Latest USA Headlines
All the headlines from our USA Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Congress Parks Self-Driving Car Regulation Until 2021
Sep 24 2020 // The U.S. Congress will try again in 2021 to try to approve long-stalled reforms to speed the adoption of self-driving cars, a key Democratic lawmaker said Wednesday. U.S. lawmakers have been divided for years over how to...
For Carnival Cruise Lines, 1920 ‘Death on the High Seas Act’ Curbs Coronavirus Damages
Sep 23 2020 // Carnival Corp. is poised to dramatically curb monetary damages for passengers killed by the coronavirus under the latest court decision to side with the company. If a ruling Monday by a Los Angeles federal judge is...
2 Reasons COVID-19 Legislation is the Wrong Solution
Sep 23 2020 // Back in March and April, I gave two webinars on COVID-19 for the Academy of Insurance. If you haven’t had a chance to take those, click here to get the Academy of Insurance COVID-19 related classes. One of the topics...
Citing U.S. Sanctions, Insurers Won’t Cover Ships For Russia, Turkey Pipelines Projects
Sep 23 2020 // The world’s largest group of shipping insurers will not insure vessels involved in the Russian-led Nord Stream 2 and TurkStream gas pipeline projects because of the threat of U.S. sanctions. Associations belonging to...
Texas’ Blue Bell Creameries to Pay $17.25M in Penalties for Listeria Contamination
Sep 23 2020 // Texas-based Blue Bell Creameries L.P. has been ordered to pay $17.25 million in criminal penalties for shipments of contaminated ice cream products linked to a 2015 listeriosis outbreak, according to the U.S. Justice...
Catastrophe Losses Driven Higher by Secondary Perils – And Climate Change
Sep 23 2020 // Secondary perils, exacerbated by climate change, are driving catastrophe insurance losses, warn a growing chorus of reinsurers and brokers. Indeed, broker Aon reveals that more than 60% of 2020’s insured catastrophe...
On Inland Crawl, Beta Dumps Heavy Rains, Floods Streets on Texas Coast
Sep 22 2020 // Beta weakened to a tropical depression on Sept. 22 as it crawled inland along the Texas coast south of Houston, unleashing heavy rains, flooding streets, and forcing emergency workers to rescue dozens of people. Rain...
USDA Plans $14B More in Virus Relief for Farmers
Sep 22 2020 // The federal government said on Sept. 18 that it will give farmers an additional $14 billion to compensate them for the difficulties they have experienced selling their crops, milk and meat because of the coronavirus...
Beazley Beefs Up Executive Risk Team in U.S. with 6 More Recruits
Sep 22 2020 // Specialty insurer Beazley has expanded its underwriting and claims presence in the U.S. with new hires for its Executive Risk team that focuses on board-level risks facing businesses and their executives. Elizabeth...
P/C Mutual Insurers Improved Underwriting in 2019; Top 10 Hold 72% of Market: AM Best
Sep 22 2020 // Despite a highly competitive property/casualty insurance industry and pressures on operating performance, U.S. mutual insurance companies reported continued improvement in underwriting performance in 2019 and managed to...
California Burnin’ – a Warning Against One-Party Rule: Opinion
Sep 22 2020 // “California, folks, is America fast forward.” Thus said Governor Gavin Newsom, hoarsely, amid brown smoke at the North Complex Fire on Sept. 11. “What we’re experiencing right here is coming to a...
Coronavirus Safety: U.S. Behind Global Rivals in Protecting Meat Plant Workers
Sep 22 2020 // The U.S. government is falling behind global rivals when it comes to protecting meatpacking workers from Covid-19 infections, even though the nation’s plants were among the first to confront rampant cases across...
Davies Acquires Massachusetts’ TriPlus Service in North American Expansion
Sep 22 2020 // Davies, a specialist professional services and technology business, has acquired TriPlus Service Inc, a long-term care insurance third party administrator (TPA) based in Massachusetts. TriPlus provides its long-term care...
Frequent Wildfires Decimating Forests Becomes Concern Worldwide
Sep 22 2020 // Wildfires among ponderosa pines and Douglas firs of the U.S. West have long been part of nature’s cycle of renewal, as much as the changing of the seasons. But as climate change makes the region more arid, wildfires...
Judge Allows Great Smoky Mountains Wildfire Lawsuits to Move Forward
Sep 21 2020 // U.S. park officials have failed to show enough was done to keep the public updated as a deadly wildfire spread from Great Smoky Mountains National Park in 2016, a judge ruled. The decision earlier this month by U.S....
9 More Indicted in Louisiana Truck/Auto Staged Accident Schemes
Sep 21 2020 // With the addition of nine new indictments, 28 people now have been charged in a federal probe into the staging of automobile accidents in Louisiana, according to U.S. Attorney Peter G. Strasser. The nine defendants were...
Startups Developing Technologies to Clean Air in Workplaces of Coronavirus
Sep 21 2020 // Smithfield Foods Inc. thought it was doing great. In the first quarter of this year, the pork giant’s earnings were up 190% over the same period in 2019. Then the pandemic hit, and the close quarters of meatpacking...
Facebook Tells Irish Court That It Needs Data Transfer Mechanism to Operate
Sep 21 2020 // Facebook has told Ireland’s High Court it cannot see how its services could operate in the European Union if regulators freeze its data transfer mechanism, the Sunday Business Post reported, citing court documents...
Social Inflation, Low Interest Rates, Rising Catastrophes: Recipe for a Hard Market
Sep 21 2020 // Even before the coronavirus crisis hit, the reinsurance industry was in a period of significant rate hardening, which will likely continue over the next two years, or even longer, according to Munich Re. Such price...
U.S. Commercial Insurance Prices Rose Almost 10% in Q2: WTW
Sep 21 2020 // U.S. commercial property/casualty insurance prices rose during the second quarter of 2020 by almost 10% compared with prices charged during the same quarter of 2019. Excess/umbrella and directors’ and officers’...
