Latest USA Headlines

All the headlines from our USA Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Bayer Vows Appeal After Judge Cuts Roundup Jury Award to $25M from $80M

Jul 16 2019 // A federal judge on Monday slashed a damages award Bayer AG owed a California man who blamed Roundup weed killer for his cancer, to $25.27 million from $80.27 million, while rejecting the company’s bid for a new...

Oklahoma, J&J Wrapping Up First Trial Over Opioid Crisis

Jul 15 2019 // Oklahoma’s attorney general is expected to urge a judge to find Johnson & Johnson responsible for flooding the market with painkillers and fueling the U.S. opioid epidemic, as the first trial in nationwide...

Panama to Withdraw Flags from More Vessels that Violate Iran Sanctions: Reuters

Jul 15 2019 // Panama will withdraw its flag from more vessels that violate sanctions and international legislation, the country’s maritime authority told Reuters, following the removal of about 60 ships linked to Iran and Syria...

U.S. Opens Criminal Probe Into J&J Denials of Cancer Risks from Baby Powder

Jul 15 2019 // The U.S. Justice Department is pursuing a criminal investigation into whether Johnson & Johnson lied to the public about the possible cancer risks of its talcum powder, people with knowledge of the matter said. The...

U.S. Boosting Marijuana Crop Available for Research

Jul 15 2019 // The U.S. government is growing the largest crop of research marijuana in five years, responding to interest in varieties with high levels of THC and CBD. The government is the only source of pot for nearly all research in...

Business Moves

Jul 15 2019 // East W.N. Tuscano Agency, Insurance Markets W.N. Tuscano Agency Inc. has signed an agreement to acquire Clarks Summit, Penn.-based Insurance Markets Inc. Founded in 1960, Insurance Markets Inc. is a managing general agency...

U.S. P/C Insurers’ Net Income Increased 69% in 2018 Over 2017: A.M. Best

Jul 15 2019 // The U.S. property/casualty industry showed a year-over-year 69% increase in net income to $59.2 billion in 2018, owing to lower losses from catastrophic events, favorable development of prior years’ loss reserves and...

Barry Expected to Make Landfall in Louisiana as Hurricane on Saturday

Jul 12 2019 // In an update issued at 4 p.m., CDT, on July 12, the National Hurricane Center said Tropical Storm Barry is expected to make landfall as a category 1 hurricane along Louisiana’s central Gulf Coast on July 13. The NHC...

Refineries in Tropical Storm Barry’s Path to Keep Operating

Jul 12 2019 // Most U.S. refiners whose plants are in the path of Tropical Storm Barry took steps on Friday to keep them running, even as forecasters warned that the second named storm of the season could become a hurricane just before...

Art Ring Charged with Smuggling $143M in Antiquities

Jul 12 2019 // An art dealer who authorities called one of the most prolific smugglers in the world and seven others were charged with trafficking more than $140 million in stolen antiquities, prosecutors said Wednesday. Authorities...

Aon Promotes Ronda to President of U.S. Reinsurance

Jul 12 2019 // Global broker Aon has promoted Aon veteran Tim Ronda to president of its U.S. Reinsurance Solutions business. He is based in New York. As president, he succeeds George deMenocal, CEO of U.S. Reinsurance Solutions, who has...

Now a Tropical Storm, Barry Takes Aim at Louisiana

Jul 11 2019 // Tropical Storm Barry formed in the Gulf of Mexico and could strike Louisiana as a hurricane Saturday, causing almost $1 billion in damage and worsening flooding in New Orleans. The system, which was about 95 miles (153...

Economic Costs of European Weather Events in June Top $2B: Aon Report

Jul 11 2019 // Severe European storms during June had an economic price tag of US$2 billion, while insurers anticipated claims topping $1.5 billion, according to the latest edition of Aon’s monthly Global Catastrophe Recap...

UK Navy Stops Iran from Blocking BP Oil Tanker Leaving Persian Gulf

Jul 11 2019 // The British navy intervened to stop Iran from blocking a commercial oil tanker leaving the Persian Gulf, heightening friction just as European nations scramble to salvage a landmark nuclear accord with the Islamic...

It No Longer Takes a Big Storm to Produce High Tide Flooding in Coastal Communities

Jul 11 2019 // Coastal communities across the U.S. again experienced increased high tide flooding last year, forcing their residents to deal with flooded shorelines, streets and basements. The elevated water levels affected coastal...

Judge Wants PG&E to Respond to Report It Knew Faulty Lines Could Cause Wildfires

Jul 10 2019 // PG&E Corp. was ordered by a federal judge overseeing its probation to respond to a Wall Street Journal story claiming the utility knew its power lines could cause wildfires and failed to perform upgrades. PG&E...

As Storm Forms in Gulf of Mexico, U.S. Oil Producers Shut Offshore Output

Jul 10 2019 // U.S. oil prices have climbed 3% as more major oil producers shut production and withdrew staff from offshore platforms in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, as a storm threatened oil-producing areas. Anadarko Petroleum Corp., the...

Volvo’s Autonomous Trucking Offer Bundles Pilots, Insurance, Services

Jul 10 2019 // Swedish truckmaker AB Volvo’s first commercial autonomous truck deal shows how it is bundling services to generate revenue from a technology that is years away from wide deployment. Driverless transportation has been...

3 Problems with the Coverage Territory

Jul 10 2019 // When a customer buys an insurance policy, one of the often unanswered (and unasked) questions is “where does this policy apply?” You may not think it’s a big deal. But what if you just wrote a CGL policy...

Judges Frustrated with Failure of Congress to Settle Obamacare Issues

Jul 10 2019 // The U.S. appeals court judges tasked with deciding the fate of the hot potato known as Obamacare had some choice words Tuesday for Congress and the Trump administration. “Why does Congress want the judiciary to be a...