A.M. Best Co. has downgraded the issuer credit rating (ICR) to “bbb” from “bbb+” and affirmed the financial strength rating (FSR) of B++ (Good) of Wolverine Mutual Insurance Co. of Dowagiac, Michigan. The rating agency’s outlook for the FSR has …
Labor Department would get more money to boost enforcement of workplace health, safety and wage laws under President Barack Obama’s proposed budget. The increase in worker protection is a major shift after years of cuts to those programs by the …
Tests show ground peanuts at a Texas plant were contaminated with the same strain of salmonella that has sickened hundreds of people across the nation, state health officials reported. The peanut meal was tested at the Plainview plant Feb. 12 …
Fifty-nine of 74 private water wells in Locust Grove, Okla., have tested positive for total coliform bacteria, a group of bacteria that indicate environmental pollution. Additionally, 17 of those 59 wells tested positive for E. coli, the state’s Department of …
The city of Polson, Mont., has lost its appeal to the Montana Supreme Court in a lawsuit stemming from the July 2004 collapse of an outside deck at a popular bar and casino. The deck at the Diamond Horseshoe Bar …
A judge has dismissed the state’s lawsuit against contractors involved in the building of the University of Connecticut law school library, saying the state waited too long. Waterbury Superior Court Judge William Cremins says the state, which filed the lawsuit …
A woman whose mother died in a fire has filed suit seeking $30 million from a tobacco company and a landlord. Dawn Bunch filed the suit Feb. 19 in Washington County Circuit Court. Bunch’s mother, 58-year-old Linda Ford, died in …
North Dakota’s Senate has narrowly endorsed a proposed constitutional amendment that would block attempts to move minor money disputes out of the state’s small-claims courts. The proposal says small-claims cases have no right to a jury trial. North Dakota law …
A federal court in Minnesota has issued a permanent injunction against a Minneapolis seafood company accused of repeatedly violating food safety laws. The injunction against Captain’s Select Seafood Inc. was issued Feb. 17 and announced Monday by the Food and …
A Massey Energy subsidiary has been cited by West Virginia for a safety violation that state investigators say contributed to the death of a bulldozer operator last fall. A state Office of Miners’ Health, Safety and Training report says Massey’s …