Maryland, Virginia and Washington D.C. were particularly battered by a weekend snowstorm that caused massive power outages and resulted in moderate structural damage to areas in the region. At least two deaths were reported, and now the insurance industry is keeping a close eye on risks posed by the weight of accumulated snowfall on buildings, which poses serious risks for property damage and other liability, according to Risk Management Solutions.

Toyota on Tuesday announced another global recall -- this time, more than 400,000 Prius and other hybrid cars with braking problems, as a quality crisis continues to curse the carmaker that built its global reputation on quality. Toyota president Akio Toyoda used extraordinary language at a press conference here to apologize for quality and safety issues that have led to the recall of more than 7 million vehicles in recent months.

Close to 20 inches of snow piled up at the nation’s capital as a blizzard pounded mid-Atlantic states Saturday, cutting power to hundreds of thousands in the region in what the president referred to as "Snowmaggedon." Snow was falling from southern Indiana eastward to New York City, Washington, Pennsylvania, Delaware and the New Jersey coast.

Big auto insurers will be examining past auto accident claims involving Toyota vehicles for possible subrogation action, an insurance arbitration executive predicted, as Allstate said it has a case review underway. Mark Bunim, president and chief executive of Case Closure--a New York-based insurance arbitration and mediation firm--said large auto insurers are “going to amalgamate their serious claims involving Toyotas over the past five or six months, and see how many of them are tied to or could be tied to the gas pedal recall.”

As hundreds of workers prepared to deploy Sunday to empty catch basins once again filled with mud and debris, all evacuation orders were lifted for residents of Southern California’s foothills. L.A. County Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman Nicole Nishida said the evacuation orders had been lifted, including for Paradise Valley in La Cañada Flintridge.