State Insurance Superintendent John Franchini was selected to remain as New Mexico’s top insurance regulator when his office becomes an independent governmental agency next month. A nine-member committee named Franchini to serve as insurance superintendent for a term that starts …
New Jersey is stiffening the penalties for motorists who use handheld cellphones to talk or text. A bill signed into law Thursday increases the fine to a minimum of $200 and a maximum of $400 for a first offense. A …
Toledo is using an unexpectedly big rebate from the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation to increase the size of its fire department. Ohio businesses and public employers have started getting one-time rebate checks from the state’s insurance fund for injured …
Florida regulators, citing a backlog in property/casualty form filings and the need to train new staff, have extended a fast-track approval process for personal lines forms until the end of the year. Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty this week ordered …
Nearly half of the eligible residents and families directly affected by a Bayou Corne, La,-area sinkhole induced by a Texas Brine Co. salt dome failure last summer have agreed to company buyouts, while the rest have more than a month …
The Ohio Department of Transportation is investigating how three signs posted above a Cleveland-area highway smashed into traffic during stormy weather, damaging three vehicles and leaving a man in critical condition. The Interstate 480 signs that fell Tuesday near Valley …
A federal agency investigating a deadly explosion at a Texas fertilizer plant will tell a Senate committee that regulation of the dangerous chemicals used in the industry fall under a “patchwork” of standards that are decades old and are far …
A Texas fire review panel flagged two quarter-century-old arson cases, saying investigators were mistaken in finding that the defendants set intentional fires. The Texas State Fire Marshal’s Office convened the panel of fire experts earlier this year to review cases …
The deadly June 13 explosion and fire at the Williams Olefins chemical plant in Geismar, La., released more than 62,000 pounds of toxic chemicals during the accident that killed two workers and injured 114 others, according to a report filed …
Several days of heavy rains caused flooding that damaged hundreds of homes in southwestern Wisconsin, and officials in some communities were preparing for more flooding as rivers rose. Storms pounded the southern part of the state early on June 26 …
