Fox5SanDiego.com - A 32-year-old mechanic from Ramona was killed when a car plowed into the broken-down school bus he was fixing alongside a rain-drenched freeway Thursday. A 2005 Nissan Altima veered off the Interstate 805 in North Park and struck the San Diego Unified School District bus from behind shortly before 7 a.m., according to the California Highway Patrol. The mechanic was trapped under the hood for half an hour until firefighters pried it open. The crash left the motorist, a 41-year-old woman, seriously hurt and the repairman gravely injured and wedged in the engine compartment of the bus, CHP public-affairs Officer Art Athans said.

Insurance Networking News - Insurers are caught in a bind when it comes to business growth and preventing insurance fraud, according to a new report from Forrester, titled “Prevent Insurance Crime With The Four Cornerstones Of Better Fraud Management”; growth nowadays—which means emerging technologies such as mobile and social—inherently presents challenges and open doors to fraud risk. The four cornerstones suggested by Forrester are 1) rethink SIU teams, 2) establish standard metrics, 3) use mobile applications everywhere, and 4) improve data quality and increase data quantity.

Columbus Business First - Questionable insurance claims increased 36 percent statewide from 2009 to 2011, and Columbus kept pace, recording the second-highest amount last year, behind only Cleveland, a new report shows. The number of Ohio claims referred to the National Insurance Crime Bureau for closer review and investigation was 2,621 in 2011, up from 1,924 in 2009, the agency’s analysis shows. In Columbus, those claims increased 32 percent to 263, from 199 two years earlier. And in Cleveland, the count jumped 74 percent to 292, up from 168. Theft was the leading loss type, followed by collision and bodily injury. The top three questionable claims by policy type were personal automobile, homeowners and commercial automobile.

wkbn.com - A Boardman chiropractor accused of defrauding the Bureau of Worker’s Compensation and his insurance company has pleaded guilty to billing BWC for treatment he never provided more than one year after his brother was convicted of the same crime. Dr. David Esarco, 53, of Poland, was sentenced Nov. 14 to three years probation and to pay back $75,577.65 in restitution and investigation costs after he pleaded guilty in Franklin County Common Pleas Court to a fifth-degree felony count of fraud. Felony charges of theft and records tampering were dismissed.

USA Today - Hospital officials say a pilot and two nurses were killed when a medical helicopter crashed in a field while traveling between two northern Illinois hospitals. Rockford Memorial Hospital identified those killed as pilot Andy Olson and flight nurses Karen Hollis and Jim Dillow. In a news release Tuesday, officials at Rockford Memorial Hospital say they are grieving for "three heroes who dedicated their careers to serving others." No patients were aboard when the helicopter went down Monday night in Rochelle, about 70 miles west of Chicago. A spokesman for the Rockford hospital says its helicopter was flying to pick up a patient at a Mendota hospital.

whdh.com - Fire officials treated 30 people on scene for symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning after a problem at a spa in the Back Bay Saturday. A customer at the Exhale Spa called 9-1-1 after beginning to feel sick. Kim Cantu walked into work Saturday to find a scene of mayhem. “I seen a lot of firefighters, I seen ambulance. Everything was just going crazy. People was getting sick, people was crying. A lot of stuff was happening and I wasn’t sure what was going on,” said Cantu. Firefighters were called to the popular spa just after 2 p.m. Nearly 30 people had to be checked by EMT’s due to possible exposure.

myfoxmemphis.com - Officials say one refinery worker has died after being exposed to a hazardous substance at the Valero refinery plant on Presidents Island in Memphis. The refinery fire injured a Valero employee and a contracted worker. Two Memphis firefighters were also treated for minor exposure to the chemical mixture of propane and hydrofluoric acid. The firefighters were exposed after performing CPR on the employees. Memphis Fire Department spokesman Lt. Wayne Cooke says the workers were exposed to the propane and hydrofluoric acid mixture when a sight glass on a pump unit ruptured. Firefighters were dispatched at 9 a.m. to 2385 Riverport and had the fire extinguished within 40 minutes, Lt. Cooke added.

wesh.com - A school bus carrying about two dozen children was involved in a crash on Red Bug Lake Road in Seminole County early Tuesday. None of the children were hurt. Officials were forced to close Red Bug Lake Road following the accident. Seminole County Fire and Rescue officials said a car crashed into the bus near Dod Road. That collision caused the bus to careen off the road and into a power pole. The collision happened near Red Bug Lake Elementary, but officials could not confirm whether the bus was headed to that school. They also could not confirm the ages of the students on board.

Insurance Journal - A former Florida prison guard is free on bond after being charged with faking illness to fraudulently collect more than $2.7 million in workers’ compensation. Authorities said David Brownell was arrested last week in Tampa, where he lives. He was freed from the Hillsborough County Jail under a $50,000 bond. Brownell claimed he suffered respiratory problems and was dependent on oxygen around the clock due to exposure to rats and their feces at Glades Correctional Institution in Belle Glade.

wcvb.com - Dozens of people were injured two trolleys bumped into each other Thursday at a Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority station in Boston. Two Green Line trolleys collided at the Boylston Street Station at 11:50 a.m. "People went flying, got their knees banked up. It was pretty hectic," one rider said. EMTs set up a triage area outside the station, and 37 people were taken to local hospitals. "One trolley bumped into the rear of another trolley that was making a regular stop at the station," MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo said. "It was moving at a very low rate of speed when it happened."