Latest Arkansas Headlines

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

Arkansas Workers’ Comp Commission Summarizes New Law

Jul 9 2009 // The Arkansas Workers’ Compensation Commission has posted on its Web site a summary of changes to workers’ comp regulations as a result of the passage of Act 237 during the 2009 legislative session. According to...

Arkansas Law Raises Personal Watercraft Minimum Operator Age to 16

Jul 7 2009 // An accident on Lake Hamilton two years ago led to a new Arkansas law that takes effect this week, setting the minimum age of 16 for a solo operator of a personal watercraft. The new law is known as Rachel’s Bill in...

Central Oversight of Levees Needed in Arkansas

Jul 6 2009 // Arkansas is putting its residents and economy at risk by failing to adopt a centralized system for flood-levee oversight, the state’s lawmakers have been told. Representatives from the Arkansas Natural Resources...

Arkansas Agent Arrested on Fraud Charges

Jun 22 2009 // Arkansas Insurance Commissioner Jay Bradford announced the arrest of Rickey Lynn Warren of Hensley, a former a licensed insurance agent charged with insurance fraud. Warren is accused with taking checks totaling $2,125 for...

37 Arkansas Counties Declared Federal Disaster Areas

Jun 17 2009 // Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe has announced that President Obama granted his request for a federal major disaster declaration to help Arkansas counties recovering from flooding rains and storms in May. The federal declaration...

Central Oversight of Levees Needed, Arkansas Lawmakers Told

Jun 16 2009 // Arkansas is putting its residents and economy at risk by failing to adopt a centralized system for flood-levee oversight, the state’s lawmakers have been told. Representatives from the Arkansas Natural Resources...

Foremost Insurance Expands Dwelling Fire Program in Arkansas

Jun 3 2009 // Michigan-based Foremost Insurance Group is expanding its dwelling fire program in Arkansas. The company announced that effective June 1, 2009, Foremost’s new dwelling fire contracts specifically designed for the...

It Figures

Jun 1 2009 // 10 Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe has declared disasters in 10 more counties, bringing the total of declared disaster areas to 42 due to heavy rain and floods this spring. Beebe added Ashley, Cleburne, Greene, Howard, Jackson,...

Tank in Blast That Killed 3 Not Inspected for More Than 10 Years

May 15 2009 // Three men killed when an empty gasoline storage tank exploded in north Arkansas likely died from the impact of the blast, a coroner said. Federal safety officials have begun an investigation into the blast at the TEPPCO...

Arkansas High Court Denies Class-Action For Union Pacific Lawsuit

May 11 2009 // A lawsuit claiming Union Pacific pressured grieving families into settlements after train crashes shouldn’t be a class-action matter, as those suing failed to show any strong link between themselves, the Arkansas...

Ark.’s Risk Services Joins INSURICA

Apr 30 2009 // INSURICA Insurance Management Network announced the addition of Risk Services of Arkansas LLC, as its newest partner. Formerly known as First Arkansas Insurance/Little Rock, Risk Services joins INSURICA’s network of...

Insurance Dept.: Public Adjusters Are Not Permitted in Arkansas

Apr 15 2009 // Arkansas Insurance Commissioner Jay Bradford issued a reminder in the wake of recent violent weather that public adjusters are not permitted in the state. Only adjusters whose salary is paid by the insurance company he or...

Ark. School Condemned After Storm; More Disaster Areas Declared

Apr 15 2009 // Up to 465 students in Mena, Ark., will have to attend classes elsewhere after a tornado on April 9 damaged the Mena Middle School so severely that the building will have to be condemned. Officials say that as many as 300...

Akansas Governor Signs Bill to Ban ‘Accident Taxes’

Apr 9 2009 // Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe has signed legislation that bans local governments from billing motorists for accident response services performed by police departments, according to the Property Casualty Insurers Association...

Arkansas Workers’ Compensation Costs Continue to Decline

Apr 7 2009 // Arkansas Insurance Commissioner Jay Bradford has announced a decrease in workers’ compensation costs effective July 1, 2009. The overall loss cost decrease in the voluntary market is 7 percent, while the overall...

Federal Judge in Arkansas Dismisses Stranded Passenger Lawsuit

Apr 7 2009 // A federal judge in Fayetteville, Ark., has dismissed a lawsuit by an Arkansas woman that claimed she was illegally imprisoned on an American Airlines airplane for 91/2 hours in 2006. In an 18-page ruling, U.S. District...

Arkansas Lawmakers Pass Measure Banning ‘Accident Tax’

Apr 1 2009 // Arkansas lawmakers have approved a new law that stops local governments from billing motorists for accident response services performed by police departments, according to the Property Casualty Insurers Association of...

Arkansas Supreme Court Sides With Newspaper in Lawsuit

Mar 17 2009 // A legal principle covering journalists who base their reports on police records protects a newspaper sued over stories it published about an alleged rape, the Arkansas Supreme Court has ruled. In an unanimous decision, the...

Now Offering Contractor GL Insurance in Arkansas, Kentucky, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, New Jersey & South Carolina

Mar 17 2009 // National Contractors Insurance Company, Inc., a Risk Retention Group (“NCIC”) specializes in general liability insurance for licensed residential and commercial general and artisan contractors. NCIC writes the...

It Figures

Mar 9 2009 // $500 Million The financial toll from the January 2009 ice storm in north Arkansas is estimated at $500 million, with most of the cost for restoring electric utilities, the Associated Press reported. Three major utilities...