Insurance Journal

AI Boom Fuels 11% Rise in Top Japan Insurer’s Project Loans

Nippon Life Insurance Co. sees its overseas project finance lending climbing 11% to a record high this year due to surging demand to fund AI data centers in the US and elsewhere. The outstanding amount of such loans provided by …

Posted: Sep 19, 2025

Viewpoint: Rampant Fraud in Staged Accidents

It should come as no surprise that Hollywood has not made many movies about insurance—arguably among the least glamorous of industries. However, there are three insurance-themed films worth watching. Two from the 1940s film noir era are Double Indemn...

Posted: Sep 19, 2025

Department of Energy Launches Effort to Speed Power Grid Projects for AI

The Trump administration on Thursday launched an effort to speed development of power plants and transmission lines as artificial intelligence boosts demand, even as it orders fossil fuel plants set to shut for good to keep operating. The Department...

Posted: Sep 19, 2025

People Moves: Gary Joins XPT Specialty’s Pacific Northwest Team

XPT Specialty added Rachel Gary to its Pacific Northwest team in its Seattle, Washington office. Gary has more than two decades of insurance industry experience, previously serving a decade-long tenure at Hull & Company, where she progressed from...

Posted: Sep 19, 2025

Judge: Vermont’s Delaying Public Access to Civil Case Documents Violates 1st Amendment

A federal judge has granted an injunction against the Vermont judiciary in a legal action brought by news outlets aimed at curbing delays when seeking newly filed civil lawsuits. The ruling issued this month by Judge Christina Reiss is the …

Posted: Sep 19, 2025

Judge: Vermont’s Delaying Access to Civil Cases Violates 1st Amendment

A federal judge has granted an injunction against the Vermont judiciary in a legal action brought by news outlets aimed at curbing delays when seeking newly filed civil lawsuits. The ruling issued this month by Judge Christina Reiss is the …

Posted: Sep 19, 2025

Insurer Says Tech Services Firms Should Pay for Insured’s Ransomware Damages

ACE American Insurance Co. is suing to recover $500,000 it paid in ransomware damages for a staffing company, claiming cloud computing and cybersecurity firms contracted by its policyholder should instead be held responsible due to their alleged negl...

Posted: Sep 19, 2025

Waymo, Via to Offer Autonomous Public Transit Rides in Arizona

Via Transportation Inc., the public transit software maker that went public last Friday, will partner with Waymo to launch autonomous shared rides in Arizona this fall. The program will start in Chandler, whose existing Flex service lets the public b...

Posted: Sep 19, 2025

Court Rejects George Santos Lawsuit Against Jimmy Kimmel

A copyright infringement lawsuit former Congressman George Santos filed against talk show host Jimmy Kimmel and ABC was properly dismissed by a lower court judge, an appeals court said Monday. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan reject...

Posted: Sep 19, 2025

Washington Excavator Fined $140K for Workplace Safety Violations

A Clark County, Washington excavating company was fined $140,500 for knowingly putting workers in danger after a Washington Labor & Industries inspector witnessed employees pulling co-workers out of a 12-foot-deep trench where they were installin...

Posted: Sep 19, 2025

UK Teenager Charged by US for Role in Yearslong Hack Spree

The US Justice Department accused a British teenager on Thursday of engaging in a yearslong spree of cyberattacks that targeted 47 American organizations and netted more than $100 million in ransom payments. Thalha Jubair, 19, from London, participat...

Posted: Sep 18, 2025

Banks Should NOT be Asking for Additional Insured Status

We welcome back to the Academy Journal Christopher Boggs, Chief Consultant with Boggs Risk & Insurance Consulting. Banks (well, their attorneys or risk managers) are making improper requests of commercial borrowers. I’ve said what I’v...

