underwriting agency subsidiary. Finneran will be responsible...
