Daily Headlines: Thursday, December 29, 2011

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December 29, 2011 News By Region  National  International  East  Midwest  Southeast  South Central  West Video Today's Headlines National Insurance Adjusters Brace for Cold Weather Claims Though summer weather is associated with devastating catastrophe losses, the winter holiday season can be equally busy for insurance ... How One Independent Agent Tried to Off the GEICO Gecko Editor's Note: This article is from Insurance Journal's annual Satire Issue, originally published on Aug. 15, 2011. The article is ... BancInsure Partners with KnightBrook for Financial Institutions BancInsure has partnered with KnightBrook Insurance Co. to provide coverage for financial institutions. The BancInsure Program will issue ... Breathe New Life into Your Old Performance Review Tactics The end of the year is swiftly approaching, signaling that the time has come for the daunting task that all supervisors face — the ... As User-Based Insurance Takes Off, Towers Watson Steers It Globally When Towers Watson expanded its user-based insurance (UBI) DriveAbility program beyond the United States last month, it wasn't just based on... More National News East Penn. Senator Asks Flood Insurers to Quickly Process Remaining Claims U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-Penn.) is asking flood insurance companies to quickly process remaining claims from Irene and Lee. He says some ... Employers Share Employee Benefits Success Stories at Mass. Conference New England Employee Benefits Council (NEEBC) held its annual conference earlier this month, giving its Best Benefits Practices awards to ... Massachusetts Business Owner Pleads Guilty to $28K Insurance Fraud A Peabody. Massachusetts, business owner pleaded guilty yesterday and was sentenced in connection with collecting over $28,000 in ... Small Leak Forces Shutdown of Massachusetts Nuclear Power Plant The Pilgrim nuclear power plant in Plymouth, Mass., has been shut down after what officials said was a small leak of radioactive steam in a ... Suit in Mass. Bullying Case Was Settled for $225,000, Documents Show A lawsuit brought by the parents of Phoebe Prince, a 15-year-old Irish immigrant in Massachusetts who committed suicide after relentless ... Conn.: 10 More State Workers Suspected of Post-Irene Aid Fraud Connecticut Governor Dannel P. Malloy said this week that 10 more state workers are suspected of fraudulently receiving federal food stamp ... Jan. 2 Deadline Looms For People Suing Over 9/11 Health Claims More than 1,600 people who filed lawsuits claiming that their health was ruined by dust and smoke from the collapsed World Trade Center ... More East News Midwest Members Added to Minnesota FAIR Plan, Workers' Comp Association Two members have been added to the board of Minnesota's FAIR plan and one new member has been added to the state's workers' comp ... Dorsey Named Chief Administrative Officer at Ohio Insurance Department Tynesia Dorsey has been named chief administrative officer at the Ohio Insurance Department. Dorsey's duties include overseeing the ... Coventry Health Care to Run Nebraska Health Insurance Pool Coventry Health Care of Nebraska will be the new health plan administrator for Nebraska's Comprehensive Health Insurance Pool. The state ... More Midwest News Southeast Kentucky Fire Department to Collect Subscriber Fee A volunteer fire department in southeastern Kentucky says it will begin collecting fees from subscribers next week. Bell County Assistant ... New Georgia Law Requires Safety Features on Golf Carts Golf cart owners in Georgia will soon have stricter requirements to follow if they plan to drive their carts on roadways. A new law taking ... More Southeast News South Central Texas Windpool E-Quote System to Be Disabled Dec. 30 – Jan. 3 Changes in the billing and commission program at Texas' insurer of last resort for coastal property will prompt a shut down of the ... Texas Work Comp Discount, Interest Rate Set for Q1 2012 The workers' compensation interest and discount rate in Texas for the first quarter of 2012 has been set at 3.61 percent. The rate will ... Ratings of Dallas-Based Gramercy Insurance Co. Downgraded The ratings of Dallas-based commercial property/casualty insurance company Gramercy Insurance Co. (GIC) have