INSURANCE NEWS

Markets/Coverages: QBE Introduces Media Liability Endorsement; Travelers Offers Product Liability for Life Sciences

QBE North America Introduces Media Liability Endorsement QBE North America announced a new media liability endorsement for media organizations facing legal actions brought under consumer protection laws. This endorsement provides affirmative coverage should these laws be leveraged to challenge the …
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States’ AI-Related Legislation Aimed at Insurance Is ‘Unfounded’, Says NAMIC

Policy discussions on the use of artificial intelligence in insurance are “unfounded” and “detrimental to policyholders,” according to a analysis from the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies. The use of AI in insurance underwriting and rate making has led …
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OKReady Pilot Program Accepting Applications from New Zip Codes

The Oklahoma Insurance Department (OID) has expanded their initial pilot launch of OKReady, the Strengthen Oklahoma Homes (SOH) program. The application process opened earlier this month, and the first testing period has been successful, OID said. Two new zip codes …
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Missouri DCI Deploys Specialists to Aid Storm Victims in Phelps County

The Missouri Department of Commerce and Insurance (DCI) said that consumer specialists will participate in a Multi-Agency Resource Center (MARC) to answer insurance questions and help those impacted by the severe storms in Phelps County. An EF-2 tornado struck Phelps …
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AM Best Downgrades Wisconsin’s Cities and Villages

AM Best has downgraded the Financial Strength Rating to A- (Excellent) from A (Excellent) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Ratings to “a-” (Excellent) from “a” (Excellent) of Cities and Villages Mutual Insurance Company (Cities and Villages) based in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin …
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HUD Quietly Drops Civil Rights Cases Involving Housing Discrimination in Texas

The findings were stark. In one investigation, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development concluded that a Texas state agency had steered $1 billion in disaster mitigation money away from Houston and nearby communities of color after Hurricane Harvey …
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Wildfires in Western Japan Damage Homes, Forcing Evacuations

Wildfires have hit several regions in western Japan, injuring at least two people, forcing dozens of residents to evacuate and damaging a number of homes as hundreds of firefighters battled the widening blazes in the mountainous areas. The fires in …
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California at Risk of New Insurance Bailout Amid Fire Danger

As Los Angeles-area residents recover from one of the costliest natural disasters in U.S. history, California’s insurer of last resort is careening toward another hot and dry summer with its coffers already strained. That’s raising the prospect that state residents …
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23andMe’s Bankruptcy Puts 15 Million Users’ DNA Info on Auction Block

Millions of Americans who sent their saliva to 23andMe in the hopes of finding lost relatives or identifying health risks buried in their DNA now face seeing their genetic information sold to the highest bidder as part of the company’s …
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Lawsuit: Downed Municipal Power Lines May Have Caused LA’s Palisades Fire

Several residents of Los Angeles who were affected by the deadly Palisades wildfire sued city authorities over claims that municipal utility power lines ignited the fire, according to a lawsuit filed Monday. The suit cited a Washington Post article dated …
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Spain’s Storms Refill Reservoirs, Easing Nation’s Worst Drought

Jana, Konrad, Laurence and Martinho — the unprecedented string of four named storms that barreled through the Iberian peninsula in the past three weeks — came with a silver lining: the likely end of Spain’s worst drought in recorded history. …
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Pennsylvania’s Union County Suffers Ransomware Attack

Pennsylvania’s Union County is dealing with a ransomware attack that has likely exposed personally identifiable information, mostly related to individuals involved with the county’s law enforcement, courts, and other county business. Officials say they detected the ransomware on the county’s …
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