Posted: Sep 18, 2025

Texas Cities and Counties Prepare for Budget Shortfalls

Last year, Fort Worth gained a new distinction as Texas’ fourth city with more than 1 million people. While other major Texas cities grew at a slower clip or struggled to regain residents it lost during the COVID-19 pandemic, Fort …

Posted: Sep 18, 2025

OpenAI Fixed ChatGPT Security Flaw That Put Gmail Data at Risk

OpenAI patched a ChatGPT security flaw that could have allowed hackers to extract Gmail data from its users, according to researchers at cyber firm Radware. The issue was found in ChatGPT’s Deep Research agent, a tool launched in February to &#...

Posted: Sep 18, 2025

West Texas Gas Falls to 14-Month Low as Negative Prices Persist

Natural gas cash prices in West Texas, which dipped below zero in recent days, sank to the lowest in almost 14 months, as traders expect pipeline maintenance in the area to stifle movement of the fuel for some time. Gas …

Posted: Sep 18, 2025

Bulgaria Arrests Russian Owner of Ship at Center of Beirut Port Blast in 2020

The Russian owner of a cargo ship linked to a cargo of ammonium nitrate at the center of the massive Beirut port explosion in 2020 has been arrested in Bulgaria, Lebanese judicial officials said Monday. The arrest of Igor Grechushkin …

Posted: Sep 18, 2025

Researchers Uncover 140-Year-Old Shipwreck at Bottom of Lake Michigan

After decades of scouring the bottom of Lake Michigan, searchers have finally found the wreckage of a “ghost ship” that sank during a ferocious storm almost 140 years ago off the Wisconsin coastline. The Wisconsin Historical Society and t...

Posted: Sep 18, 2025

CSB Issues Update on Fatal Explosion at Nebraska Biofuels Facility

The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) provided an update this week on the agency’s ongoing investigation into the fatal July 29, 2025 explosion and fire at the Horizon Biofuels facility in Fremont, Nebraska. The incident...

Posted: Sep 18, 2025

People Moves: Sompo Appoints Quane as CEO, International Markets; The Fidelis Partnership Announces...

This edition of International People Moves details appointments at Sompo and The Fidelis Partnership. A summary of these new hires follows here. Sompo Appoints Quane as CEO, International Markets Sompo, a leading global provider of commercial and con...

Posted: Sep 18, 2025

Howden Acquiring Entertainment Broker Gravitas in California

Howden is acquiring Gravitas Insurance Agency LLC, a Los Angeles-based retail brokerage specializing in contingency insurance for music, sports and live events. The deal, which is subject to customary closing conditions, follows Howden’s other...

Posted: Sep 18, 2025

Beacon Hill Associates Rebrands to SPG Environmental

Beacon Hill Associates, a division of Specialty Program Group LLC, will now operate as SPG Environmental under Specialty Program Group’s unified division, SPG Wholesale. SPG Environmental will still provide superior expertise, established carri...

Posted: Sep 18, 2025

Appeals Court Stems Oakes Farms’ Free Speech Claim Over Lost School Contract

The owner of Florida-based Oakes Farms, known for his political views and conspiracy theories, has no legitimate legal claim against a Florida school district that terminated the farm’s food-supply contract over COVID-19 concerns, a federal app...

Posted: Sep 18, 2025

Billionaire Ross Lures ServiceNow for South Florida Expansion

ServiceNow Inc. is expanding to West Palm Beach, Florida, opening a location for several hundred employees in a planned office tower being developed by billionaire Stephen Ross, the famed New York real estate magnate who broke from Related Cos. last...

Posted: Sep 18, 2025

Where Are the Hurricanes This Season as the Atlantic Remains Quiet

Not a single named storm has formed in the Atlantic Ocean in nearly three weeks, even though it’s the peak of hurricane season. “Where the heck are the Atlantic #hurricanes?” Philip Klotzbach, a meteorologist at Colorado State Unive...

Posted: Sep 18, 2025

Stein Wants $13.5B From Congress for NC Hurricane Helene Recovery

North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein on Monday requested $13.5 billion more from Congress in recovery aid for Hurricane Helene almost a year after the historic storm, saying additional help is needed from Washington to address record amounts of damage and...

Posted: Sep 18, 2025