Lawyers who represent injured workers in South Dakota are preparing for a proposal from the insurance industry that would limit their ability to pursue legal claims against insurance companies that are intentionally dishonest.

People sparked most US wildfires in recent decades, causing longer fire seasons and increasing the amount of scorched earth, according to a new study published Monday. Researchers found that humans caused 84 percent -- or four out of five -- of the total 1.5 million wildfires studied between 1992 and 2012.



In addition, human actions tripled the length of the fire season during those two decades and were responsible for 44 percent of the total acreage burned, researchers reported in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

This emerging market is rapidly growing strength throughout the United States with legalized cannabis. The marijuana insurance industry has exploded since certain forms and uses of medicinal cannabis received approval.

The National Weather Service has confirmed two tornadoes struck South Carolina over the weekend, injuring one woman.
The weather service said a tornado touched down about 3:45 p.m. Saturday in Barnwell County and moved into Bamberg County. The other occurred in Orangeburg County a few minutes later.

New government estimates project that for the second straight year, the United States will see the largest leap in motor vehicle fatalities in 50 years. In the first nine months of 2016, the Department of Transportation estimates that 27,875 people died in motor vehicle crashes.

Thousands of rock salt lamps sold at Michaels are under recall due to shock and fire hazards. The recall involves about 80,000 rock salt lamps sold under the Lumiere brand.

Last March, Toshiba recalled the lithium-ion battery packs used in approximately 91,000 laptops that were found to overheat, posing burn and fire hazards to consumers. Now, the company is expanding the safety initiative, recalling an additional 83,000 units.

Matthew was long gone from the Atlantic coast early Monday, but the devastation lingered, most notably in North Carolina, where flooded cities tried to dry out and those downstream kept a close eye on rising rivers.

Nearly three years after Winter Storm Atlas blanketed western South Dakota and two months after the state Supreme Court ruled that a Quinn couple was entitled to compensation from their insurance company for nearly 100 yearling heifers that died in the blizzard, dozens of ranchers are reportedly revisiting their insurance policies to determine if they, too, are eligible for claims previously denied.

Heavy hail from Friday’s storm in spearfish has left insurance companies busy as they respond to dozens of damage claims.
The Mountain Shadows neighborhood got some of the worst hail damage in Spearfish.

There are few things worse than having your relatively new car stall on you without warning. That’s why Ford is recalling nearly 90,000 vehicles with a defect that could leave your car dead — and unable to restart — in the middle of the road.

Over the past two years, General Motors has recalled millions of vehicles over airbag issues, many related to Takata safety devices deploying too forcefully. Now, the company is recalling nearly 290,000 Chevrolet sedans for a different reason: the airbags might not deploy in a crash.

After a long day, it can be nice to come home and grab a frozen meal from the fridge for a quick and easy dinner. If you’ve been stocking up on P.F. Chang’s frozen meals, you might want to double-check they aren’t included in a recently expanded recall of more than 195,000 pounds of frozen dinner product that may contain metal fragments.

Nearly two months after CRF Frozen Foods set off a massive recall of vegetables thought to be contaminated with listeria and linked to at least two deaths and eight illnesses, a second frozen vegetable supplier — National Frozen Food Corp. — has initiated a separate recall over listeria concerns, and many of the recalled products are from the nation’s largest retailers.

The spring and summertime forecast is a familiar one — severe thunderstorms with damaging winds and hail are on the way. Already in 2016, Texas in particular has been walloped by bigger-than-baseball-size hail that shattered windows, busted roofs and dinged vehicles in March and April.