National News

Survey: Most Small Businesses Provide Regular Safety Training to Employees

A new report on small business owners’ workers’ compensation insurance-buying habits and risk exposures found that 95% offer regular safety training to their employees, according to The Hanover Insurance Group. Training for employees was ranked as the top service used …

Farm Bureau Must Defend Insured in Deadly Legionnaires’ Disease Outbreak in Carolina

What started out as festive time at the North Carolina Mountain State Fair in 2019 ended with 96 people hospitalized with Legionnaires’ disease. Four of them died. The tragedy in Fletcher, North Carolina, made national headlines. Multiple victims filed suit …

Report: National Security Risks Grow with Demand for Nuclear Energy

Risks associated with nuclear energy such as the proliferation of nuclear weapons, nuclear terrorism, sabotage, coercion and military operations can all be expected to grow as countries seek to implement their new nuclear energy objectives, according to a report by …

Jury Rules BNSF Contributed to 2 Deaths in Montana Town Where Asbestos Sickened Thousands

A federal jury said BNSF Railway contributed to the deaths of two people who were exposed to asbestos decades ago when tainted mining material was shipped through a Montana town where thousands have been sickened. The jury awarded $4 million …

2024 Wildfire Forecast Calls for ‘Below Average’ Season

The approaching wildfire season may bring hazardous air quality from blazes burning across the U.S., but it’s expected to be below the historical average in terms of the number of fires and acres burned. AccuWeather’s forecast for the 2024 wildfire …

Viewpoint: Insurers Face Added Role in Curbing Workplace Violence With California Law

New legislation aimed at reducing workplace violence in California vastly increases employers’ responsibilities and hands workers’ compensation insurers an unprecedented oversight role that is likely to trigger lawsuits and affect rates and capacity. The Workplace Violence Prevention Bill SB 553, …

Boeing Crash Victims’ Families Seek to Share Evidence With DOJ

U.S. Justice Department officials will meet Wednesday with families of Boeing Co. 737 Max crash victims even as they investigate the company’s operations in the wake of the recent near-catastrophic blowout of a fuselage panel mid-flight. The department has a …

Florida’s Home Insurance Industry May Be Worse Than Anyone Realizes

Seven property insurers in Florida went bankrupt in 2021 and 2022. The bankruptcies left thousands of homeowners scrambling to get new coverage, which often came with a big increase in cost. Worse, many had outstanding claims for hurricane damage that …

Jury Awards $80M to 3 Former Zurich NA Employees for Wrongful Termination

Zurich North America was ordered by a California jury to pay three former employees a total of about $80.2 million to end a wrongful termination case earlier this month. Melinda Brantley, Nicholas Lardie, and Daniel Koos worked as claims examiners …

UnitedHealth Data Leak May Affect ‘Substantial’ Swath of U.S.

UnitedHealth Group Inc. found files containing private information on a vast number of Americans whose data may have been compromised in a February cyberattack that upended the US health system. A sample of the breached files found they contain personal …

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