Latest Washington Headlines
All the headlines from our Washington Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Supreme Court to Weigh Religious Exemption from Birth Control Mandate Next Week
Mar 21 2014 // Hobby Lobby Stores Inc.’s 600 U.S. craft shops close each Sunday, posting a notice that employees are spending the day with their families and at worship. It’s a visible sign that the company is as focused on...
GM Kept Ignition Switch Fix Secret from Owners
Mar 18 2014 // General Motors Co. took advantage of a regulatory gray area to address an engine defect almost a decade ago, leaving most car owners unaware that their vehicles may have been unsafe. Rather than issue a recall, GM sent...
Bell-Anderson in Washington Promotes Webb, Heikkala and Lutz
Mar 13 2014 // The Board of Directors of Renton, Wash.-based Bell-Anderson Agency Inc. named Jason Webb, Matthew Heikkala and Jennifer Lutz as senior vice presidents of sales. Webb is a member of the agency’s Leadership Committee...
Archdiocese In Washington Says Data Breach May Lead To Fraud
Mar 12 2014 // The Catholic Archdiocese of Seattle says some employees and volunteers may be victims of national tax refund fraud because of a data breach. The Seattle Times reported that the archdiocese posted a notice about the problem...
Nyberg Joins the Leavitt Group in Washington
Mar 11 2014 // Brandon Nyberg has joined The Leavitt Group’s Tacoma office. Nyberg specializes in employee benefits for companies of all sizes. His insurance experience includes working with self-funded groups with over 100...
Stoned Driving Campaign Launched in Colorado
Mar 7 2014 // Colorado is launching a new “Drive High, Get A DUI” campaign to remind drivers that newly legal marijuana should be treated like alcohol and not used before driving. The campaign includes radio and TV ads and...
Supreme Court Justices Tackle Rules for Class Actions
Mar 6 2014 // U.S. Supreme Court justices sought a middle ground to preserve class-action shareholder lawsuits as they heard a case testing the legal rules that have fostered thousands of cases over the past quarter century. Hearing...
Fulcrum Names Wyer Vice President in Washington
Mar 4 2014 // Bellevue, Wash.-based Fulcrum Insurance Programs named Nikki Wyer vice president of underwriting and product development. Wyer’s responsibilities include management of Fulcrum’s underwriting division as well as...
Largest Insurers Would Face Asset Tax Under GOP Plan
Feb 26 2014 // The biggest U.S. banks and insurance companies would have to pay a quarterly 3.5 basis-point tax on assets exceeding $500 billion under a plan to be unveiled this week by Congress’s top Republican tax writer. The...
Washington Schools To Pay $6.9M Settlement For Fall
Feb 25 2014 // The Toppenish School District has agreed to pay $6.9 million to the family of an infant who fell through bleachers at a soccer game and suffered lifelong debilitating injuries. The Yakima Herald-Republic reported that the...
Hole-in-one Insurance Fraudster in Washington Sentenced
Feb 24 2014 // Kevin KolendaKevin Kolenda, 56, a Connecticut businessman who has been reportedly defrauding golf tournaments and golfers for two decades, was sentenced in February in King County Superior Court in Washington. Judge Jean...
Mother Sues Over Son’s Allergy Death In Washington Jail
Feb 21 2014 // The mother of a 22-year-old man with severe food allergies who died at the Snohomish County Jail in Washington in 2012 has sued Snohomish County. The lawsuit Rose Saffioti filed Wednesday lists as defendants the county, a...
Lineweaver Joins The Leavitt Group in Washington
Feb 20 2014 // The Leavitt Group has hired Jim Lineweaver, a client advisor, in its Tacoma, Wash. office. Lineweaver has 25 years of insurance experience. He specializes in large manufacturing risks, forest products, transportation,...
Storm Dumps More Snow on Northeast After Icing Southeast for 2 Days
Feb 13 2014 // The winter storm that cut electricity to more than half a million customers across the South and grounded 10,000 flights this week turned its power on the U.S. Northeast, bringing heavy snow from Virginia to Maine. In...
Competing Bills to Address Safety of Oil Transport In Washington
Feb 12 2014 // Washington state lawmakers are considering competing measures that try to address potential risks as more crude oil is shipped by rail into the state. The Senate Ways and Means Committee heard testimony on a mostly...
Washington Panel Issues Dueling Climate Reports
Feb 10 2014 // A bipartisan Washington climate panel has released dueling reports how to reduce the state’s greenhouse gas emissions. The panel posted separate reports online in late January, splitting along party lines. It had...
Hole-in-one Insurance Fraudster in Washington Sentenced
Feb 7 2014 // Kevin Kolenda, 56, a Connecticut businessman who has been reportedly defrauding golf tournaments and golfers for two decades, was sentenced Friday in King County Superior Court in Washington. Judge Jean Rietschel sentenced...
Jury in Washington Awards $9M to Wrongfully Convicted Officer
Feb 5 2014 // A federal court jury in Tacoma, Wash. has awarded $9 million to a former Vancouver police officer who was wrongfully convicted of sexually abusing his children in the 1980s and spent nearly 20 years in prison. Ray Spencer...
PCI Bolsters Washington Operations with 3 Hires: Glassic, Austin, Gray
Feb 5 2014 // The Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI)said it has added three new hires. Tom Glassic will join the association as vice president, policy and government relations; Nicole Austin will join the...
Washington Lawsuit Settled In 2010 Tesoro Refinery Blast
Jan 31 2014 // The attorney representing families of six workers killed in a 2010 explosion at Tesoro’s Anacortes oil refinery have settled a lawsuit against Tesoro and Shell Oil Co. Attorney David Beninger told KING-TV the...