been downgraded by A.M. Best ... More South Central News West Report: Emergency Preparedness Eroding in Montana Montana is at risk of becoming less prepared to respond to disasters and public-health emergencies because of state and federal budget ... Former New Mexico Hospital Exec Sued Over Missing $3.2M A recently filed lawsuit accuses a former executive at a New Mexico hospital of bilking the care center out of more than $3 million by ... Chiang Finds More Signs of Fiscal Abuse in Southern California City State Controller John Chiang on Wednesday released his final review of the city of Montebello, alleging possible pension spiking, payroll ... Neff Risk and Cochrane Combine Neff Risk and Cochrane and Co. will be officially operating as one as of Jan. 1. The combined company will operate under the name Cochrane ... More West News International Melbourne Storms Declared ‘Catastrophe;’ Full Year Insured Losses = $4.5 Billion A series of violent storms struck Australia's second largest city, Melbourne on Christmas Day, causing wide spread damage to buildings and ... Lloyd’s Highlights Retailers Need for Cyber Fraud Coverage An article on the Lloyd's of London web site notes that while millions of people have been out an about shopping this holiday season, "an ... November Storms in Southern Alberta Caused $195 Million Insured Loss Windstorms that hit southern Alberta in November have caused at least C$200 million [US$195] in insured damage, according to the Insurance ... ACE Acquires Ecuador General Insurer Rio Guayas The ACE Group announced that it has acquired Rio Guayas Compania de Seguros y Reaseguros, a general insurance company in Ecuador that is ... More International News Join the Insurance Journal Network Insurance Journal TV Swiss Re Chief Economist Analyzes Current Market Conditions Swiss Re's chief economist Kurt Karl discusses the challenges the insurance industry faces,... Watch Now Interesting Times in Medical Liability The medical liability market continues to perform well even as the nation struggles to... Watch Now Watch more videos at InsuranceJournal.tv New Discussions in the Forums Facebook Posted: Thu Dec 29 -- This is an interesting post as we are in the process of developing a full-time social networking position to create a presence on Linkedin,... jdwebb Need a market for a home in heavy brush in CA Posted: Wed Dec 28 -- If the dwelling is in a brush zone with at least 200 feet of brush clearance on all sides, we offer coverage as an HO3, DP3 or DP1. If the... monica reyes Those who get an Insurance Education have a competitive edge Posted: Tue Dec 27 -- My experience with insurance producers is that a pretty good percentage believe that continuing education training is a nuisance and see no... itaamerica My CPCU journey - almost finished..... Posted: Tue Dec 27 -- Hello Everyone, I posted a few times several months back looking for advice/opinions regarding the CPCU program from the Institutes. I... bjwestner Adding Addtional Insureds Posted: Mon Dec 26 -- Shouldn't the AI requestor contact the primary and request the primary to add them? Seems like your adding work for yourselves, when the... OldIndyAgent Go to Forums Reader Comments $1.6M Award for Connecticut Man Injured in Icy Road Accident Posted: Tue Dec 27 -- This is a very bad ruling. I hope they appeal and it gets overturned. Observer Aon Wins Preliminary Injunction Against Former Exec, Now at Alliant Posted: Wed Dec 28 -- Aon only has a problem with someone violating a non-compete when it is theirs. They sure didn't have a problem supporting Pat Ryan's raid on... jfk1971 Ironshore Names Boren Head of U.S. Field Operations Posted: Thu Dec 22 -- All those that worked are AIG Environmental for the 15 years before Boren and OBrien arrived will be glad to hear that they did not build... Sacha T Esurance Debuts First Ad Campaign Since Being Bought by Allstate Posted: Tue Dec 27 -- This must make Allstate Agent's real happy. Now they have another major competitor!! If Allstate really had their true wish, there would be... Steve South Carolina State Worker Seeks Free Speech Damages Over Firing Posted: Tue Dec 27 -- Diversity training rarely allows diversity of thought or opinion, and honest open questions. Just sit there and agree or your are fired. 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