National News

Brake Complaints Cause Lyft to Replace 3,000 Electric Bikes in 3 Cities

Lyft Inc. is removing several thousand electric bikes from service in its bike-share program in New York, Washington and San Francisco because of a braking problem, the ride-hailing company said on Sunday. “We recently received a small number of reports …

Insurance Agency Merger Count Held Steady in Q1: Optis

There were 151 announced insurance agency mergers and acquisitions during the first quarter of 2019, according to Optis Partners. That was one more deal than was announced in the first quarter of 2018. The data tracked by the Chicago-based agency …

Why Uber ‘Depends Heavily’ on Insurance

Uber Technologies Inc., on its way to an initial public offering that some media reports say could raise $10 billion, might not be in the position it is in without insurance. “Our business depends heavily on insurance coverage for drivers …

Fitch Warns Bond Insurers After Court’s Puerto Rico Bankruptcy Ruling

A U.S. Appeals Court ruling last month in Puerto Rico’s bankruptcy led Fitch Ratings on Thursday to place seven city, school, and health care ratings in states including Illinois and California on a watch list for potential downgrades. The credit …

Don’t Count on Home Insurance to Cover Cost of Rebuilding: Viewpoint

Own a home? No doubt you’ve insured it. Very sensible of you. But if that home were, say, burned to the ground, then your insurance company probably wouldn’t cover the cost of rebuilding it. Don’t feel too bad, though. It’s …

Young Small Businessowners Don’t Like Insurance Agents. Uh, Not Really.

Patricia Ross, Raphael Strumlauf and Kate DeNeveu each have at least one thing in common: They’re generally happy with their business insurance. Each owns a business at the downtown pedestrian mall in Charlottesville, Va. They’re all in their early ’30s …

U.S. State Department Adds Kidnapping Risk to Travel Advisories

The risk of being kidnapped or taken hostage is being added to the travel advisories issued by the State Department. State Department advisories have until now included warnings about such things as crime, civil unrest or the potential for terrorism. …

Records Show Sensors Linked to Boeing 737 Max Crashes Vulnerable to Failure

The crashes of two Boeing Co. 737 Max jets in five months have focused attention on a little-known device that malfunctioned, starting a chain reaction that sent the planes into deadly dives. Pilots have for decades relied on the weather-vane-like …

How Real Are ‘Ethical Artificial Intelligence’ Efforts by Tech Giants?

The biggest tech companies want the public to know that they’re taking special care to ensure that their use of artificial intelligence to sift through mountains of data, analyze faces or build virtual assistants doesn’t spill over to the dark …

Insurtech Lemonade Raises $300 Million; SoftBank, Allianz, Alphabet Among Investors

Lemonade, the insurance company built around artificial intelligence and behavioral economics, announced the signing of a $300 million Series D funding round led by SoftBank Group with participation from Allianz, General Catalyst, GV (formerly known as Google Ventures), OurCrowd, and …

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