Latest Washington Headlines

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

How to Get Autonomous Cars to Pull Over for Police

Feb 25 2019 // It was still dark on a Friday morning in November when a California Highway Patrol officer started following a Tesla Model S on Route 101 between the San Francisco International Airport and Palo Alto. The gray sedan was...

Washington Dairy Farms Take $4M Hit from Cows Lost in Blizzard

Feb 22 2019 // Officials say the more than 1,800 dairy cows that died in a blizzard in southern Washington state earlier this month were a nearly $4 million loss, not including the lost milk production.Farm Service Agency program...

Data Mistake Exposed Names of 974,000 University of Washington Patients

Feb 22 2019 // University of Washington Medicine says a website server inadvertently made internal files concerning nearly 1 million patients available on the internet.The organization said the files contained patients’ names and...

Washington Commissioner Disciplines, Fines Numerous Insurance Professionals

Feb 22 2019 // Washington Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler disciplined and issued numerous fines in January against insurance companies, agents and others who violated state insurance regulations.Insurance companies Pacific Blue...

Insurer Hit With $102K Fine for Selling Illegal NRA-Branded Policies

Feb 20 2019 // Illinois Union Insurance Co. has paid a $102,000 fine after Washington Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler ordered the company to cease underwriting self-defense policies branded by the National Rifle Association.After an...

High School Student at Lincoln Memorial Protest Sues Washington Post

Feb 20 2019 // A high school student from Covington, Kentucky, sued the Washington Post for defamation on Tuesday, claiming the newspaper falsely accused him of racist acts and instigating a confrontation with a Native American activist...

Former Washington Agents Charged with Fraud, Writing Fake Policies

Feb 18 2019 // Three Pierce County, Wash., residents were charged in early February with crimes related to insurance fraud in Pierce County Superior Court.The charges follow investigations by Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler’s...

Lockheed Martin Sued for Fraud over Washington Nuclear Site

Feb 15 2019 // The U.S. Justice Department is accusing Lockheed Martin Corp. of using false records and making false statements to bill the Energy Department for tens of millions of dollars in unauthorized profits and fees at the Hanford...

Washington Business Owner And Mom Charged with Insurance Fraud

Feb 15 2019 // Two Yakima County, Wash. residents were charged in Superior Court this week in connection with separate auto insurance fraud claims. The charges followed investigations by Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler’s...

Lockton Adds Lau in Employee Benefits in Washington

Feb 13 2019 // Lockton has named JoAnn Lau an employee benefits consultant in Bellevue, Wash. She has more than 30 years in the insurance industry. She is part of the Mountain West series, which includes offices in Denver, Phoenix and...

Jury Awards $123M to Victims in Washington Duck Boat Crash

Feb 11 2019 // A Washington jury has awarded about $123 million to the victims and families of a 2015 duck boat crash that killed five college students and injured more than 60 others in Seattle.After a four-month civil trial, King...

Sanctions Against Sudan Are Lifted but Insurers Still Can’t Buy Overseas Reinsurance

Feb 11 2019 // Sixteen months after the United States lifted most sanctions on Sudan, businesses are unable to operate dollar transactions, insurance companies are cut off from the reinsurance market and the local airline is virtually...

Microsoft’s Home State’s Facial Recognition Privacy Bill Could Be Model for Others

Feb 8 2019 // Two months after calling for laws to regulate facial-recognition software, Microsoft Corp. is lobbying on behalf of a first-of-its-kind bill in its home state of Washington. The question is whether cross-town rival...

Court Ruling Against ‘Law of Nature’ Patent Riles Biotech

Feb 7 2019 // A way to diagnose a severe neurological disorder can’t be patented as it covers a law of nature, a U.S. appeals court ruled Wednesday in a closely watched case that sought to clarify the patenting for medical...

Former Agents in Washington Charged with Theft for Writing Fake Policies

Feb 5 2019 // Three Pierce County, Wash. residents were charged with crimes related to insurance fraud in Pierce County Superior CourtThe charges follow investigations by Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler’s Criminal...

Washington D.C.’s Ensurise Merges with Maryland’s Reese, Yeatman & Associates

Jan 24 2019 // Independent insurance agency Ensurise LLC has merged with the property and casualty insurance brokerage operations of Reese, Yeatman & Associates Inc.Founded more than 40 years ago by Michael G. Reese Sr., Reese...

U.S. Privacy Regulation Tested by Facebook Scandals

Jan 24 2019 // Facebook Inc.’s repeated privacy scandals have infuriated users, lawmakers and data-security advocates who are clamoring for a forceful government response. That job mainly falls to Joe Simons, who is under pressure...

Insurers Advised Political Volatility, Economic Slowdown, Floods Among Top Risks

Jan 24 2019 // As insurers track both old and new risks heading into 2019, here’s one that carriers don’t typically consider: The White House.David Wessel, director of The Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy, cited...

M&T Insurance Agency Hires Batt in Washington D.C.

Jan 22 2019 // M&T Insurance Agency (MTIA) has hired Jeffrey Batt to its Washington, D.C., office as the cyber insurance practice leader.In this role, he will manage client relationships by providing cyber insurance and risk...

First States to Legalize Marijuana See Rise in Car Insurance Claims, Research Shows

Jan 7 2019 // Crashes are up by as much as six percent in Colorado, Nevada, Oregon and Washington, compared with neighboring states that haven’t legalized marijuana for recreational use, according to research from the Insurance...