Daily Headlines: Friday, September 7, 2012

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September 7, 2012 News By Region  National  International  East  Midwest  Southeast  South Central  West Video Today's Headlines National Planners Craft Strategies to Help High-Earners Skirt New Healthcare Taxes Tax planners are developing ways to help well-to-do U.S. clients avoid the full impact of taxes set to take effect next year under ... BP Executives Sought to Blame 'Blue Collar Rig Workers' for Gulf Oil Spill: U.S. BP executives wanted to concentrate blame for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster on "blue collar rig workers" in order to save ... AIG Sells AIA Shares at Surpise Premium, Raises $2 Billion American International Group Inc. said it raised $2.02 billion through the sale of a partial stake in its former Asian unit AIA Group Ltd, ... U.S. Weather Forecaster Downgrades El Nino Impact The U.S. government forecaster has issued its most definitive report since first raising the El Niño alert three months ago, forecasting a ... New Features Added to General Star Insurance Agents Program General Star has made a number of enhancements to its insurance agents errors & omissions program. Distributed on an exclusive basis by ... Leavitt Recreation & Hospitality Launches Archery Club, Range Insurance Program Leavitt Recreation & Hospitality Insurance (LRHI) has launched a new program designed specifically for archery clubs and ranges.  The ... U.S. Construction Firms Facing Double-Digit Increases for Liability Insurance: Marsh The commercial general liability market for the U.S. construction industry continues to firm with underwriters seeking rate increases of up... More National News East As Storm Season Shifts Into High Gear, Homeowners Urged to Be Prepared As hurricane season shifts into high gear, the Maryland Insurance Administration is reminding consumers that September is Disaster ... Del. Court Orders WC Claimant to Use Employer's Medication Vendor A Delaware court recently ruled that an employer can compel a workers' comp claimant to use the company's preferred prescription medication ... W. R. Berkley Names President of Facultative Resources in Connecticut W. R. Berkley Corp. has appointed Joseph Sullivan as president of Facultative Resources Inc. He is based in Stamford, Connecticut. ... The Hartford Names SVP for Commercial Markets Sales and Distribution The Hartford Financial Services Group has named Matthew Kirk senior vice president of sales and distribution for the company's commercial ... More East News Midwest Kansas Insurance Commissioner Urges Health Care Law Plans The state of Kansas needs to decide soon what services it will provide in a health insurance exchange required by the federal health care ... North Dakota Farmers Want Changes in Crop Insurance Rules Some upper Midwest farmers who thought they caught a break when the federal government eased crop insurance rules for land hit by prolonged ... Missouri's High Court Favors Insured in Question of Policy Ambiguity Is a person hired to perform seasonal, part-time tasks for a company owner, based on a referral from an employee of the company, an ... More Midwest News Southeast Private Insurers in Line to Take 150,000 Policies from Florida's Citizens Four Florida-based property insurers have been given the green light to remove up to 150,000 policies from the state-backed Citizens ... Pace Joins Lockton in Memphis Ashley Pace has joined Lockton Companies in Memphis as an employee benefits consultant and producer. He will advise clients on health and ... Tennessee Agency Hollis & Burns Joins Keystone Insurers Memphis, Tenn.-based agency Hollis & Burns Inc. has joined Keystone Insurers Group as Keystone's sixteenth franchise partner in the state. ... New Marine Wholesale Brokerage Opens for Business in Florida Florida has a new wholesale insurance broker specializing in marine industry risks. Founded by Steve Cunningham, Theresa Proios-Jewell and ... New Underwriting Agency Assure Space to Cover Satellite Risks Assure Space, LLC, a new space insurance agency for satellite risks, has partnered with Auster Capital Partners (ACP) and Space Florida for ... More Southeast News South Central Specialty Risk Associates Announces New Hires and Promotions Louisiana-based Specialty Risk Associates Inc. has made two promotions within its Shreveport office. Kelly Babin assumed the position of ... Texas in November to Open 85 Mph Toll Way Texas will soon open a stretch of highway with the highest speed limit in the country. Construction crews have begun posting 85 mph speed ... Isaac Seepage Closes New Orleans Museum of Art The New Orleans Museum of Art says it is closed because water from soil saturated by Hurricane Isaac is seeping into the basement, ... More South Central News West IBA West Members To Vote On Name Change IBA West is entertaining a name change. The group, which represents several thousand brokers and agents and is comprised of 31 affiliated ... Lawsuit Claims Discrimination By In-N-Out