Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones issued an emergency notice Thursday to help expedite claims filed by victims recovering their properties from the California wildfires.
More than 600,000 A.O. Smith water heaters have been recalled following the discovery they pose a fire hazard. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission says the "Ultra-Low NOx" has the potential to get tears in the gas burner screen. The water heater then can produce excess heat, which can cause fires if the water heater is installed on a wood floor or another combustible surface.
One huge fire was caused by a spark set off by a man with a hammer, working on a fence post in a field of dry vegetation. Another began at a backyard barbecue. A 2007 fire on Santa Catalina Island was ignited by workers cutting metal wires with a torch.
Northbound Highway 1 opened 3:15 p.m. Tuesday in Santa Cruz County after authorities cleared 21 crushed vehicles after a tractor-trailer’s brakes failed and the truck slammed into stopped vehicles near River Street, according to California Highway Patrol.
Two people were killed and more than 40 others injured on Wednesday when a tour bus overturned on an icy roadway in northern Mississippi just across the state line from Memphis, Tennessee, officials said.
The NHL reached a settlement in a concussion lawsuit filed by more than 100 former players that alleged negligence for dealing with head injuries and claimed that the league concealed the long-term risks of head injuries. The league announced the settlement on Monday, though it still is not admitting any liability for the players’ claims.
Nationwide insurance will lay off about 80 workers at its downtown Des Moines location as it reduces its national workforce by about 1,100 positions. Nationwide spokesman Joe Case said workers were told Tuesday that they would receive an official 60-day notice in January — effectively giving them about four months of notice before the layoffs become effective in March.
Devastation left by Hurricane Michael in Florida’s Panhandle last month evoked comparisons to Hurricane Andrew in South Florida 26 years earlier, but business experts don’t expect Michael’s aftermath to be nearly as disruptive beyond the destruction zone.
The insurance bill to repair homes and other structures damaged during the flooding of the Llano River and Highland Lakes last month is on track to hit nearly $24 million, according to federal statistics, a figure likely to grow as more claims come in.
Walter Castro spent months after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster in 2010 measuring air quality along beaches across the Gulf Coast, a task that regularly led him to inhale fumes that reeked of chemicals as he put in long days for weeks at a time.
Search teams will fan out across the charred landscape of Paradise, California looking for human remains on Tuesday as authorities prepare for a rise in the deathcount from the state’s deadliest wildfire.
The current outbreak of wildfire activity in California is now the most destructive on record and joint deadliest, with the Camp Fire now having destroyed more than 6,700 structures, while the Woolsey Fire has expanded further and as a result multi-billion dollar losses are to be expected for insurance, reinsurance and ILS market interests.
