Latest Washington Headlines

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

Business Moves

Oct 23 2006 // OneBeacon,QBE OneBeacon Insurance Group completed its renewal rights and asset sale agreement to transfer its agricultural division to QBE the Americas, a wholly owned division of QBE Insurance Group Ltd., for...

Troubled Washington Casualty Co. sold after three years

Oct 23 2006 // Washington Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler has sold Washington Casualty Co. of Issaquah, Wash., what he called a financially troubled liability insurer of rural hospitals and medical centers and that he has operated...

Washington’s Mike Kreidler Vows to Protect Trust Relationship Between Insurers, Consumers

Oct 12 2006 // Watch Video Interview Washington – Mike Kreidler: Opening Up the Debate Washington Commissioner Mike Kreidler is proud of his state’s consumer record and how it has dealt with brokerage compensation and...

Mich. Med Mal Insurer FinCor Acquires Washington Casualty

Oct 10 2006 // Lansing, Mich.-based FinCor Holdings, Inc., an integrated risk management corporation serving health care providers and facilities, today announced its acquisition of Issaquah, Wash.-based medical malpractice insurer,...

Wash. minimum wage upped to $7.93 per hour

Oct 9 2006 // Washington’s minimum wage will increase 30 cents to $7.93 an hour beginning Jan. 1, 2007. The Department of Labor and Industries (L&I) recalculates the state’s minimum wage each year in September as...

The Commissioners

Oct 9 2006 // Washington’s Mike Kreidler: Making the insurance market work The Washington Office of the Insurance Commissioner is a vigorous protector of consumers under the leadership of Commissioner Mike Kreidler. From...

States go global for new ideas to improve transportation safety

Oct 9 2006 // Searching for ways to improve road safety without breaking the bank, state transportation officials in the U.S. have found inspiration in ideas being implemneted abroad. Low-cost devices increasingly popping up on...

New Markets

Oct 9 2006 // Liability Long Term Care Facilities Nuts & Bolts: Houston, Texas-based London American Risk Specialists Inc. is offering CareSurance, a new liability insurance program designed to meet the needs of skilled, assisted...

Wash. minimum wage upped to $7.93 per hour

Oct 9 2006 // Washington’s minimum wage will increase 30 cents to $7.93 an hour beginning Jan. 1, 2007. The Department of Labor and Industries (L&I) recalculates the state’s minimum wage each year in September as...

Mike Kreidler, Washington, Insurance Commissioner

Oct 9 2006 // The Washington Office of the Insurance Commissioner is a vigorous protector of consumers under the leadership of Commissioner Mike Kreidler. From maintaining a trust relationship between consumers and insurers, to...

States go global for new ideas to improve transportation safety

Oct 9 2006 // Searching for ways to improve road safety without breaking the bank, state transportation officials in the U.S. have found inspiration in ideas being implemneted abroad. Low-cost devices increasingly popping up on...

Physicians Insurance Responds to Washington OIC Consent Order

Oct 3 2006 // Washington Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler has fined the state’s largest medical malpractice insurer $450,000 for multiple violations of insurance laws and regulations that the company has since corrected under...

Washington’s Minimum Wage to Increase to $7.93 an Hour

Oct 2 2006 // Washington’s minimum wage will increase 30 cents to $7.93 an hour beginning Jan. 1, 2007. The Department of Labor and Industries (L&I) recalculates the state’s minimum wage each year in September as...

Investigators Trace Specific Batch of Tainted Spinach

Sep 27 2006 // Test results linking two bags of Dole brand baby spinach to a deadly E. coli strain have helped health officials hone in on a specific batch from a San Juan Bautista, Calif., processing plant that may be the source of a...

Declarations

Sep 25 2006 // Easy attack “For the life of me, I cannot understand why the terrorists have not attacked our food supply, because it is so easy to do.” –Dr. Jerry R. Gillespie, director of the Western Institute for Food...

Construction Industry and the Latino Workforce

Sep 25 2006 // In the next 10 years, the construction business will need to fill more than 180,000 jobs. As the rush to fill these positions advances, workers’ compensation professionals will be challenged along with the...

Hawaii, Washington, Wyoming bringing down workers’ comp rates

Sep 25 2006 // Hawaii, Washington and Wyoming proposed lowering workers’ compensation rates in their states from 2 percent to 12.3 percent. The Hawaii Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs’ Insurance Division announced...

STATE PATROL VETERAN HIRED FOR ANTI-FRAUD HIT

Sep 25 2006 // Washington Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler has appointed a veteran of the State Patrol to manage the agency’s newly authorized insurance anti-fraud program. Capt. Robert Veliz of Yakima, a 26-year veteran of the...

News Currents

Sep 25 2006 // Employers are paying more attention to worker and workplace safety, which is helping states like Hawaii and Wyoming to reduce its workers’ compensation rates. Hawaii, Washington, Wyoming bringing down workers’...

Fraud Roundup

Sep 25 2006 // State Patrol veteran hired for anti-fraud unit Washington Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler has appointed a veteran of the State Patrol to manage the agency’s newly authorized insurance anti-fraud program. Capt....