Chain A lawsuit filed on behalf of two black men in Oakland claims In-N-Out Burger didn't hire them because of their race and age. The suit filed ... Government Declares Disasters In 4 Mont. Counties The U.S. Agriculture Department has declared Broadwater, Gallatin, Jefferson and Silver Bow counties disaster areas, making farmers and ... Alaska Family Charged With Insurance Fraud Three members of a North Pole family have been charged with felony insurance fraud connected to the crash of a pickup. A complaint filed by ... Moran Out as Calif. Workers' Comp Admin Director Rosa Moran, one of the members of Gov. Jerry Brown's Department of Industrial Relations team that helped to hammer out a last-minute deal ... WCIRB May Reduce Rate Increase to 11.6% Committees for the Workers' Compensation Rating Bureau looking at data based on the savings promised by a bill to reform the state's ... More West News International Commentary: World Economy Entering Into Financial Hurricane Season The North Atlantic hurricane season runs from mid-August to October, with a strong peak in storm activity around the middle of September. A ... Aon Benfield August Cat Report Focuses on Isaac; Insurance Cover Disparity Aon Benfield's latest edition of its Global Catastrophe Recap report, which reviews the natural disaster perils that occurred worldwide ... RBS Insurance Unit Plans Job Cuts The insurance division of Royal Bank of Scotland says it plans to cut nearly 900 jobs as it prepares for a stock market flotation. The ... More International News Insurance Journal Blogs Where to Spend Your Marketing Dollars? With the calendar year winding down and most agencies approaching budget season for the 2013 year, the question upon many is "Where do ... More Blogs Join the Insurance Journal Network Insurance Journal TV Predictive Modeling 1: Origins in Insurance Few developments have altered the insurance business as much as predictive modeling and more... Watch Now Agriculture Business Prepared for This Year's Drought Record high temperatures in the Midwest have farmers facing the worst drought in over 20 year,... Watch Now Watch more videos at InsuranceJournal.tv New Discussions in the Forums Track Your CSR's Daily Sales Activity Posted: Fri Sep 7 -- If the agency has any kind of management system for recording sales and commissions, it will tell you which employees are producing. In our... earlybird Adding Value? Who Cares? And, who gets mad? Posted: Fri Sep 7 -- D's, you did nothing wrong. But I am with you, I try to give the client all of their options. But more and more I am leaning toward letting... lonestar Independent Agency Growth Rate Posted: Fri Sep 7 -- I would say 10% to 20% is an average growth rate for an IA. lonestar Know Who Should Buy Long Term Care Insurance Posted: Fri Sep 7 -- Who should buy long term care insurance? This is probably one of the most common questions that the public might have before they decide if... robmejia Do you use online leads services? Posted: Fri Sep 7 -- I agree with charlie. Sometimes you have to pay just to get leads failing to think that since it's for sale, it's up for grabs for a dozen... robmejia Could your music influence your insurance score? Posted: Fri Sep 7 -- Now this is quite a new and weird correlation. But if it is supported by a study, then maybe there's some truth behind it. robmejia Life Insurance for people with no SSN Posted: Fri Sep 7 -- One can buy life insurance policy even without SSN but to pay it out, it is needed particularly in processing claims robmejia Keeping Track of prospects Posted: Fri Sep 7 -- Excel works well for me. I think it depends on organization skills. Proper naming and categorization can help a lot robmejia Restaurant with large fire claim Posted: Thu Sep 6 -- I might be able to help. Send a submission to kennethkukral@intlxs.com... INTLXS Go to Forums Reader Comments Most Unusual Pet Insurance Claims of the Year Posted: Thu Sep 6 -- •October 2011 – Peanut the dachshund-terrier mix (Sicklerville, N.J.). A squabble with a skunk ended with more than just a bad stench in... Mr. Obvious Employers Committed to Offering Health Plans; Cost Seen Going Up 5.3% in 2013 Posted: Wed Sep 5 -- Unemployment at 8.3% on Obama's inauguration date 7.7 Foodstamps given up 87% from inauguration date. National Debt 10.5 Trillion on Obama's... Sarah Police Lieutenant Claims Reverse Discrimination Posted: Wed Sep 5 -- There the system goes, trying to keep whitey down again. How dare he get passed up for a woman or a minority. The nerve. This is the South! Captain Planet GEICO Sponsors Rest Area 'Safe Phone Zones' in Virginia Posted: Tue Sep 4 -- c-c-c-computer generated ? I'm crushed, devastated ! The gecko of my dreams is fake ! The suave English accent and all ! Insurance fraud !... Sally Mander Jury Awards $1.6M to Cook County Sheriff's Employees Posted: Thu Sep 6 -- Yes indeed. That's Chicago politics for you. At least justice was served. Hopefully the same will happen in the White House. 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