Latest Illinois Headlines

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

Improvements Needed in Illinois’ Disaster Response: Review

Dec 6 2013 // A review has found several shortfalls in Illinois’ readiness to respond to disasters and emergencies.The review concluded that there could be better coordination with local communities on things like identifying and...

Illinois Central Railroad Faces Fines of $110,500 for Lead Exposure

Dec 5 2013 // Illinois Central Railroad Co. has been cited by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration for one willful and six serious safety violations for exposing workers to lead hazards....

50-Plus Tornadoes Pummel Midwest in Late Season Outbreak

Dec 2 2013 // In a rare late season outbreak, more than 50 tornadoes blasted across Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio. on Nov. 17. Preliminary estimates by the catastrophe modeling firm RMS put insured losses from the...

Illinois AG Investigating Tornado Relief Scam

Dec 2 2013 // Illinois’ Attorney General has opened an investigation into a potential fundraising scam tied to tornado relief efforts in Washington, Ill., and other downstate Illinois communities.Lisa Madigan said the Charitable...

Illinois Roofing Company Fined $158K for Safety Hazards

Nov 25 2013 // Affordable Roofing and Exteriors Inc. in Trenton, Ill., has been cited by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration for five safety violations, carrying proposed penalties of...

$15 Million Awarded in Illinois Childbirth Death Lawsuit

Nov 25 2013 // Jurors have awarded a $15 million settlement to the husband of a suburban Chicago high school teacher who died while giving birth.The Chicago Sun-Times reports that the wrongful death lawsuit accused two doctors and...

Count of Storm-Damaged Homes in Illinois Expected to Grow

Nov 22 2013 // State officials now say that at least 900 homes in Illinois were either destroyed or badly damaged by the tornado outbreak on Nov. 17. And that figure is likely to grow.Patti Thompson is a spokeswoman for the Illinois...

New Assessment: At Least 15 Tornadoes Hit Illinois

Nov 21 2013 // New damage assessments from the National Weather Service show that at least 15 tornadoes hit Illinois during the outbreak of violent storms on Nov. 17.Central parts of the state had the most with seven twisters, including...

Illinois Employer to Pay $10K Penalty for Lack of Workers’ Comp Insurance

Nov 21 2013 // An uninsured employer in Illinois has pled guilty to a Class 4 felony for refusing to obtain workers’ compensation insurance, the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission announced.John Linek, individually and...

Illinois Independent Agency, Williams-Manny, Joins Keystone Insurers Group

Nov 20 2013 // Keystone Insurers Group announced that Williams-Manny Inc. of Rockford, Ill., has become its second franchise partner in Illinois.Keystone, with partner agencies in nine states, is pursuing a strategy of rapid expansion...

Claims Filing Begins Following Midwest Storms

Nov 20 2013 // Two Illinois-based insurers say they’ve received about 6,000 claims so far from Sunday’s tornadoes and they expect that figure to climb.State Farm officials told The (Bloomington) Pantagraph they’ve...

Hundreds of Homes Destroyed by Midwest Tornado Outbreak: AIR

Nov 19 2013 // Hundreds of homes were flattened by the outbreak of intense late-season thunderstorms accompanied by high winds, quarter-to-baseball sized hail, and dozens of tornadoes that swept across the Midwest on Nov. 17, according...

Forecasters: Illinois Twister Had Winds of Up to 190 mph

Nov 19 2013 // National Weather Service said a tornado that struck the central Illinois community of Washington had winds between 170 and 190 miles per hour.The meteorologists said that the storm had a preliminary rating of an EF-4. The...

Insured Loss for Midwest’s Rare November Tornadoes Could Top $1B: RMS

Nov 19 2013 // The Nov. 17 tornadoes in the Midwest could become the insurance industry’s first billion-dollar severe weather event to occur in November, according to catastrophe modeling firm RMS.According to Matthew Nielsen, RMS...

Storms Sweep Across Illinois, Kill at Least 5, Delay Flights

Nov 18 2013 // Tornadoes and thunderstorms swept through a 300-mile stretch of Illinois and other Midwestern states, killing at least five people, damaging hundreds of homes and disrupting air travel at O’Hare International...

Meemic Foundation Grants Now Available to Illinois Educators

Nov 11 2013 // The Meemic Foundation, a non-profit organization created by Michigan-based Meemic Insurance Co., has been offering financial assistance in the form of grants to schools and educators since 1992. The foundation announced...

State Farm Likely to Move Some Bloomington, Illinois Jobs

Nov 4 2013 // State Farm Insurance Co. says it will likely move at least some of its claims services employees out of Bloomington, Ill.State Farm spokeswoman Holly Anderson said that the company told employees that the potential move is...

Eyeing Affluent Market, Nationwide’s Crestbrook Launches in Illinois

Nov 4 2013 // Well-to-do Illinois residents and their insurance agents now have an additional option when it comes to protecting their assets.Crestbrook Insurance has selected Illinois for the launch of what is essentially a start-up...

Illinois Workers’ Compensation Medical Care Costs Declining: WCRI

Nov 4 2013 // The costs of medical care to treat injured workers in Illinois are declining, the result of regulatory change enacted in 2011, according to a new study by the Workers Compensation Research Institute (WCRI).The report,...

Eyeing Affluent Market, Crestbrook Ready to Launch

Nov 4 2013 // Well-to-do residents and their insurance agents can soon look forward to another option when it comes to protecting their assets.Crestbrook Insurance has selected what is essentially a start-up insurance company focusing...