Latest USA Headlines
All the headlines from our USA Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Drought Area Expands in Northern U.S., Eases in South
Sep 21 2012 // The worst drought to hit the United States in a half century expanded in the upper Midwest and northern Plains states in the past week due to warmer- and drier-than-normal weather, but loosened its grip on some central and...
Report Points to Insurance Industry’s Vulnerability to Climate Change
Sep 20 2012 // A report out Thursday urges the insurance industry to act to protect itself and the community against the increasing frequency of extreme weather due to climate change. In short, the report, its authors and those endorsing...
Pentagon Warns Private Computer Networks on Vulnerability to Cyber Attacks
Sep 20 2012 // Privately-owned U.S. computer networks remain vulnerable to cyber attacks, and many U.S. companies are not doing enough to protect them, Deputy U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said on Wednesday. “I hope this...
John Hancock, Law Firm Face Tax Shelter Racketeering Lawsuit
Sep 20 2012 // John Hancock Life Insurance Co. and its law firm, Edwards Wildman Palmer, must face a class action accusing them of violating racketeering laws by marketing a tax shelter, a federal appeals court ruled on Wednesday. The...
Bank Group Warns of Heightened Risk of Cyber Attacks
Sep 20 2012 // A financial services industry group warned U.S. banks, brokerages and insurers on Wednesday to be on heightened alert for cyber attacks after Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase experienced unexplained outages on their...
U.S., Trade Allies Push for International Services Talks
Sep 20 2012 // A proposed international agreement to reduce barriers to trade in service sectors ranging from banking to telecommunications [including insurance] would give the global economy a much-needed boost, top trade officials said...
US Fidelis Co-Owner Gets 40 Months in Prison
Sep 19 2012 // A former co-owner of auto service contract seller US Fidelis has been sentenced to more than three years in federal prison. Cory Atkinson of Lake St. Louis, Mo., was sentenced Sept. 18 in St. Louis. He pleaded guilty in...
US Bank: Lawsuit in Iowa Fraud Scandal ‘Without Merit’
Sep 19 2012 // US Bank is rejecting allegations in a lawsuit that claims one of its employees helped Peregrine Financial Group CEO Russ Wasendorf Sr. mislead regulators about his misuse of customer funds. Wasendorf, the founder of the...
Cooper Gay Swett & Crawford – Looking Forward, Not Back
Sep 19 2012 // Don’t tell Toby Esser, Cooper Gay Swett & Crawford’s CEO, that the global economy is in the doldrums. “We’ve had substantial organic growth over the last 12 months with property up around 20...
Explosion, Fire at Mexico Pemex Gas Facility Kills 26
Sep 19 2012 // An explosion and fire killed at least 26 people at a Pemex natural gas facility in northern Mexico near the U.S. border on Tuesday, one of the deadliest accidents in the oil and gas industry in recent years. Television...
Feds Appeal Ruling That Would Free Peregrine CEO
Sep 18 2012 // Federal prosecutors have appealed a judge’s order that would free a disgraced U.S. businessman while he awaits sentencing for a $200 million fraud scheme at his brokerage. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Cedar...
U.S. Risk Names Troester VP, Manager of New Oregon Branch
Sep 18 2012 // U.S. Risk Insurance Group Inc. named Tim Troester vice president and branch manager for the newly formed Portland, Ore. branch of U.S. Risk Brokers Inc. Troester’s focus at U.S. Risk will be to develop relationships...
Insurer Group PCI Names Wienecke as Senior VP for Government Relations
Sep 17 2012 // The Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI) has named Nathaniel F. Wienecke its senior vice president, federal government relations. Wienecke comes to PCI after three years at JPMorgan Chase & Co.,...
Judge Fines Las Vegas Sands Corp. $25,000 in Termination Lawsuit
Sep 17 2012 // A Nevada judge has fined Las Vegas Sands Corp. $25,000, citing its failure to disclose important information in a lawsuit filed by a fired executive against the casino company. Clark County District Judge Elizabeth...
Former N.J. School Chief Sentenced for Insurance Kickback Scheme
Sep 17 2012 // The heralded former superintendent of New Jersey’s fourth-largest school district was sentenced last Friday to 11 years in prison in a corruption case that the judge called the worst case of public corruption...
More Employers Offering Consumer-Driven Health Plans: Survey
Sep 17 2012 // Consumer-driven health plans (CDHPs) have surpassed health maintenance organizations to become the second most common plan design offered by U.S. employers, according to a survey from Aon Hewitt. Preferred provider...
US Brokers’ Employees Attend London’s Beazley Broker Academy at Lloyd’s
Sep 17 2012 // A bulletin from Lloyd’s notes that “high potential employees from US broking firms will spend the coming week in London, standing in the shoes of the Lloyd’s underwriter and gaining a detailed...
FDIC Director Says U.S. Should Reject Basel III Pact
Sep 17 2012 // The United States should reject Basel III bank capital standards if the international panel that drafted them does not make dramatic changes to the rules, a director at the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said on...
US Renews Waivers of Iran Sanctions for Japan, EU Nations
Sep 17 2012 // The United States has renewed waivers on Iran sanctions for Japan and 10 European countries because they cut their purchases of the OPEC nation’s crude oil, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Friday. The...
Cat Models – More Accurate, More Sophisticated and More Useful
Sep 17 2012 // Catastrophe models have become such an indispensable tool for re/insurers, particularly those who write P&C catastrophe coverage, that it’s hard to believe the service is only 25 years old. It was launched in...
