Latest Texas Headlines
All the headlines from our Texas Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Rate of Workplace Injury, Illness Dropped in Texas in 2014
Oct 30 2015 // The Texas incidence rate of nonfatal injuries and illnesses in private industry decreased to 2.4 cases per 100 equivalent full-time workers in 2014, down from 2.6 in 2013, the Texas Department of Insurance, Division of...
Wildfires Threat in Texas Increased Over Past 15 Years
Oct 30 2015 // Larger, more threatening wildfires are occurring at greater rates as Texas faces lingering drought, consistent development — driven by millions of new residents and the spread of outlying suburbs — and changes in how...
Surplus Lines Stamping Office of Texas Phone Numbers Changing
Oct 29 2015 // The Surplus Lines Stamping Office of Texas (SLSOT) announced it is simplifying communications with new business phone number listings and an upgraded telecommunication system. The new system will be in place Oct. 30, but...
Texas’ Population Spread, Wildfires Bring New Era of Firefighting
Oct 29 2015 // A top state fire official says the changing landscape of Texas, driven by millions of new residents and the spread of exurbia, has coincided with an unprecedented wave of large wildfires that are occurring more...
Texas Insurance Agent, Another Man Sentenced for Ponzi Scheme
Oct 28 2015 // Two North Texas men, one of whom is a licensed insurance agent, have been sentenced to five-year prison terms and must repay nearly $2.4 million solicited in a Ponzi scheme, according to U.S. Attorney John Parker of the...
GDP Advisors Acquires The Insurance Connection of Texas
Oct 27 2015 // McKinney, Texas-based GDP Advisors has acquired The Insurance Connection of Texas (ICT). Located in Frisco, Texas, ICT has been owned and operated by Lori and Chris Gardner and specializes in general/commercial liability,...
Texas Lawyer Indicted Over Allegedly False BP Spill Claims
Oct 27 2015 // Texas lawyer Mikal Watts has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Mississippi for allegedly filing false claims for thousands of Vietnamese fishermen seeking damages from the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, according to...
Texas Sets Seasonal Worker Adjusted Gross Annual Payroll Requirement
Oct 26 2015 // The Texas Division of Workers’ Compensation (DWC) has increased for 2016 the adjusted annual payroll requirement of an employer for the coverage of seasonal workers from $54,229 to $54,359. This is an increase of .24...
Hurricane Patricia Takes It Relatively Easy on Texas
Oct 26 2015 // Drenching storms that the remnants of Hurricane Patricia dragged into Texas finally cleared on Oct. 25 without leaving behind the death or devastation of torrential rain and floods that hit the state earlier in the...
Central Texas Wildfire 100% Contained
Oct 26 2015 // Officials say a Central Texas wildfire that burned 7-square-miles is 100 percent contained and under control. Bastrop County Judge Paul Pape said that with the widespread rainfall in the area, the fire has been...
Hurricanes not the Only Storms to Hit Texas Coast
Oct 26 2015 // The Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (TWIA), the state created insurer of last resort for 14 coastal counties and parts of Harris County, reports that nearly 14,000 claims were filed after violent spring thunderstorms...
68 Homes Burned in Central Texas; Wildfire 80% Contained
Oct 22 2015 // Residents forced from their homes by a 7-square-mile Central Texas wildfire have been allowed to return to the evacuation zone — some to return to their homes, some to count their losses. The Texas A&M Forest Service...
ICT: Less than 25% of Texas Homeowners Carry Flood Insurance
Oct 22 2015 // Most Texas homeowners are unprotected when it comes to flood damage, a state insurance trade group says. Less than 25 percent of Texas homeowners carry flood insurance despite the risks of massive downpours that could...
Rate Changes in Store for Texas Auto Insurance Plan
Oct 21 2015 // The Texas Automobile Insurance Plan Association (TAIPA) will raise some rates and lower some for private passenger and commercial automobile insurance, effective Feb. 1, 2016, the Texas Department of Insurance announced. A...
Deadline for Applying to Texas FAIR Plan Assoc. Governing Committee Extended
Oct 20 2015 // The Texas Department of Insurance has extended a deadline to apply to serve on the board that governs the Fair Access to Insurance Requirements (FAIR) Plan, which provides residential property insurance in underserved...
Progress Made Against Central Texas Wildfire
Oct 20 2015 // As of Oct. 19, about 70 percent of a wildfire that has burned thousands of acres in Central Texas had been contained, officials said. Some 275 firefighters were assisted by at least seven aircraft dumping water and fire...
Western-Themed Center in Northeast Texas Damaged by Fire
Oct 19 2015 // A fire heavily damaged a western-themed shopping center in North Texas, just two years after it was damaged by another blaze. The Van Zandt County Fire Marshal’s Office reported that flames early in the morning on...
Texas Tops for Heavy Equipment Thefts in 2014: Report
Oct 19 2015 // A report released by the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) shows that thefts of heavy equipment increased nationally in 2014 by 1.2 percent over the previous year, and that Texas had the highest number of such...
People – South Central
Oct 19 2015 // The Council of Insurance Agents and Brokers elected Bill Henry as the group’s 2016 chairman. Henry is CEO and chairman of Dallas-based MHBT, a Marsh & McLennan Agency company. Henry succeeds Steve Brockmeyer,...
Texas, Louisiana See Uptick in Fatal Occupational Injuries
Oct 19 2015 // Preliminary data show that there was a 3 percent increase in fatal occupational injuries in Texas in 2014 over the previous year, state workers’ compensation insurance regulators report. Louisiana also saw a slight...
