Insurance Journal

How Much Does a Heat Wave Cost? Insurers and CEOs Want to Know

When a hurricane or a wildfire strikes, the economic damage is usually very visible — roofs are ripped off or charred homes line roads. Heat waves cause financial damage, too, but it’s more diffuse: Farm crops might wither, construction workers...

Posted: Jul 01, 2025

Newsom Signs Bill Overhauling California’s Landmark Environmental Law

Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday signed into law a bill that will remake California’s landmark environmental protection rules, an overhaul that he says is essential to address the state’s housing shortage and resulting homelessness crisis. New...

Posted: Jul 01, 2025

Relation Insurance Acquires Oklahoma’s Advantage Insurance Group

Relation Insurance Services acquired the assets of Advantage Insurance Group. The transaction went into effect on May 31, 2025; terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Advantage Insurance Group, a family-owned business based in El Reno, Oklahoma...

Posted: Jul 01, 2025

First Mid Insurance Group Expands Presence in Illinois With Acquisition

First Mid Insurance Group, a provider of comprehensive insurance solutions, announced its acquisition of certain assets from AAdvantage Insurance, including the former Waterman-Neely agency based in Chatham, Illinois. This strategic acquisition advan...

Posted: Jul 01, 2025

Illinois Settles Wage-Fixing Case with Staffing Agency for $1M

Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul announced a settlement with Midway Staffing Inc. (Midway) that resolves allegations the temporary staffing agency entered into no-poach agreements and engaged in wage fixing with other staffing agencies. This set...

Posted: Jul 01, 2025

Elon Musk Says First Tesla Drove Itself From Factory to Customer

Tesla Inc. Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk said a Tesla Model Y SUV drove itself from the company’s factory near Austin to a customer’s home in the company’s latest move to showcase its push into autonomous driving. In a post &#82...

Posted: Jul 01, 2025

Man Accused of Killing Idaho Firefighters Had Once Aspired to Be One

A 20-year-old man’s life appeared to have begun to unravel in the months before authorities say he fatally shot two firefighters and severely wounded a third as they responded to a wildfire near Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. Wess Roley was living...

Posted: Jul 01, 2025

Texas Medical Marijuana Industry to Push for Hemp Age Restrictions

Texas’ medical marijuana dispensaries entered into this year’s legislative session with a two-prong strategy to expand: to loosen the state’s rules on their industry that has made the program largely inaccessible to those who need i...

Posted: Jul 01, 2025

Bishop Street Underwriters Acquires Ohio’s Aerospace Insurance Managers

Bishop Street Underwriters announced that it has acquires Ohio-based Aerospace Insurance Managers, a general aviation insurance services provider, from Hallmark Financial. This acquisition marks Bishop Street’s entry into the aviation insurance...

Posted: Jul 01, 2025

UK Broker Ardonagh Completes $2.5B Equity Investment Led by PE Firm Stone Point

The Ardonagh Group, the London-based independent insurance distribution platform, announced the completion of a $2.5 billion equity investment led by funds managed by Stone Point Capital LLC, the US-based private equity firm. The investment, which va...

Posted: Jul 01, 2025

DOGE Now Targeting SEC Policy, Eyes SPAC Rules, Sources Say

President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency initiative has pushed the U.S. markets watchdog to loosen Wall Street rules around blank-check companies and confidential reporting by private investment funds, according to two peopl...

Posted: Jul 01, 2025

Supreme Court Dealt Blows to EPA and Environmental Protections

The U.S. Supreme Court delivered setbacks to environmental interests in a series of recent rulings including by further restricting the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority and relaxing requirements for environmental impact studies for p...

Posted: Jul 01, 2025

Truckers Fear Job Loss as New English Language Rules Take Effect

At a trucking school in New Jersey, students are maneuvering 18-wheelers around traffic cones. Other future drivers look under hoods to perform safety checks, narrating as they examine steering hoses for cracks and leaks. An instructor glides between...

Posted: Jul 01, 2025

New Carrier Reporting Requirements on Investments, Liquidity, SC DOI Says

South Carolina’s Department of Insurance is reminding carriers that it may soon give extra scrutiny to liquidity and capital as well as investments in subsidiaries’ securities, thanks to a law approved by state legislators this year. &#82...

Posted: Jul 01, 2025

WCIRB: Losses And Expenses in California Workers’ Comp Last Year 108% of Earned Premium

Total losses and expenses in California’s workers’ compensation system incurred in 2024 were $16.7 billion, or 108% percent of earned premium, a report out today shows. The Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California...

Posted: Jul 01, 2025

WCIRB: 2024 Losses, Expenses in California Workers’ Comp 108% of Earned Premium

Total losses and expenses in California’s workers’ compensation system incurred in 2024 were $16.7 billion, or 108% percent of earned premium, a report out today shows. The Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California...

Posted: Jul 01, 2025

Senate Strikes AI Regulation Ban From Trump Megabill

The Republican-led U.S. Senate voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to remove a 10-year federal moratorium on state regulation of artificial intelligence from President Trump’s sweeping tax-cut and spending bill. Lawmakers voted 99-1 to strike the b...

Posted: Jul 01, 2025

Homes Are Taking Longer to Sell in US Markets That Once Flourished

A buildup of unsold houses sitting on the market for weeks is becoming a new reality in once-booming housing areas across the Sun Belt. Real estate agents in the South and Southwest say they’re seeing more people list homes, giving …

Posted: Jul 01, 2025

New Hampshire to Offer Mobile Driver’s Licenses

New Hampshire residents will soon be able to carry an electronic version of their driver’s license in their cell phones or other devices, although they will still have to also keep a physical license on their person while driving. Legislation &...

Posted: Jul 01, 2025

Howden Re Names Elliot Richardson Executive Chair as Rod Fox Steps Down

Howden Re, the global reinsurance, capital markets and strategic advisory arm of Howden, announced that Rod Fox is stepping down as executive chairman and is leaving the business. He is succeeded by Elliot Richardson, who steps into the role with &#8...

Posted: Jul 01, 2025

Severe Heatwave Grips Europe – Spurring Health Alerts, Raising Risk of Field Fires

More than a thousand schools were closed in France on Tuesday and the top floor of the Eiffel Tower was shut to tourists as a severe heatwave continued to grip Europe, triggering health alerts across the region. The Mediterranean Sea …

Posted: Jul 01, 2025

‘Bomb Cyclone’ Pummels Sydney With Heavy Rains, Winds

A “bomb cyclone” has lashed Australia’s most populous state with heavy rain and strong winds, forcing airlines to cancel domestic flights and prompting evacuation warnings in coastal communities. Authorities on Tuesday warned that p...

Posted: Jul 01, 2025

BNP Paribas Completes Acquisition of AXA’s Asset Management Unit

BNP Paribas SA has finalized its purchase of AXA SA’s investment unit, creating one of Europe’s largest asset managers. The newly formed business will have more than €1.5 trillion ($1.8 trillion) in assets under management, according to a...

Posted: Jul 01, 2025

India’s Sigachi Factory Fire Death Toll Rises to 39; Cause Still Unknown

HYDERABAD, India –– The death toll from the explosion and fire at Sigachi Industries’ chemical factory in southern India has risen to at least 39, officials said on Tuesday, forcing the supplier of pharma products to shut operations...

Posted: Jul 01, 2025

China Enlists Commercial Insurers in Bid to Boost Local Biotechs

China wants commercial insurance firms to invest in the development of homegrown medicines, Beijing’s latest bid to support its burgeoning biotech and pharmaceutical sector. Commercial insurers have been encouraged to set up investment funds to...

Posted: Jul 01, 2025