Daily Headlines: Tuesday, April 12, 2011

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April 12, 2011 News By Region  National  International  East  Midwest  Southeast  South Central  West Video Today's Headlines National Gulf Coast Officials Enjoy Spending Spree at BP’s Expense In the year since the Gulf oil spill, officials along the coast have gone on a spending spree with BP money, dropping tens of millions of ... Federal Budget Cuts Eliminate Crop Insurance Premium Refunds The budget deal agreed to by President Barack Obama and Republican and Democratic leaders last Friday to avoid a government shutdown calls ... A.M. Best Affirms Ratings of W.R. Berkley Group, Subsidiaries A.M. Best Co. has affirmed the financial strength ratings (FSR) of A+ (Superior) and issuer credit ratings (ICR) of "aa-" of Berkley ... Towers Watson Names Comis, Albert to Reinsurance Brokerage Team Towers Watson has named Darrell Comis, senior vice president, and David J. Albert, vice president, in its Reinsurance Brokerage business. ... Navigators Expands Professional Liability Division The Navigators Group, Inc.'s principal underwriting subsidiary, Navigators Management Co., Inc., has expanded its professional liability ... Chartis Expands Alternative Risk Offering with Rolling Buyouts Chartis has introduced a loss portfolio transfer solution called Rolling Buyouts, which will be offered by its Alternative Risk division to ... By-Peril Rating Plan Advances More Precise Homeowners Rating The pricing of homeowners insurance, traditionally a matter of averaging all risks, is becoming more precise and customized to the... More National News East Pennsylvania House Passes Tort Reform Bill Pennsylvania House lawmakers have passed a major tort reform bill, an agent-supported move that sets up a vote in the Senate that could ... Aspen Adds Two Execs to U.S. Surety Unit Specialty insurer Aspen has added two execs to its Connecticut-based U.S. surety team. James Mercier will serves as senior vice president, ... More East News Midwest Cleanup of Tornado-Swept Iowa Town to Take Months Tom Sanford stepped carefully through his tornado ravaged home in Mapleton, Iowa, his work shoes crunching on broken glass and wood ... Red River Floods Fields, but U.S. Farmers Ready Record flooding in parts of the U.S. Red River Valley has slowed grain movement, but lake-like fields are nothing new to farmers who battle ... More Midwest News Southeast Florida Approves 18.8% State Farm Rate Increase Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty has approved a statewide average 18.8 percent rate increase in State Farm's homeowners' ... Tennessee’s Opry Mills to Reopen; Suit Against Flood Insurers Goes On Nearly one year after a historic flood ravaged Nashville and submerged the popular Opry Mill shopping mall, the mall said it will reopen in ... More Southeast News Will Your Agency Survive the Future? The new insurance distribution system is not your daddy's distribution system. Did you know that 80% - 90% of all purchasing decisions START on the Internet? What does that mean for you and your business' future? Live training Thursday, April 14. Plus get the recordings so you don't miss anything! Space is limited. Learn more and reserve your seat today! South Central State Farm Again Ordered to Refund Texas Policyholders A judge in Austin, Texas, has ruled that State Farm Insurance Co. must comply with a state insurance department directive to repay ... North Texas Residents Assessing Storm Damage The Dallas/Fort Worth area is cleaning up after storms rocked the area with major wind and hail damage. The National Weather Service ... INSURICA Buys Guaranty Insurance, Nearly Doubles in Size Oklahoma City-based privately held independent insurance agency, INSURICA, announced it has acquired Guaranty Insurance Services, ... A.J. Gallagher Risk Management Services Adds 2 in Louisiana Arthur J. Gallagher Risk Management Services announced that it has added to its sales teams in the firm's Baton Rouge and Lake Charles ... Fires Remain Out of Control in Texas; McDonald Observatory Threatened Two huge range fires remained out of control on April 11, burning thousands of acres in far west Texas and northwest Texas. Together the ... More South Central News West Hawaii Journalist Shield Law Extension Advances A Hawaii law protecting journalists from having to reveal anonymous sources and private notes is moving toward being renewed before it ... BLM Instituting Fire Restrictions in Southern New Mexico The Las Cruces, N.M., district of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management is instituting fire restrictions. The restrictions will go into effect ... Records Seized in Las Vegas HOA Insurance Probe Police and Nevada state attorney general's investigators seized records from a Las Vegas homeowner association in what one member calls an ... Oregon Bar Clears State Lawmaker in Insurance Contract Dispute The Oregon State Bar has cleared a Republican state lawmaker from central Oregon in a contract dispute between two of his clients. The ... More West News International AIG Urges Taiwan Unit Employees to Support Sale American International Group Inc. has urged staff at Taiwan unit Nan Shan Life Insurance Co. Ltd to voice their support for its planned ... Tokyo Nuclear Plant Company Could Face $23 Billion in Losses Tokyo Electric Power could face 2 trillion yen ($23.6 bln) in special losses in the current business year to March 2012 to compensate ... UK: Don’t Let Insurance Rules Spoil Royal Wedding Parties British Prime Minister David Cameron has urged local authorities not to use bureaucratic rules to prevent street parties celebrating the ... More International News Sponsored Content The e-Marketing Minute is a bi-weekly video series designed to help insurance agents learn how to grow their agency utilizing the Internet. Check it out. More Sponsored Content Join the Insurance Journal Network Insurance Journal TV Soft Market Is Finally Ending, Really, Says SNL Financial Could the long soft market really be over? Several recent reports concluded it is not over.... Watch Now Will Deficit Debate Affect Flood Insurance? Taxes? Following the November elections, Congress and the White House, as well as states, have... Watch Now Watch more videos at InsuranceJournal.tv New Discussions in the Forums Allied Insurance - Agency terminations. Posted: Mon Apr 11 -- I think that the the client's behavior was predicated by the wording in Allieds letter that they sent. Regarding production, we were... gregcw Risk Purchasing Groups Posted: Mon Apr 11 -- I'm looking at a program for a certain higher risk entertainment exposure and one of the policies is written through a Risk Purchasing... Rob PL Rater Posted: Mon Apr 11 -- My understanding is that neither EZLynx nor PL Rater do discriminatory underwriting or calculated rates. That means only Realtime rates... OldIndyAgent How can a new agent obtain appointments? Posted: Mon Apr 11 -- It is very difficult for a very new agency, most especially if you have not been licensed for very long, to get independent agency... AgencyEquity Go to Forums Subscriber Tools Send this to a friend Subscribe Unsubscribe Submit News Contact Us Current Issue Big "I" Issue (with Young Agents Survey), Entertainment / Sports / Special Events, Directors & Officers Liability More Newsletters Choose Newsletters Daily Headlines Weekly Reader Picks Magazine Update Insurance Journal TV Classifieds Breaking News MyNewMarkets Daily Claims Daily Enter Your E-mail Market Directories Excess & Surplus Markets Programs Workers' Comp Markets New Insurance Jobs Producers Chief Information Officer Insurance Sales Agents Have a job opening? 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