Latest USA Headlines
All the headlines from our USA Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Solar Storm Threats Pose Emerging Risk for Industry: Lloyd’s
Jun 17 2013 // A large solar storm could leave tens of millions of people in North America without electrical power for several months, if not years, potentially costing trillions of dollars. That’s according to Lloyd’s...
U.S., Global Natural Disasters Exact Heavy Toll in May
Jun 17 2013 // Severe weather in May caused an estimated $4 billion in insured damage in the U.S. alone and billions more in economic losses around the globe, according to an Aon Benfield report. The Global Catastrophe Recap by Aon...
Solar Construction: Too Hot to Handle?
Jun 17 2013 // The solar construction industry has been extremely hot in recent years. Perhaps, too hot. The sector’s rapid growth has led to an oversupply of solar panels, which has turned up the heat on manufacturers to lower...
4.2M U.S. Homes at Risk of Storm-Surge Damage: CoreLogic
Jun 17 2013 // More than 4.2 million homes along the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf Coasts are located within storm-surge risk zones, totaling more than $1.1 trillion in property exposure, according to residential property information and...
BP Shareholders Seek Class Action Status for Suit Over Gulf Spill
Jun 16 2013 // BP Plc’s U.S. investors asked a federal court to grant class action, or group, status for their lawsuit claiming the company misled them before and after the 2010 spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The investors, led by...
Opponents Doubt Savings Promised By Farm Bill
Jun 14 2013 // A drop in the price of corn, rice and other crops may trigger so much additional aid to farmers under a bill being considered by the U.S. House that it would wipe out the bill’s projected savings in crop subsidies,...
U.S. Sues BMW, Dollar General Over Use of Criminal Records in Hiring
Jun 14 2013 // The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed lawsuits this week against discount retailer Dollar General Corp. and a BMW manufacturing plant in South Carolina over their use of criminal background checks to screen out...
11 U.S. Weather Disasters in 2012 Cost More Than $1 Billion Each
Jun 14 2013 // The U.S. suffered 11 weather and climate disasters last year that caused more than $1 billion in damage each and killed more than 300 people, making 2012 the second-most costly and active year on record, according to the...
PCI States Position on International Regulatory Standards after House Hearing
Jun 14 2013 // The Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI) issued a statement following the conclusion of Wednesday’s hearings by the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance hearing entitled...
Berkshire Hathaway to Release More Data on Insurance Cat Losses
Jun 13 2013 // Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. is providing more data about claims costs at insurance units after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission pressed the company for the information. We “agree to...
Chemical Shippers Lose Court Bid to Derail Train Safety Technology
Jun 13 2013 // Chemical shippers failed to show any business harm from a regulation requiring railroads to deploy new train-safety technology, a U.S. appeals court said, throwing out a lawsuit challenging the 2012 rule. The Arlington,...
U.S. Charges 8 with Cybercrime Against Financial Institutions, Government
Jun 13 2013 // Federal prosecutors in New Jersey on Wednesday unveiled criminal charges against eight people accused of trying to steal at least $15 million from U.S. customers in an international cybercrime scheme targeting accounts at...
Best Affirms RenaissanceRe; Top Layer Re Ratings; Outlooks Stable
Jun 13 2013 // RenRe and Affiliates A.M. Best Co. has affirmed the financial strength rating (FSR) of ‘A+’ (Superior) and issuer credit ratings (ICR) of “aa-” of Renaissance Reinsurance Ltd. (RenRe) and...
Federal Insurance Regulator Releases Annual Report
Jun 12 2013 // The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Federal Insurance Office (FIO) today released its annual report on the insurance industry to the President and Congress. Under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer...
Walgreen Agrees to Record $80M Settlement Over Distribution of Painkillers
Jun 12 2013 // Walgreen Co., the largest U.S. drugstore chain, has agreed to pay $80 million in civil penalties to resolve allegations that it violated federal rules governing the distribution of prescription painkillers. The U.S. Drug...
Goldman Avoids Damages in Dragon System’s Merger Negligence Claim
Jun 12 2013 // Sachs Group Inc.’s missteps advising speech-recognition pioneer Dragon Systems Inc. in a merger weren’t egregious enough under the law to warrant damages, a federal judge ruled. U.S. District Judge Patti B....
Hands-Free Voice Messaging Behind Wheel More Dangerous Than Phoning: Study
Jun 12 2013 // Using voice-to-text messaging, included in systems such as Ford Motor Co.’s Sync and Toyota Motor Corp.’s Entune, is more distracting to drivers than making calls with handheld mobile phones, a study by AAA...
Montreal Protocol Shows the Way for Action on Climate Change
Jun 12 2013 // A new deal to curb carbon emissions could copy features from the Montreal Protocol, which the United States and China favored over its Kyoto counterpart in an agreement on greenhouse gases at the weekend. The 1987 Montreal...
Nuclear Down-Winder Hopes For Settlement
Jun 10 2013 // Jacklyn “Jackie” O’Neil grew up in Washington’s Spokane Valley drinking milk from her family’s backyard cow. Decades later while working in Yakima, O’Neil learned she had thyroid cancer...
North Carolinian on ‘Price Is Right’ Pleads to Workers’ Comp Fraud
Jun 10 2013 // A U.S. Postal Service employee from eastern North Carolina who was seen spinning the Big Wheel on TV’s “The Price Is Right” even though she had said she could not deliver the mail has pleaded guilty to...
