Latest Arkansas Headlines

All the headlines from our Arkansas Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Homeowner’s Insurance Rates to Rise 10% In Arkansas

Sep 14 2009 // Homeowner insurance premiums in Arkansas are expected to rise this year by an average of 10 percent as the industry works to rebound from 2008’s dual blows of foul weather and nasty financial markets.The Arkansas...

Arkansas Among States Said to Be Lax on Motor Carrier Safety

Sep 7 2009 // A new analysis of government data reveals that more than 28,000 motor carrier companies that operate 200,000 trucks have violated federal safety regulations.The trial bar association, the American Association for Justice...

Burke Joins Arkansas’ Stephens Insurance

Sep 4 2009 // Patrick J. Burke has been appointed as a senior vice president with Stephens Insurance LLC, based in Little Rock, Ark.Burke has spent the last 30 years advising select utilities and utilities mutual insurance companies. He...

Missouri Sues Arkansas Insurer

Aug 31 2009 // Missouri insurance regulators have gone to court to stop an Arkansas-based life insurance company from illegally changing the terms of its cancer insurance policies, the Missouri Department of Insurance announced.The DOI...

Arkansas Panel Rules Jailers Can Be Sued as Individuals

Aug 24 2009 // A federal appeals panel on Aug. 20 upheld a ruling that jailers in Garland County, Ark., can be sued personally for allegedly ignoring a suspected intoxicated driver who didn’t move for hours in his cell and suffered...

Labor Dept.: Gerber Settles Hiring Case at Arkansas Plant

Aug 20 2009 // Gerber Products Co. in Fort Smith, Ark., will pay $900,000 to settle accusations of hiring practices that discriminated against women and minority-group applicants, the U.S. Department of Labor said.The agreement covers...

Arkansas: Employers Can’t Make Direct Payment for Work Comp Bills

Aug 18 2009 // The Arkansas Insurance Department has issued a reminder that employers should not make direct payments for employees’ medical bills that were incurred on small workers’ compensation claims.The department says...

Louisiana Retailers Mutual Converts to Holding Company System

Aug 11 2009 // Louisiana Retailers Mutual Insurance Company, a workers’ compensation insurer, has received regulatory approvals from the Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi departments of insurance to convert to a mutual insurance...

Arkansas Details Obligations for P/C Insurance Providers

Aug 6 2009 // The Arkansas Insurance Department has posted directives on its Web site that detail compliance requirements for property casualty insurance providers in that state.The insurance department noted that while Arkansas state...

Federal Judge: Oklahoma Can’t Seek Damages in Poultry Lawsuit

Jul 24 2009 // Oklahoma can’t pursue monetary damages in its environmental lawsuit against a dozen Arkansas poultry companies because it didn’t name the Cherokee Nation as a plaintiff, a federal judge ruled in a major blow to...

Arkansas Workers’ Comp Commission Summarizes New Law

Jul 9 2009 // The Arkansas Workers’ Compensation Commission has posted on its Web site a summary of changes to workers’ comp regulations as a result of the passage of Act 237 during the 2009 legislative session. According to...

Arkansas Law Raises Personal Watercraft Minimum Operator Age to 16

Jul 7 2009 // An accident on Lake Hamilton two years ago led to a new Arkansas law that takes effect this week, setting the minimum age of 16 for a solo operator of a personal watercraft.The new law is known as Rachel’s Bill in...

Central Oversight of Levees Needed in Arkansas

Jul 6 2009 // Arkansas is putting its residents and economy at risk by failing to adopt a centralized system for flood-levee oversight, the state’s lawmakers have been told. Representatives from the Arkansas Natural Resources...

Arkansas Agent Arrested on Fraud Charges

Jun 22 2009 // Arkansas Insurance Commissioner Jay Bradford announced the arrest of Rickey Lynn Warren of Hensley, a former a licensed insurance agent charged with insurance fraud.Warren is accused with taking checks totaling $2,125 for...

37 Arkansas Counties Declared Federal Disaster Areas

Jun 17 2009 // Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe has announced that President Obama granted his request for a federal major disaster declaration to help Arkansas counties recovering from flooding rains and storms in May.The federal declaration...

Central Oversight of Levees Needed, Arkansas Lawmakers Told

Jun 16 2009 // Arkansas is putting its residents and economy at risk by failing to adopt a centralized system for flood-levee oversight, the state’s lawmakers have been told.Representatives from the Arkansas Natural Resources...

Foremost Insurance Expands Dwelling Fire Program in Arkansas

Jun 3 2009 // Michigan-based Foremost Insurance Group is expanding its dwelling fire program in Arkansas. The company announced that effective June 1, 2009, Foremost’s new dwelling fire contracts specifically designed for the...

It Figures

Jun 1 2009 // 10Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe has declared disasters in 10 more counties, bringing the total of declared disaster areas to 42 due to heavy rain and floods this spring. Beebe added Ashley, Cleburne, Greene, Howard, Jackson,...

Tank in Blast That Killed 3 Not Inspected for More Than 10 Years

May 15 2009 // Three men killed when an empty gasoline storage tank exploded in north Arkansas likely died from the impact of the blast, a coroner said.Federal safety officials have begun an investigation into the blast at the TEPPCO...

Arkansas High Court Denies Class-Action For Union Pacific Lawsuit

May 11 2009 // A lawsuit claiming Union Pacific pressured grieving families into settlements after train crashes shouldn’t be a class-action matter, as those suing failed to show any strong link between themselves, the Arkansas...