Latest Iowa Headlines

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

Iowa Man Sentenced for Disaster-Related Insurance Fraud

Jan 18 2024 // An Iowa man was sentence last week to 21 months in prison after pleading guilty to crimes of insurance fraud.Timothy Daryle Sletten, age 32, of Marshalltown, was sentenced on January 11, 2024. The charges against Sletten...

First MainStreet Adds Seven Iowa Agencies

Jan 11 2024 // First MainStreet Insurance L.C.announced the addition of seven new Iowa agencies to its platform to close out 2023.In late November 2023, Pfantz Insurance Services and the insurance operations of Eckhardt Enterprises, both...

Iowa Supreme Court Upholds Decision to Bar Late Expert Reports in Workers’ Comp Case

Jan 8 2024 // The Iowa Supreme Court on Friday reinstated a deputy workers’ compensation commissioner’s decision to bar reports that were submitted too late by experts who weren’t certified, reversing decisions by the...

Iowa Bail Bondsman Pleads Guilty to Insurance Fraud

Dec 12 2023 // An Iowa bail bondsman has pled guilty to insurance fraud and identity theft.David Mark Ellis of Spring Hill, Iowa, pled guilty in Polk County District Court to two counts of Identity Theft (Aggravated Misdemeanors) and one...

Iowa Insurance Agent Pleads Guilty to Wire Fraud

Dec 4 2023 // An Iowa man pleaded guilty to wire fraud for using his position as an insurance agent and annuity salesperson to defraud elderly individuals out of their retirement savings and other monies.Zachary James Flaherty, age 47,...

EWG Report Finds Rapidly Rising Crop Payouts As Climate Change Hits U.S. Agriculture

Dec 4 2023 // Drought, heat, hail, rain and freezing temperatures – the five horsemen of crop insurance.A new report from EWG found that crop insurance payouts for the top five weather-related losses totaled over $118.7 billion...

EWG Report Finds Rapidly Rising Crop Payouts As Climate Change Hits U.S. Agriculture

Nov 15 2023 // Drought, heat, hail, rain and freezing temperatures – the five horsemen of crop insurance.A new report from EWG found that crop insurance payouts for the top five weather-related losses totaled over $118.7 billion...

1.2 Million Chickens Will be Slaughter At Iowa Egg Farm Where Bird Flu Was Found

Nov 14 2023 // An additional 1.2 million chickens will be slaughtered to prevent the spread of the bird flu after the virus was confirmed on an Iowa egg farm in the second massive case this week.The Iowa Department of Agriculture and...

Nearly 1M Chickens Will be Killed on a Minnesota Farm Due to Bird Flu

Nov 9 2023 // Nearly 1 million chickens on a Minnesota egg farm will be slaughtered to help limit the spread of the highly contagious bird flu after it was confirmed there, officials said Monday.The U.S. Department of Agriculture...

Iowa to Pay $10 Million Settlement to Siblings of Starved Teenager

Nov 8 2023 // Iowa will pay $10 million to the siblings of an adopted 16-year-old girl who weighed just 56 pounds (25 kilograms) when she died of starvation in 2017, according to a state board that approved the settlement Monday.Sabrina...

Deadly Bird Flu Cases in Iowa, Joining 3 Other States As Disease Resurfaces

Oct 26 2023 // Two commercial turkey farms in Iowa have been hit by the reemerging highly pathogenic bird flu, causing about 100,000 birds to be killed to prevent the disease from spreading.The Iowa Department of Agriculture reported the...

Iowa Farmers Eligible for $5 per Acre Discount on Spring Crop Insurance Premiums for Planting Fall Cover Crops

Oct 5 2023 // Iowa farmers and landowners who plant fall cover crops will soon have the opportunity to apply for a $5 per acre discount on their spring crop insurance premiums, Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig announced.Farmers...

Drought and Low Mississippi River Levels Pose Challenges for Midwest Farmers’ Crop Transportation

Sep 18 2023 // DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – A long stretch of hot, dry weather has left the Mississippi River so low that barge companies are reducing their loads just as Midwest farmers are preparing to harvest crops and send tons of corn...

Delos in California Raises $7.3M in Seed Extension Round Led by IA Capital Group

Sep 14 2023 // Delos Insurance Solutions in California announced a $7.3 million seed extension round, enabling the managing general agent’s expansion in the California homeowners’ insurance market. The seed extension round...

Iowa Men Face Felony Charges for Workers’ Comp Insurance Fraud

Sep 13 2023 // A pair of Iowa men were charged with insurance fraud following an investigation by the Iowa Insurance Division’s Fraud Bureau.Trey Wysocki, age 40, of New Virginia was charged with one count of Insurance Fraud...

Owner of Collapsed Iowa Apartment Building Files Lawsuit Blaming Engineering Company for Negligence

Sep 6 2023 // DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) – The owner of an Iowa apartment building that collapsed in May, killing three people, has filed a lawsuit that blames an engineering company for not warning the building was structurally unsound and...

AM Best Revises Outlook to Negative for Iowa-Based Grinnell Mutual Group’s Credit Ratings

Aug 25 2023 // AM Best has revised the outlooks to negative from stable for the Long-Term Issuer Credit Ratings (Long-Term ICR) and affirmed the Financial Strength Rating (FSR) of A (Excellent) and the Long-Term ICRs of “a+”...

US Corn Harvest Is in Trouble

Aug 25 2023 // Sagging ears just short of maturity, cobs half bare of kernels as if nibbled, earth so dry that deep cracks criss-cross the fields: The US corn harvest is in trouble.The signs were already there in South Dakota. Scouts...

Sweltering Heatwave Grips Central US, Record High Temperatures Recorded

Aug 21 2023 // HOUSTON (AP) – Sweltering temperatures lingered Sunday in a large swath of the central U.S., causing misery from the Gulf of Mexico almost to the Great Lakes.Record high temperatures were recorded in Texas and other...

Facts Are Friends

Aug 21 2023 // Recently, a carrier’s representatives walked into one of my client’s offices. This carrier announced they needed a 25% rate increase because of the carriers’ poor loss ratios. My top clients are well...