Declarations

Talent War Tally

“At the end of March, the start-up [Howden] has taken customers representing approximately $31 million of annual revenue as compared to the $23 million we
announced last quarter.”
— R. Andrew Watts, Brown & Brown’s chief financial officer and treasurer, speaking on the cost of the Howden-driven talent war. Watts and the broker’s CEO, J. Powell Brown, spoke during an analysts’ call to discuss Q1 2026 results. Watts said the revenue hit includes $10 million from Q1 alone. Brown & Brown previously revealed that 275 of B&B’s former teammates joined Howden’s U.S. start-up—a figure that is expected to rise this year.

Recognizing AI Risk

“Without clear policies and tested controls, insurers are leaving their organizations open to risk with regulators and customers, fueling financial pressure that could ultimately erode product profitability. Tested and provable governance gives insurers confidence to deploy AI across higher-value workflows, leading to improved ROI and revenue growth.”
— A warning from Grant Thornton’s 2026 AI Impact Survey Report, in which 44% of insurance executives said governance or compliance challenges have contributed to AI project failure or underperformance; only 24% are very confident they’d pass an independent AI governance review in 90 days.

Short-Staffed State

“We are really, significantly understaffed, especially as the department has taken on new responsibilities. It’s really left us shortchanged.”
— New Jersey’s acting Commissioner of Banking and Insurance Susan Ochs on the department’s push for a roughly 18% hike in the budget for the next fiscal year. The $80.8 million boost would go to overcome what the department called a 25% staff deficit. Officials with the department said they need to hire at least 94 additional employees, upgrade technology, and shift more work to outside consultants to effectively regulate banking and insurance products used by millions of state residents.

Soybean Hurdles

“Our biggest struggles are our inputs, be it fertilizer, seed, chemical, parts. There has been so much drastic markup in all of these. And I just kind of feel like the farmer’s kind of painted in the corner.”
— Doug Bartek, a fifth-generation farmer and chairman of the Nebraska Soybean Association, discussing the challenges facing the nation’s soybean farmers this year. The high cost of fuel, equipment, and fertilizer— compounded by the Iran war—along with tariffs, perceived “price gouging” by suppliers, and low soybean prices driven by a global supply glut are all eating into potential profits as soybean prices remain low.

Powering Progress

“It’s taken us two months longer to build the houses than what it did before the data centers were coming in. That’s the downside.”
— Abilene builder Gene Lantrip on the Texas population boom that has homebuilders competing with data centers for skilled electricians. The state has added more than 2.6 million residents since 2020, bringing in a surge of workers and families who need homes. But Texas doesn’t have enough electricians to meet the demands. Between 45% and 70% of the entire budget for data center construction goes to electrical subcontractors, according to the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, a labor union that represents electricians.

Night Fires Keep Burning

“Fires normally slow down during the night, or they just stop. But under extreme fire hazard conditions, fire actually burns through the night or later into the night.”
— Xianli Wang, a fire scientist with the Canadian Forest Service and co-author of a study recently published in Science Advances. Places such as California have 550 more potential burning hours than in the mid-1970s. Parts of southwestern New Mexico and central Arizona are seeing as many as 2,000 more hours a year when the weather is prone to burning fires, the highest increase seen in the study, which looked at Canada and the United States.