Latest Texas Headlines
All the headlines from our Texas Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Texas Windstorm Insurance Company: No Rate Change for Now
Aug 11 2020 // The board of directors of Texas’ property insurer last resort for wind and hail in the state’s coastal counties has voted to file a 0% rate change with the Texas Department of Insurance. The Texas Windstorm...
Texas Governor Extends Disaster Declaration for COVID-19
Aug 10 2020 // Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has extended a statewide disaster declaration he first issued in March to allow the state to better respond to the coronavirus pandemic. “Renewing this Disaster Declaration will provide...
Texas Reports Nearly 9,200 New COVID Cases, 245 Deaths
Aug 6 2020 // Texas health officials reported almost 9,200 confirmed new coronavius cases Tuesday as a convention center in the hard-hit Rio Grande Valley opened as a makeshift hospital for COVID-19 patients. The Department of State...
Urban Flooding Is On The Rise, So What Can Be Done?
Aug 6 2020 // As hurricane season heats up, a growing number of properties located outside of FEMA-designated high-risk flood zones are already flooding. The problem is especially bad in the urban areas of America’s cities. A...
Houston Will Enforce Masks With Fines as Texas Deaths Topped 7,000
Aug 5 2020 // Houston’s mayor has instructed police to begin issuing $250 fines for flouting statewide mask orders in hopes that August will stamp out a grim summer resurgence of COVID-19 that is now responsible for at least 7,000...
Texas Mutual, VFIS of Texas Award $500K to Emergency Service Groups
Aug 4 2020 // Texas Mutual Insurance Co. and Volunteer Firemen’s Insurance Services of Texas are awarding $500,000 to nonprofit emergency service organizations across Texas through two separate grant programs. $200,000 will be...
One80 Intermediaries Acquires National Underwriting Services in Texas
Aug 4 2020 // One80 Intermediaries has acquired National Underwriting Services Inc. in San Antonio, Texas. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. National Underwriting Services is a specialty underwriter of medical stop loss coverage for...
5th Circuit: Texas Carrier Must Defend Against Claim Despite Policy Exclusion
Aug 3 2020 // Texas law requires an insurer to defend the grandparents of a 10-year-old boy who was killed while driving their all-terrain vehicle against a negligence lawsuit, even though the carrier says neither the boy nor the crash...
Texas Gas Pipeline Erupts After Being Cut by Contractor
Jul 31 2020 // A natural gas pipeline erupted in flames near Houston after it was accidentally cut Wednesday afternoon by a contractor, officials said. The accident happened about 4:45 p.m. in the town of Mont Belvieu, about 30 miles...
Megadroughts Brought by Climate Change a Challenge for Texas Ranchers
Jul 31 2020 // Arthur Uhl III has been ranching for 30 years and routinely has the same lament: “It doesn’t rain enough.” Uhl, who works on his family’s San Angelo-area ranches, needs the rain to grow the grass...
Schools, not Local Health Officials, Decide on Class Start, Texas AG Says
Jul 31 2020 // Local health officials in Texas do not have the authority to close schools to prevent spread of the coronavirus, state Attorney General Ken Paxton said July 28, pushing that decision solely into the hands of school...
RMS Estimate: Insured Losses from Hurricane Hanna Won’t Exceed $400M
Jul 30 2020 // Catastrophe risk products and services company, Risk Management Solutions Inc. (RMS), has estimated that insurance losses in the U.S. from Hurricane Hanna will not exceed $400 million. This estimate represents insured...
COVID-19 Surge in Texas Sparks Worry Amid Hurricane Hanna Cleanup
Jul 28 2020 // As recovery and cleanup efforts got underway on July 27 in South Texas in the wake of a downgraded Hurricane Hanna, worried residents confronted the prospect of undertaking the effort amid a surge in coronavirus cases that...
Texas Issues Price Comparison Data Call to Auto/Residential Insurers
Jul 28 2020 // The Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) has issued a data call to insurance companies writing personal automobile and residential property policies in the state. The department said the information is needed for price...
Texas Surplus Lines Stamping Office Recommends Fee Decrease
Jul 28 2020 // The Surplus Lines Stamping Office of Texas (SLTX) has filed a recommendation for a decrease in the stamping fee rate with the Texas Department of Insurance. In a letter to Insurance Commissioner Kent Sullivan, SLTX said...
Karen Clark & Co. Estimates $350M Insured Loss from Hurricane Hanna
Jul 28 2020 // Catastrophe risk modeling firm, Karen Clark & Company (KCC) has estimated the insured loss from Hurricane Hanna, which made landfall on Padre Island, Texas, on July 26, will be close to $350 million, excluding National...
Pathfinder/LL&D Insurance Group Joins Texas’ Insurors Group
Jul 27 2020 // Insurors Group LLC, an alliance of independent insurance agents in Texas, has added Pathfinder/LL&D Insurance Group LLC located in Houston, as a member agency. Led by CEO Scott West, Pathfinder/LL&D Insurance Group...
Hanna Pounds South Texas Coast Already Dealing With COVID Surge
Jul 26 2020 // Hurricane Hanna pummeled the south Texas coast on Saturday night with howling winds and a surging sea that threatened a broad area already contending with an intense spike in coronavirus deaths. Hanna is the first...
Update: Tropical Storm Hanna Headed Toward South Texas
Jul 24 2020 // A storm churning in the Gulf of Mexico that yesterday was a tropical depression is now Tropical Storm Hanna, the National Hurricane Center has reported. TS Hanna’s center is currently located south of the...
Lawsuit Claims UT-Austin Unfairly Denied Admission to White Students
Jul 24 2020 // A national organization has filed a lawsuit against the University of Texas at Austin on behalf of two white students who were denied admission, marking the third time the school has been sued by this group over an...
