Latest Texas Headlines

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

Texas Legal Insurance Plan Joins Independent Agents Group

Aug 31 2015 // Texas Legal, the statewide nonprofit legal insurance plan founded by the State Bar of Texas and the Texas Legislature, announced it is now a member of the Independent Insurance Agents of Texas (IIAT). Legal insurance...

Slape, Brady Named Deputy Commissioners at Texas DOI

Aug 28 2015 // Texas Insurance Commissioner David Mattax announced two key executive positions on his staff. Doug Slape will become deputy commissioner for financial regulation, and Kevin Brady was named deputy commissioner for agency...

Florida-Based Advanced E&S Group Opens Dallas Office

Aug 28 2015 // Advanced E&S Group, a Florida-based managing general agency, has hired April Moeser, branch manager, and Lisa Sherman, underwriting, to facilitate the opening of the firm’s new branch office operations in Dallas,...

Palmer & Cay Re-Enters Texas, Taps McClure as President

Aug 26 2015 // Independent insurance broker Palmer & Cay has re-formed operations in Dallas, Texas, and named Howard H. McClure III as president of Palmer & Cay of Texas LLC. Georgia-based Palmer & Cay first entered the Texas...

‘John Doe’ Sues Adultery Website Ashley Madison in U.S.

Aug 26 2015 // The Canadian-based adultery website AshleyMadison.com faces a U.S. backlash — led by the always- litigious “John Doe” — over a data breach that exposed more than 37 million formerly anonymous...

Hurricane Danny Dies, but Peak Hurricane Season Looms

Aug 24 2015 // Although what was once Hurricane Danny has degenerated into a “trough of low pressure” in the eastern Caribbean, according to the Nation Hurricane Center, a new disturbance in the middle of the Atlantic has a...

New FEMA Maps for Central Texas Expand Flood Plains

Aug 24 2015 // Hundreds of Central Texas residents could be forced to buy flood insurance or face stricter building regulations for new structures nearly three months after deadly flooding. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has...

New Texas-Developed Guardrails to Be Installed in State, Nation

Aug 24 2015 // Some roadways in Texas and around the country will get new guardrails after Texas A&M University found that a specially made reinforced concrete barrier works better to protect drivers. Engineers from Texas...

Texas Adds 31,400 Jobs in July

Aug 21 2015 // Texas added jobs for the fourth consecutive month with the addition of 31,400 seasonally adjusted nonagricultural jobs in July, Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) announced. The state has added jobs in 57 of the last 58...

Texas Refinery, Tank Fires in Blamed on Lightning Strikes

Aug 21 2015 // Lightning strikes have been blamed for a refinery fire near Houston and an oil storage tank blaze along the Gulf of Mexico. Emergency responders say nobody was hurt in either fire Thursday as storms rolled through parts of...

Lawsuit Relief Needed for TWIA Depopulation Plan to Work: Lawmakers

Aug 21 2015 // A new law that becomes effective Sept. 1 in Texas will give the state’s property insurer of last resort for wind and hail along the coast more leeway in a plan to reduce its overall exposure by incenting private...

Texas Health Underwriters Warn ACA Change May Disrupt Market

Aug 20 2015 // Federal health insurance reforms may cause a major disruption in the group insurance market, according to the Texas Association of Health Underwriters, a professional association of insurance agents and brokers who focus...

Texas’ TCOR Management Forms New Agency, TIA-TCOR

Aug 19 2015 // TCOR Management, based in New Braunfels, Texas, announced it has formed a new insurance agency, TIA-TCOR LLC, dba Texas Insurance Agency. With Ben Reedy as principal, San Antonio-based TIA-TCOR provides insurance, risk...

Sakulenzki Joins Texas-Based Higginbotham as Local Benefits Broker

Aug 19 2015 // Texas-based independent insurance firm Higginbotham has hired Jonathan Sakulenzki as an employee benefits producer in McAllen, Texas. Sakulenzki joins the McAllen office’s two commercial property/casualty insurance...

Texas Extends Deadline in Windstorm Insurance Board Search

Aug 19 2015 // The Texas Department of Insurance is extending its deadline for accepting applications for the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association board to September 1. The original deadline for applications was Aug. 15. The board is...

Feds Charge Texas-Based Oil Platform Operator over Deadly Blast

Aug 18 2015 // Oil platform operator Black Elk Energy is facing federal criminal charges in connection with a November 2012 explosion off Louisiana’s coast that left three workers dead and others badly injured. Multiple media...

Texas Oil Field Chemical Supplier Rocked by Explosions

Aug 17 2015 // A series of explosions rocked an oil field chemical supply company north of Houston on Aug. 14, setting off a fire that sent a broad, dense column of thick, black smoke towering into the otherwise blue skies. DrillChem...

High Beef Prices Fuel Rustling Revival in Texas, Plains States

Aug 17 2015 // Doug Hutchison wears a badge and carries a gun but his most effective weapon in the pursuit of livestock thieves in the nation’s largest cattle-producing territory may be his smartphone. With it, Hutchison, one of 30...

People – South Central

Aug 17 2015 // Insurance broker Lockton added Jay Chappell in its Dallas/Ft. Worth operations as chief operating officer for its property/casualty business. Chappell will provide leadership and oversight for client service in...

Deadline for Applying to Texas Windstorm Insurance Board Nears

Aug 12 2015 // The Texas Department of Insurance is accepting applications for the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association board of directors after the makeup of the board was changed by the 84th Legislature. The deadline for applications...