Latest USA Headlines
All the headlines from our USA Topic Page, ordered by recency.
East Regulation Report Card: Vermont Ranks Best for 3rd Straight Year
Jan 9 2017 // The R Street Institute, an industry think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C., found Vermont has the best insurance regulatory environment in the U.S. for the third straight year in its annual Insurance Regulation...
Canada’s 2016 Nat Cats Bring Record Insured Damages of $3.7B
Jan 6 2017 // Insured damages from Canadian natural catastrophes during 2016 topped C$4.9 billion (US$3.7 billion) – smashing the previous annual record of C$3.2 billion (US$2.4 billion) set in 2013, according to the Insurance Bureau...
Federal Insurance Chief McRaith Leaving Post on Jan. 20
Jan 6 2017 // Michael McRaith, who has served as director the Federal Insurance Office since its creation in 2011, is resigning his post as of Jan. 20. as the Trump Administration begins. McRaith announced his plan to leave the agency...
U.S. Claims Home-Networking Firm D-Link Poses Hacking Risk
Jan 6 2017 // A U.S. consumer protection watchdog sued a Taiwan-based maker of home-networking equipment over claims that lax security left its products vulnerable to hackers. The Federal Trade Commission alleged that D-Link Corp. and a...
Judge Rules VW Must Face U.S. Investor Lawsuit Over Diesel Scandal
Jan 6 2017 // Volkswagen AG and former Chief Executive Officer Martin Winterkorn must defend an investor lawsuit in California over the company’s diesel emissions cheating scandal, a U.S. judge has ruled. The plaintiffs, mostly...
Utah Could Have Strictest DUI Limit in U.S. Under This Proposal
Jan 5 2017 // A state lawmaker wants to make Utah’s DUI threshold the strictest in the nation by lowering the blood-alcohol content limit to 0.05 percent. Though state numbers show alcohol-related driving deaths and DUI arrests...
How to Gain ‘Digital Trust’ of Employees in Age of Internet of Things
Jan 5 2017 // Employers will need to accept tradeoffs to foster “digital trust” with employees if they want to gather the workplace data necessary to realize the full benefits of the Internet of Things (IoT) and the sharing...
New Hurricane Research Looks Like Good News for Atlantic Coast
Jan 5 2017 // Active Atlantic hurricane periods, like the one now, are not necessarily a harbinger of more, rapidly intensifying hurricanes along the U.S. coast, according to new research performed at the University of...
Judge Halves Jury’s $1 Billion Punitive Damages Award in J&J Hip Implant Case
Jan 4 2017 // Johnson & Johnson won a ruling cutting almost in half a $1.04 billion jury award to patients who accused the company of hiding defects in its Pinnacle artificial hips that had to be surgically removed. A judge on...
National Flood Insurance Program Secures $1 Billion in Reinsurance for 2017; 25 Reinsurers Participate
Jan 3 2017 // For just the second time in its history, the federal government’s National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) has reinsurance to help it weather major storms. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which manages...
Wells Fargo Settles Brokers’ Claims of Racial Bias
Jan 3 2017 // Wells Fargo & Co. settled a dispute with a group of black brokers claiming the bank failed to give them the same career opportunities as their white colleagues. The bank will pay $35 million to more than 500 financial...
U.S. Refineries’ Accident Risk on Rise Due to Labor Shortage
Jan 3 2017 // After years of running flat out, U.S. Gulf Coast refiners are lining up repairs to plants in 2017 – but facing a severe labor shortage that could delay work, drive up costs and raise accident risks. Fuel producers...
Newest Big Thing in Drones Is Technology to Block Them
Jan 3 2017 // A boom in consumer drone sales has spawned a counter-industry of start-ups aiming to stop drones flying where they shouldn’t by disabling them or knocking them out of the sky. Dozens of start-up firms are developing...
How Flood Risk in U.S. Is Changing: Increasing in North, Decreasing in South
Dec 30 2016 // The risk of flooding in the United States is changing regionally, and the reasons could be shifting rainfall patterns and the amount of water in the ground. In a new study, Recent Trends in U.S. Flood Risk, University of...
Chinese M&A to Continue Despite Regulatory, Policy Hurdles: A.M. Best
Dec 30 2016 // While Chinese companies have been increasing their overseas merger and acquisition (M&A) activity in recent years, there are signs that growth could slow in the coming year, as a result of uncertain economic outlook...
Trump vs. California Climate Battle Brewing
Dec 29 2016 // California vs. Trump, so to speak, is shaping up to be a heavyweight match. On one side is the world’s sixth (or so) largest economy – home to Disneyland, Hollywood and Big Sur. On the other is the reality show...
U.S. Launches Safety Probe of Brakes on 2007-09 Ford Fusion, Mercury Milan
Dec 28 2016 // U.S. safety regulators are investigating Ford Motor Co.’s Fusion and Mercury Milan sedans from the 2007 to 2009 model years for brakes that may fail in certain conditions, the National Highway Traffic Safety...
Ex-Players Drop Case to Force NFL to Pay Workers’ Compensation for Concussions
Dec 28 2016 // The federal court case brought by 38 former National Football League players seeking to force the NFL to recognize chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) as a covered disease under workers’ compensation has been...
Update on the Opioid Epidemic in U.S.
Dec 28 2016 // Drug overdose deaths, including opioid overdose deaths, continue to increase in the United States, according to new data from the federal government. The Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report of the Centers for Disease...
Top 12 Insurance Trends and News Stories of 2016: Countdown
Dec 27 2016 // In the year 2016, as in past years, there were the familiar or continuing stories including reinsurers still wishing and hoping for a hardening market; property/casualty insurance carriers reporting financial results...
