Latest USA Headlines

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

U.S. Lags Europe in Driver Assist Technology Safety Testing

Mar 2 2020 // Autopilot, Super Cruise and Drive Pilot are different names given to technology that automates steering and braking in a growing number of vehicles, but none of it can safely “pilot” cars without regular human...

Agency M&As: Private Equity Still in Driver’s Seat; Digital Agencies Attract Attention

Mar 2 2020 // The private equity bandwagon continued to roll through the insurance agency and brokerage mergers and acquisitions territory in 2019. As many as two-thirds of all deals involved private equity, according to experts. Most...

USDA’s Wildfire Indemnity Program Offers Possible Drought Assistance for California Farmers

Feb 28 2020 // U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue announced additional disaster assistance available to agricultural producers, including producers impacted by drought and excess moisture as well as sugar beet growers.California...

Trucking Can Be Deadly. And Not Just For Truckers.: Viewpoint

Feb 28 2020 // Of the major industries for which the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported workplace fatality rates for 2018, truck transportation was the most dangerous, with 28 deaths per 100,000 full-time-equivalent workers.To be sure,...

Update on Puerto Rico Disaster Recovery

Feb 28 2020 // The newly appointed U.S. official charged with overseeing disaster recovery in Puerto Rico said this week that while the pace of federally funded projects to help hurricane and earthquake victims has quickened, he’s...

Arkema, Executives Accused of Failures in Chemical Fire at Texas Plant

Feb 28 2020 // Jurors in the criminal case against the U.S. arm of a French company on Feb. 27 heard it routinely stored combustible chemicals where floodwaters could reach them and failed to alert emergency workers as toxic fires...

California Worries About Drought and Wildfires Amid Dry Winter

Feb 28 2020 // California officials are bracing for the potential of another drought and an early and more intense wildfire season amid a record-breaking warm and dry February.February is shaping up to be driest on record for much of the...

Nationwide, Generali Form Joint Venture N2G to Sell Multinational Commercial Lines

Feb 27 2020 // Trieste, Italy meet Columbus, Ohio. Ciao! Hello!Two large insurers — Ohio’s Nationwide and Italy’s Generali — are teaming up to serve commercial insurance customers with global needs. The insurers announced...

Congress Urged to Uphold, Not Override, State Privacy Laws

Feb 27 2020 // California Attorney General Xavier Becerra on Tuesday sent a letter to four top U.S. lawmakers urging them not to pre-empt the state’s new privacy law with a watered down federal legislation.The California Consumer...

AM Best Downgrades Argo’s Credit Ratings After a Disappointing Q4

Feb 27 2020 // Argo Group International Holdings, already reeling from a tough 2019 fourth quarter and year, now must deal with downgraded credit ratings from AM Best.The Bermuda-based specialty insurer and reinsurer had its long-term...

Self-Driving EasyMile Shuttles Suspended After Passenger Injury in Ohio

Feb 26 2020 // U.S. vehicle safety regulators on Feb. 25 said they had ordered a suspension of passenger operations for 16 autonomous shuttles operated by France-based EasyMile after a passenger was injured in an unexplained braking...

NiSource’s Columbia Gas to Pay $53M, Plead Guilty for Massachusetts Gas Explosions

Feb 26 2020 // Columbia Gas of Massachusetts has agreed to accept responsibility for the gas explosions on Sept. 13, 2018, in Lawrence, Andover and North Andover that killed one individual, injured 22, and damaged homes and...

Safety Board Hits Tesla Autopilot Design, Regulator’s ‘Misguided’ Approach

Feb 26 2020 // The National Transportation Safety Board on Tuesday sharply criticized Tesla Inc.’s lack of system safeguards in a fatal 2018 Autopilot crash in California and called U.S. regulators’ approach in overseeing the...

Board Finalizes Rule Scaling Back Joint Employer Liability for Franchisees, Contractors

Feb 25 2020 // A U.S. labor board on Tuesday finalized a rule that will make it more difficult to hold companies liable for unlawful labor practices by franchisees and contractors, reversing a more worker-friendly Obama-era standard...

Coronavirus Update: On Decline in China But of Rising Concern in South Korea, Italy, Iran

Feb 25 2020 // Iran’s coronavirus death toll rose to 16 on Tuesday, the most outside China, heightening its international isolation as dozens of worst-hit nations from South Korea to Italy accelerated emergency measures to curb the...

Federal Appeals Court in New York Approves of $6.7M Award to Graffiti Artists

Feb 25 2020 // A federal appeals court in New York gave its approval Thursday to a $6.7 million award for nearly two dozen graffiti artists whose spray paintings at a once-famous site that attracted thousands of spectators were destroyed...

Judge Wants Questions Answered on Plan to Remove Capsized Ship in Georgia

Feb 24 2020 // A federal judge on Friday ordered attorneys for the U.S. Coast Guard and a maritime salvage company to answer detailed questions about plans to remove an overturned cargo ship on the Georgia coast by sawing it into eight...

Wells Fargo to Pay $3B to U.S. to Settle Fake Accounts Scandal

Feb 24 2020 // Wells Fargo & Co. has agreed to pay $3 billion to resolve criminal and civil probes into fraudulent sales practices and has admitted to pressuring employees in a fake-accounts scandal, U.S. officials said on Friday,...

Berkshire Hathaway P/C Insurance Profit Down in 2019

Feb 24 2020 // Full-year insurance results at Berkshire Hathaway disappointed in 2019, with after-tax earnings from underwriting falling to $325 million in 2019 compared to $1.6 billion in 2018.Earnings from primary insurance operations...

Agricultural Industry Looks to Dogs as the Next Crop Inspectors

Feb 24 2020 // Dogs specially trained by the federal government’s Agricultural Research Service scientists have proven to be the most efficient way to detect huanglongbing — also known as citrus greening — according to...