Latest Texas Headlines
All the headlines from our Texas Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Sanchez Appointed Vice President at Texas-Based LevelFirst
May 26 2016 // LevelFirst, the wholesale broker and MGA binding facility owned by IIAT Services Co., has named Kelley Sanchez as vice president. Sanchez will underwrite new business opportunities with the Transportation Division. She has...
Investigators: Fraud Schemes Rampant Among Houston Tow Truck Drivers
May 25 2016 // Houston is a bad place to have to have your vehicle towed, according to law enforcement officials and insurance investigators. There have multiple reports of vehicles being towed and towing services charging victims...
Candidates for Texas FAIR Plan Association Governing Committee Sought
May 25 2016 // The Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) is accepting applications for the board that governs the Fair Access to Insurance Requirements (FAIR) Plan, which provides residential property insurance in underserved areas where...
Disaster Fraud Rampant After Floods, Hurricanes
May 24 2016 // This year, extensive flooding has already affected parts of Texas and Louisiana. With more rain producing floods in the forecast for the southern part of the U.S. this spring, the likelihood of disaster fraud...
Texas Regulators Seek Data on Residential Property Hail Litigation
May 23 2016 // The Texas Department of Insurance has issued a data call to gather information about the cost of weather-related residential property claims and the incidence of litigation of these claims. The Regulatory Policy Division...
Ex-Texas Coach Mack Brown Testimony Sought in Discrimination Suit
May 23 2016 // A former University of Texas track coach’s sex and race discrimination lawsuit has new life, and her lawyers are still pursuing long-sought testimony from former football coach Mack Brown and prominent current and...
3 Years Later, West Fertilizer Plant Blast Ruled Intentional
May 23 2016 // The Houston Field Division of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) says the fire that caused an explosion that killed 15 people at the West Fertilizer Co. facility in West, Texas, three...
People – South Central
May 23 2016 // New Orleans-based insurance and risk management firm, Gillis, Ellis & Baker (GEB), promoted Jeff Howard to shareholder and vice president. Howard joined GEB in 2011 as an insurance producer. He works with both...
Storm Damage Causes Toyota Plant in Texas to Halt Production
May 20 2016 // A Toyota Motor Corp. assembly plant in San Antonio that makes Tundra and Tacoma pickup trucks has suspended production due to storm damage from a system that dumped up to four inches of rain. Toyota spokesman Mario Lozoya...
Allstate: Texas Hail Event Accounts for Half of April Cat Losses
May 19 2016 // The Allstate Corp. announced estimated catastrophe losses for the month of April 2016 of more than $600 million, pre-tax ($411 million after-tax). Half of the losses stem from one severe hail event in Texas last...
UT Study Links Recent Texas Quakes to Oil Activity
May 19 2016 // A new study by researchers at the University of Texas at Austin concludes that human activity has been a factor in earthquakes throughout the state for nearly 100 years. The study conclusions are in a paper to be published...
Bus in Fatal Texas Crash Had Seatbelts Only in First Row
May 18 2016 // Officials investigating a charter bus crash that killed eight people and injured 44 on a rain-slicked South Texas highway said that the vehicle had seat belts only in the first row. Texas Department of Public Safety Sgt....
Vehicle Problems Not New for Bus Company in South Texas Crash
May 17 2016 // The small South Texas bus company involved in a rollover crash that killed eight people and injured 44 others had twice been ordered by Louisiana state inspectors in 2015 to take one of its buses off the road to fix brake...
NTSB Investigating Texas Bus Crash That Left 8 Dead, 44 Hurt
May 16 2016 // Federal authorities are investigating a charter bus crash in far South Texas that killed eight people and injured 44 more in a single-vehicle rollover, officials said. Seven people died at the scene Saturday morning, May...
Federal Officials Say Damaged Guardrail Caused Texas Prison Bus Wreck
May 13 2016 // Federal investigators have confirmed that a West Texas prison bus accident that killed two prison guards and eight inmates was caused by the bus striking a piece of displaced highway guardrail. The National Transportation...
Texas Town Faces Questions After Arson Blamed for Fertilizer Plant Blast
May 13 2016 // One question has lingered in the Central Texas farming town of West since a fertilizer plant caught fire in 2013 and exploded, killing 15 people and damaging at least $100 million in property: What caused the blaze? On May...
Supreme Court Enters Final Stretch with Key Decisions in Limbo
May 13 2016 // The U.S. Supreme Court has managed to steer away from controversy in the three months since Justice Antonin Scalia’s death. That’s about to get harder. The court is opening the last phase of its nine-month...
Great American Insurance Acquires Service Lloyds Texas Nonsubscription Business
May 12 2016 // Great American Insurance Group and Service Lloyds Insurance Co. announced the acquisition of Service Lloyds’ Texas nonsubscription book of business by Great American. The acquisition was effective April 29, 2016. The...
ATF: 2013 Fire at Texas Fertilizer Plant Intentionally Set
May 11 2016 // The Houston Field Division of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) says the fire that caused an explosion that took the lives of 15 people at the West Fertilizer Co. plant in West, Texas,...
Uber, Lyft Suspend Service in Texas Capital Because of Background Checks
May 11 2016 // Uber and Lyft have suspended ridesharing service in Austin, Texas after voters decided against overturning city requirements that include fingerprint-based background checks for their drivers. Nearly 56 percent of voters...
