Latest Minnesota Headlines

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

Red River Valley Flood Risk Keeps Receding

Jan 30 2012 // The risk of significant flooding in the Red River Valley is down from recent years and even lower than last month’s forecast due to the lack of snow, forecasters said on Jan. 26 — bolstering hopes the region may be...

Minnesota Medical Mistakes Up, But Fewer Cases of Harm

Jan 20 2012 // Serious mistakes in Minnesota hospitals rose slightly in 2011, but they led to fewer serious injuries and deaths than the year before, according to an annual report. Hospitals reported 316 so-called “adverse health...

Illa to Lead Ag States Group in Minnesota

Jan 9 2012 // Ag States Group, an insurance and risk management subsidiary of CHS Inc., announced Keith Illa has been named president of Ag States Group, effective Feb. 1, 2012. Illa will lead the full-service insurance organization...

Members Added to Minnesota FAIR Plan, Workers’ Comp Association

Dec 29 2011 // Two members have been added to the board of Minnesota’s FAIR plan and one new member has been added to the state’s workers’ comp insurance association. The FAIR Plan is Minnesota’s statutorily...

Minnesota Supreme Court to Hear University’s Appeal of $1M Award

Dec 26 2011 // The Minnesota Supreme Court has agreed to hear the University of Minnesota’s appeal of a $1 million civil verdict against the school and men’s basketball coach Tubby Smith over the hiring of an assistant...

Liquidation of Minnesota-Based Insurance and Trust Company Underway

Dec 14 2011 // Minnesota is in the process of liquidating an Austin, Minn.-based insurance and trust company that regulators say has a long history of financial problems, administrative incompetence, coercive and dishonest business...

Experts: Little Oversight of Science Class Labs in Minnesota

Dec 14 2011 // A recent science demonstration that went bad in a Maple Grove, Minn., middle school has drawn attention to the fact that there’s little official oversight of experiments in classroom labs. Four students were burned,...

Minnesota Workers’ Comp Insurer Joins Big ‘I’ Trusted Choice Program

Dec 6 2011 // The Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America (IIABA or the Big “I”) announced that Minnesota-based workers’ compensation insurer, SFM, is the newest member of the Trusted Choice consumer...

AIPSO Central Region Closing East Wacker Drive Office in Chicago

Dec 5 2011 // AIPSO, a management organization and service provider for various insurance industry groups responsible for administering the residual market, announced that the central region is closing its East Wacker Drive office in...

Business Moves

Dec 5 2011 // Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., Trissel Graham & Toole Itasca, Ill.-based Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has acquired Trissel Graham & Toole Inc., headquartered in Davenport, Iowa. With roots dating back to 1896,...

80% of Claims from May Tornado in Minneapolis Have Been Resolved

Nov 28 2011 // The Minnesota Department of Commerce has reported that insurance companies have resolved about 80 percent of the claims generated after a tornado swept through north Minneapolis in May. The agency said that policyholders...

Insurance Too Pricey for Anti-Wall Street Protesters in Duluth, Minnesota

Nov 23 2011 // Anti-Wall Street protesters ignored police orders to get a permit and limit their encampment to one tent in downtown Duluth, Minn. The protesters said the cost of insurance needed for the permit is too high. On Nov. 22...

Minnesota-based Medical Liability Insurer OK’d to Become a Mutual Company

Nov 16 2011 // Medical liability insurer MMIC Group Inc. (MMIC), headquartered in Minneapolis, Minn., has received final regulatory approval to change from a stock holding company to a mutual insurance holding company. The move...

Man Shot During Minnesota Drug Bust Gets $350K from County Insurance

Oct 14 2011 // Minnesota’s Stearns County’s insurance trust has paid $350,000 to a man who was shot in the back by a sheriff’s lieutenant during a drug bust. John Albert Sorensen had sued the county and now-retired Lt....

Business Moves

Oct 3 2011 // USI, First Place Insurance New York-based USI Insurance Services has acquired substantially all of the assets of First Place Insurance Agency Ltd. (First Place Insurance) of Youngstown, Ohio, from First Place Financial...

Supermarket Recalls Chicken Sold in Illinois, Minnesota, Wisconsin

Sep 23 2011 // Milwaukee, Wis.-based Roundy’s Supermarkets Inc. is recalling about 360 pounds of breaded chicken breast that may have been undercooked. The U.S. Department of Agriculture says the products were sold after Sept. 13...

North Dakota, Minnesota Leaders Ask Obama for River Diversion Money

Sep 23 2011 // Members of Congress from both sides of the Red River in eastern North Dakota and northwestern Minnesota are asking President Barack Obama to include $30 million in his next budget for work on a river diversion project in...

Calmer Winds to Slow Growth of Minnesota Wildfire

Sep 15 2011 // Calmer winds were expected to slow the growth of a huge wildfire that has engulfed woodland in northeastern Minnesota and blanketed cities hundreds of miles away with a smoky haze, the U.S. Forest Service said. The blaze...

The Main Street America Group Adds New Minnesota Affiliate

Sep 13 2011 // The Main Street America Group announced that Minnesota-domiciled Spring Valley Mutual Insurance Co. has agreed to become an affiliate of super regional property/casualty insurance carrier Main Street America. Spring Valley...

Workers’ Comp Ombudsman Program Launched in Minnesota

Sep 8 2011 // The Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry (DLI) has established a new Office of Workers’ Compensation Ombudsman to provide advice and assistance to employees and small businesses. “Our goal is to help...