Florida Today - Florida is heading into a new storm season with some good news for once. The state-created fund that backs up private insurers in Florida is in the best financial shape it has been in years — maybe the best since it was created in 1993. And new estimates drawn by financial consultants and Wall Street firms suggest that the fund should be able to borrow enough moneyto cover its obligations for the coming hurricane season, which starts June 1. “We’re as healthy as we have ever been,” said Jack Nicholson, executive director of the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund.

Reuters - Los Angeles has earned the dubious distinction for the second year in a row as the U.S. city with the most dog attacks on mail carriers, the U.S. Postal Service said. California’s biggest city accounted for 69 such attacks in fiscal 2012, which ended in September, compared with 42 attacks each in Seattle, Washington, and San Antonio, Texas, which tied for second place. Chicago ranked third with 41 attacks.

wearecentralpa.com - A bus driver in Johnstown got an unexpected passenger on board Tuesday. "Every day is an experience driving a bus," said John Porter, CamTran Driver. And Tuesday was no exception for Porter; he had a passenger make a smashing entrance. "Something caught my eye next thing I knew the deer came through the bottom of the window," said Porter. "It scared me at first."

Sun-Sentinel - The vehicle collisions looked like typical South Florida accidents with motorists and passengers reporting they needed treatment from chiropractors and massage therapists.

But investigators said the crashes were carefully staged by willing participants who were trained how to defraud the insurance system to make money for themselves and a highly organized group of medical professionals, clinic owners and recruiters.

ABC News - A McDonald’s employee in Washington state got the surprise of a lifetime when her stolen SUV rolled up to her drive-thru window and the alleged car thief placed an order. Virginia Maiden awoke Tuesday morning to start her typical weekday. As she left her apartment, however, Maiden noticed that her SUV that had been parked outside her window was gone and nowhere in sight. “She was so confused, didn’t know what was going on, it was just gone,” Rebecca Guerrero, second assistant manager at the McDonald’s in Kennewick, Wash., said.

CBS News - A man angry at his neighbors went on a rampage in a bulldozer Friday on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula, damaging four homes, knocking one off its foundation and cutting power to thousands of people, authorities said. Barry Alan Swegle was booked into the Clallam County Jail for investigation of malicious mischief following the incident in Port Angeles, 65 miles west of Seattle. A voicemail message left at a phone listing for the 51-year-old was not immediately returned.

Reuters - At least six people were killed and scores more injured when tornadoes ripped through a stretch of Texas near Dallas-Fort Worth after dark on Wednesday, destroying homes and uprooting trees, authorities said. The twisters were the deadliest to hit the United States so far this year, and Hood County Sheriff Roger Deeds said the toll could rise as rescue workers combed through houses, hampered by darkness that kept the full extent of the devastation hidden.

CNN - Possible tornadoes ripped through north Texas on Wednesday night, killing at least six people and injuring more than 100 others, officials said. The fatalities occurred when the storm struck a Habitat for Humanity neighborhood in the Granbury area, Hood County Sheriff Roger Deeds said. There were about 120 homes in the neighborhood and most of them were destroyed. Fourteen people were still missing and the death toll could rise, according to Deeds.

baynews9.com - Crews spent several hours Tuesday night battling a fire on a shrimp boat in Tarpon Springs. The fire broke out shortly before 8 p.m. on the boat, which was located at the end of the sponge docks off Dodecanese Boulevard. Officials said more than 4,000 gallons of fuel were on board the boat. Crews had difficulty containing the fire, but they were able to get it under control by 12:30 a.m.

Insurance Journal - The hurricane season is almost here and Georgia Insurance Commissioner Ralph Hudgens is inviting the public to attend the 12th Annual Hurricane Preparedness Expo on June 15. This free event will be held at The Home Depot located at 1901 E. Victory Drive in Savannah, Ga. Commissioner Ralph Hudgens, in partnership with The Home Depot and the Federal Alliance for Safe Homes Inc., is providing the informational and educational expo to area residents.