West News

Woman Dead, 3 Missing Following Flooding in Colorado Burn Area

A woman was found dead and three other people were missing after rain triggered flooding and mudslides in an area of northern Colorado burned by a large wildfire last year, authorities said Wednesday. The woman’s body was found near the …

Officials: Lightning Likely Caused 2020 California Forest Fire

A lightning strike likely ignited a 2020 wildfire in California’s Sierra National Forest, but the U.S. Forest Service said Friday it could not determine an official cause of the fire. September’s Creek Fire burned 600 square miles and spread so …

Bomb Squad Caused Damaging California Fireworks Explosion, Officials Say

Los Angeles bomb technicians grossly miscalculated the weight of homemade fireworks last month when they detonated them in a containment chamber, likely causing a catastrophic explosion that injured 17 people and rocked a neighborhood, the police chief said Monday. Chief …

PG&E in California’s Will Pay to Bury Power Lines to Prevent Wildfires

California power company Pacific Gas and Electric said on Wednesday it would bury 10,000 miles of power lines in high-risk fire zones as a safety measure after its equipment caused multiple destructive wildfires over several years. The utility, which called …

People Moves: California Insurance Commissioner Appoints Members to CIGA, COIN Boards

California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara made several new appointments, including naming one member to the California Automobile Assigned Risk Plan Advisory Committee, one member to the California Insurance Guarantee Association Board of Governors, two members to the California Organized Investment …

California Commissioner Lowers Workers’ Comp Benchmark

California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara lowered the workers’ compensation insurance benchmark rate by 5 cents to $1.41 per $100 of payroll effective Sept. 1. Lara’s decision results in an average advisory pure premium rate that is below the $1.50 average …

California Workers’ Comp Report: Private Self-Insured Indemnity Claim Frequency, Paid & Incurred Losses Spiked in 2020

Workers’ comp claim frequency among California’s private self-insured employers rose in 2020, fueled by a big increase in the incidence of indemnity claims, offsetting a decline in medical-only claim frequency, according to a new report from the California Workers’ Compensation …

$5.5M Settlement Reached in Washington Nurse Lawsuit

A class-action lawsuit brought by thousands of nurses who said they weren’t properly paid for lunch and other breaks has settled with Kitsap County’s main health care system, Virginia Mason Franciscan Health. Under the $5.5 million settlement, nurses will receive …

California Healthcare Provider Paying $37M to Settle Whistleblower Lawsuits

Southern California-based Prime Healthcare Services and two of its doctors will pay $37.5 million to settle whistleblower lawsuits that claimed the hospital system paid kickbacks to one of the physicians and bought his practice for more than it was worth, …

PG&E Says Equipment Possibly Linked to Big California Wildfire

Pacific Gas & Electric reported to California utility regulators that its equipment may have been involved in the start of a fire burning in the Sierra Nevada that is threatening hundreds of homes. PG&E said in a report Sunday to …

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