Latest USA Headlines

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

Judge Denies Class Action for Employees Suing Florida’s Darden Restaurant

Sep 8 2014 // A U.S. judge has ruled that food servers and bartenders employed by Darden Restaurants Inc., which owns chains including Olive Garden, the Capital Grille and LongHorn Steakhouse, cannot sue the company as a group for...

U.S. Economic Losses Due to Napa Quake, August Floods Top $4 Billion: Aon

Sep 8 2014 // As far as natural perils go, August was mostly about earthquakes, along with a few tropical storms and typhoons around the world to add to the trouble, according to Aon Benfield’s Impact Forecasting in its latest...

U.K. Government Backs BP in U.S. Over ‘Unreasonable’ Oil Spill Payments

Sep 8 2014 // BP Plc got support from the U.K. government in its U.S. court fight over the level of compensation required under a settlement of lawsuits stemming from the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill.The U.K. told U.S. Supreme Court...

MF Global Officers’ Defense Cost Already at $48 Million

Sep 8 2014 // Former officers and directors of MF Global Holdings Ltd. have already spent more than $48 million defending themselves from lawsuits, a sum U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Martin Glenn called “staggering” considering...

U.S. Risk Announces the Opening of Their Newest Office in Fort Worth

Sep 8 2014 // Dallas, TX, 9/15/14 – U.S. Risk Insurance Group, Inc. (www.usrisk.com), the eighth largest managing general agency and surplus lines wholesaler in the nation, announced that it has opened a new office in the city of...

U.S. Retailers Warned About Hacking Software

Sep 8 2014 // More than 1,000 U.S. retailers could be infected with malicious software lurking in their cash register computers, allowing hackers to steal customer financial data, the Homeland Security Department said recently.The...

State of the Market: Surplus Lines Bounces Back

Sep 8 2014 // The surplus lines industry showed its subpar showing in 2012 was uncharacteristic as it outperformed the overall property/casualty industry once again in 2013. While 2013 was a good year all-round for the P/C industry, it...

High on Marijuana Insurance

Sep 8 2014 // The legal marijuana industry in the United States is experiencing tremendous growth.Legal cannabis markets in the United States are expected to grow 700 percent over the next five years, according to an industry report...

Changes in Washington

Sep 8 2014 // Groups that favor the legalization of marijuana say they are seeing positive developments at the federal level in Washington. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder told lawmakers during a House Appropriations Committee hearing...

Southeast on Track to Develop ‘Megalopolis’ from Raleigh to Atlanta

Sep 8 2014 // Urban areas in the southeastern United States will double in size by 2060 unless there are changes to land development, according to a study by the Department of Interior’s Southeast Climate Science Center and North...

Texas Woman Pleads Guilty in Crash Staging Case

Sep 8 2014 // A 32-year-old Port Arthur, Texas, woman entered a guilty plea in a case involving staged auto crashes and fraudulent insurance claims, according to U.S. Attorney John M. Bales for the Eastern District of Texas.Shawnta Rene...

MAPFRE Enters Mass. Life Insurance Market

Sep 8 2014 // MAPFRE U.S.A. has begun selling a term life insurance product in Massachusetts, where MAPFRE’s subsidiary, Commerce Insurance, is the largest auto and home insurance carrier.MAPFRE said it is seeking to leverage its...

BP Gross Negligence Ruling a Warning to Big Oil and Partners

Sep 5 2014 // A U.S. judge’s watershed ruling means the final cost to BP Plc for the 2010 Gulf oil spill may eclipse $50 billion, wiping out years of profits and highlighting the risks of drilling as the industry pushes into more...

Hackers Get to HealthCare.gov But U.S. Says No Personal Data Stolen

Sep 5 2014 // The HealthCare.gov website that had an error-plagued debut last year was hacked in July, although no personal data appear to have been taken, according to the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.The attack,...

Usage-Based Insurance Overcoming Privacy Concerns, Gaining Traction

Sep 5 2014 // Consumers as well as commercial fleet managers are becoming more accepting of usage-based insurance (UBI) in which a telematics device is used to track driving behavior as safety and savings benefits appear to be trumping...

No Such Thing As Free Lunch? IRS Eyes High-Tech Perk

Sep 5 2014 // Be careful when you grab that office bagel. The Internal Revenue Service may be watching.The U.S. tax agency is taking a closer look at a popular tax-exempt perk offered by companies such as Google Inc.: free meals....

U.S. Risk Opens New Office in Fort Worth, Texas

Sep 5 2014 // Dallas-based managing general agency and surplus lines wholesaler, U.S. Risk Insurance Group Inc., has opened a new office in Fort Worth, Texas. The new office is initially staffed with underwriters from the energy and...

Though Productive and More Educated, Ohio Workers Earning Less

Sep 5 2014 // Ohio workers are more productive and better educated these days, yet they aren’t necessarily making more money as a result, according to a new report.Ohio productivity grew by nearly 67 percent between 1979 and 2013,...

Paleo Mega-Drought Bleeds All Over Western U.S.

Sep 4 2014 // A blood-red blotch that stains California kind of looks like its own nation slowly overgrowing the Western region of the U.S. map.Despite the gore, the latest version of the U.S. Drought Monitor map just out today actually...

Full Appeals Court to Hear Obamacare Tax Subsidy Case

Sep 4 2014 // The full U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington will rehear a case on Obamacare tax subsidies, granting a government request in a move that may reduce chances of a new Supreme Court showdown over a central element of the...