Latest Texas Headlines
All the headlines from our Texas Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Texas Accepting Comments on 2019 Workers’ Comp Research Agenda
Oct 2 2018 // The Texas Department of Insurance, Division of Workers’ Compensation (DWC) is accepting comment on the proposed Fiscal Year 2019 Research Agenda of the Workers’ Compensation Research and Evaluation Group...
Oklahoma Students Injured When Bus Rolls Over in Central Texas
Oct 2 2018 // Multiple injuries were reported Saturday when a school bus carrying students from Oklahoma rolled over along a central Texas highway. Lampasas Police Department Assistant Chief Jody Cummings said the crash occurred about...
After ‘Brain-Eating Amoeba’ Death, Texas Surf Resort Closed for Testing
Oct 2 2018 // A landlocked surf resort in Central Texas closed on Sept. 23 after a man who visited died from what is commonly known to as a “brain-eating amoeba.” The Waco Tribune-Herald reports Centers for Disease Control...
Doctor’s Alleged Fraud Scheme Throws Medical Claims Review Process into Doubt
Oct 2 2018 // For years, Spyros Panos seemed like a successful orthopedic surgeon, seeing dozens of patients a day and bringing in millions of dollars in fees for his suburban New York medical group. In fact, he was inflating charges...
Texas Coastal Lawmakers Urge Denial of Windstorm Insurer’s 10% Rate Increase Request
Oct 1 2018 // More than 20 state legislators have signed a letter addressed to Texas Insurance Commissioner Kent Sullivan requesting that a 10 percent rate increase filed by the state’s property insurer of last resort for wind and...
Study: Texas to See More Frequent 100-Year Rain Events
Oct 1 2018 // Decades of additional weather data have led federal officials to reconsider rainfall totals in Texas that define 100-year weather events and caution that extreme rainstorms will strike the state more frequently. The...
Access to Medical Care in Texas Workers’ Comp System Improving, Study Finds
Oct 1 2018 // From 2005 to 2017, the number of workers’ compensation claims in Texas fell by 20 percent, resulting in a 24 percent decrease in the number of patients per participating doctor in Texas. That’s one of the...
Business Moves
Oct 1 2018 // Marsh & McLennan, JLT Marsh & McLennan Inc. agreed to buy Jardine Lloyd Thompson for about $5.7 billion to expand its global offering of reinsurance and consulting services. New York-based Marsh said the purchase...
Report: Dozens of Texas Gas Leak Explosions Since 2006
Oct 1 2018 // More than two dozen homes in north and central Texas have blown up since 2006 along a network of pipelines operated by one of the largest natural gas companies in the U.S, leading to nine deaths and badly injuring at least...
Rate Hikes, Fees Approved for Texas Fair Plan
Oct 1 2018 // Texas Insurance Commissioner Kent Sullivan approved a request by the Texas Fair Plan Association (TFPA) to raise rates and revise/implement various fees. The commissioner denied, however, the plan’s request to end...
EEOC Sues Operator of a Texas McDonald’s Franchise for Sexual Harassment
Sep 28 2018 // A Texas company that does business as a McDonald’s franchise has been sued over the alleged sexual harassment of four females in the workplace. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has alleged in a...
New Property Insurer, Journey, to Include Texas in Initial Roll Out
Sep 28 2018 // Texas is one of three states in which a new property/casualty insurance company plans its initial roll out. In addition to Texas, Florida-based Journey Insurance Co., formed by United Insurance Holdings Corp. (UPC...
Texas’ Harris County Sets Aside $14.5M for New Flood Plain Maps
Sep 28 2018 // Harris County has earmarked $14.5 million for updated flood plain maps more than a year after deluges from Hurricane Harvey swamped parts of Houston. The Houston Chronicle reports commissioners accepted $6.5 million in...
Correction: Texas to Hold Hearing on TWIA Request to Raise Liability Limits
Sep 27 2018 // The Texas Department of Insurance will hold a public hearing on Oct. 8 on a request by the state’s property insurer of last resort for wind and hail along the Texas coast to increase its maximum liability limits. The...
Report: Dozens of Texas Gas Leak Explosions Since 2006
Sep 25 2018 // More than two dozen homes in north and central Texas have blown up since 2006 along a network of pipelines operated by one of the largest natural gas companies in the U.S, leading to nine deaths and badly injuring at least...
Texas Company Recalls 690 Pounds of Beef Jerky
Sep 25 2018 // A South Texas company has recalled nearly 700 pounds (317.52 kilograms) of beef jerky after regulators say a consumer reporting finding hard metal in a product. The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Friday announced...
Risk Strategies Expands Private Client Capabilities with Texas Acquisitions
Sep 25 2018 // Risk Strategies, a privately held, national insurance brokerage and risk management firm, has acquired Texas-based firms, Select Insurance Markets LLP (SIM) and Preferred Personal Insurance Agency LLP (PPIA). Terms of the...
Texas Sets Workers’ Comp Weekly Benefit Rates for Coming Year
Sep 24 2018 // The workers’ compensation state average weekly wage for dates of injury from Oct. 1, 2018, through Sept. 30, 2019, has been set at $937.70, the Texas Department of Insurance, Division of Workers’ Compensation...
1 Dead as Record Rain Swamps Texas and Oklahoma
Sep 24 2018 // A storm system dumped record amounts of rain in parts of Oklahoma and caused flooding in Texas, including in the Dallas area, where floodwaters swept a man from a bridge to his death near the University of Texas’...
Texas Workers’ Comp Study Finds Improvement in Worker Access to Medical Care
Sep 21 2018 // The Texas Department of Insurance, Division of Workers’ Compensation reported in a newly released study that access to medical care for injured workers has improved slightly and that a high rate of doctors who treat...
