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AAA: Pandemic Prompts More Americans To Consider Travel Insurance

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According to a recent AAA Travel survey, one-third of U.S. travelers say they are more likely to purchase travel insurance for their trips planned between now and the end of 2022, specifically due to the pandemic. "Travel insurance is relatively inexpensive for the large amount of peace-of-mind it affords, and that's more valuable than ever in light of the…

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U.S. Senator Roger Wicker, R- Miss., and Cindy Hyde-Smith, R- Miss., on Wednesday encouraged the Federal Emergency Management Agency to delay a new flood insurance rating system that will raise premiums on a majority of policyholders. "This unwillingness to alter the current proposal and the potential for having a significant increase in uninsured homeowners…

Henrico County- based Fortune 500 insurer Genworth Financial Inc. completed the once-delayed initial public offering of its mortgage insurance subsidiary, Raleigh, North Carolina- based Enact Holdings Inc., it announced Monday. Between the IPO and a private sale of shares, Genworth received aggregate net proceeds of about $535 million after underwriters'…

Consumer appetite in the U.S. for digital access and functionality from their insurance providers presents an opportunity for insurers to improve customer engagement and drive better outcomes. Capco, a global technology and digital consultancy, surveyed just over 2,000 U.S. consumers to gauge their impressions of insurance products and providers to…

Martha Jeffries Inman, 68, lied to her insurance company when she said“ her car and truck had been struck multiple times by deer and other animals,” the North Carolina Department of Insurance said Thursday in a news release. Inman received ,635 from Allstate Property and Casualty Insurance Co. as a result, investigators said. Inman and Roberson live together…
California wildfires are damaging the Napa Valley wine producers.

As if California needed another crisis, the state’s seemingly perpetual wildfires are forcing millions of homeowners in fire-prone areas to pay skyrocketing premiums for insurance coverage- if, indeed, they can buy it at all.

A Council Bluffs man, Andrew J. Fischer, age 55, was sentenced on September 10, 2021, by United States District Court Judge Stephanie M. Rose to five months in prison for False Statements in Connection with Federal Crop Insurance. According to court documents, Fischer pleaded guilty to False Statements in Connection with Federal Crop Insurance in May of 2021..

The Acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky, Carlton S. Shier IV, issued the following news release:. Michael McNew, former resident of Mt. Sterling, was sentenced to 86 months in federal prison today by U.S. District Court Judge Karen C. Caldwell for conspiracy to commit wire fraud, in furtherance of a crop insurance fraud scheme.

While all this flooding may have you thinking about flood insurance, Congress is thinking about it for other reasons. While Congress is expected to extend the program, the bigger impact on your life may be the changes FEMA wants to make to flood insurance policies, changes that will likely impact rates. FEMA estimates around 73% of current policyholders will pay…

The Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Iowa, Richard D. Westphal, issued the following news release on Sept. 15, 2021:. A Council Bluffs man, Andrew J. Fischer, age 55, was sentenced on September 10, 2021, by United States District Court Judge Stephanie M. Rose to five months in prison for False Statements in Connection with Federal Crop Insurance.
Thousands of Florida property owners might be scrambling for coverage.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency released maps that enlarge flood zones, especially in southern Broward County, using new data on hurricanes, sea level, land elevation and storm damage.

Sep. 8— Louisiana residents who fled their homes because of Hurricane Ida should expect their homeowner's insurance company to pay for evacuation expenses, even in parishes without mandatory evacuation orders, the state Department of Insurance ruled Wednesday. Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon is directing insurance providers to pay for hotel rooms and…

The bull's eye is on us. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, September is the most common month for hurricanes to make landfall. “Fortunately, hurricanes are not surprise weather events,” says Daniel Marshall, vice president of marketing and business development with Scepter ®.
A group of Chicago restaurant owners say they have a strong case for business interruption insurance coverage.

A new lawsuit was filed Tuesday by a group of prominent Chicago restaurant owners. The group is suing insurers in state court, claiming that government pandemic restrictions caused the physical damage required to trigger coverage under their policies.

“And then I dove into the water and I tried to find him, but I couldn't find him,” Laura Caroluzzi said Friday, sobbing outside her Bridgeport home. In the Philadelphia area, five— including Caroluzzi's husband, Jack— were counted as storm-related deaths as of Friday, though that number could rise. Donald Bauer was on his way home to Perkiomenville, Montgomery County,…

BISMARCK- Near the end of August, Bailie Graner, a 29- year-old cattle rancher south of Mandan, North Dakota, sent a Snapchat to her parents, also central North Dakota ranchers- on a property a little more than an hour and a half's drive east in Kidder County. Her photo showed a green tractor tailed by a taller forage wagon in a wide open field. Bailie's parents, Robin and…

In Connecticut, about 32,400 flood policies were in effect as of July under the National Flood Insurance Program, with coverage underwritten by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and sold through some 60 insurance carriers. Last year, the nonprofit First Street Foundation estimated that more than triple that number of Connecticut properties were at…

Less than a week after Hurricane Ida battered the Gulf Coast, President Joe Biden walked the streets of a hardhit Louisiana neighborhood and told local residents,“ I know you're hurting, I know you're hurting.”. More formally, Biden met with state and local officials in LaPlace, a community between the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain that suffered major…
Shutdowns costs Paramount weeks of filming of "Mission Impossible 7."

“Mission Impossible 7” has shut down seven times and Paramount filed a lawsuit Monday, claiming that its insurer did not fully pay up for its losses incurred when the cameras were silenced.

The Biden administration has pledged an all-of-government response to Ida, led by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and coordinated by White House senior adviser Cedric Richmond, a former Louisiana congressman and close ally of President Joe Biden. The people of Louisiana and Mississippi are resilient, Biden added, “but it’ s in moments like these where…

A proposal to protect coastal Miami-Dade from hurricanes by running a tall concrete wall though Biscayne Bay and waterfront neighborhoods is— unsurprisingly— dead. The county on Monday formally rejected the plan, part of an instantly controversial $4.6 billion proposal from the Army Corps of Engineers that also included elevating thousands of private…

Miami, FL—- 08/30/2021– Understanding Florida law and working with a car accident attorney in Florida can help you navigate the strenuous process of filing and processing a claim. Florida law states that fault is assigned within a system known as pure comparative negligence. Riders who are 21 years or older and have a minimum of $10,000 in medical insurance…

In the past two years, hurricanes have been brewing, strengthening and hitting the United States at a record pace, and Ida will likely go down as one of the nastiest of a dangerous bunch. When it hit Louisiana on Sunday as a Category 4 storm with 150 mph winds, Ida tied for fifth“ with a whole bunch of other notorious storms,” for highest wind speed when making landfall in…

For weeks, a new wave of COVID-19 cases has surged through the Gulf Coast region, threatening health care capacity and emergency services across Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. “We've got a hurricane season coming, we've got a pandemic,” said Mike Evans, director of the Mobile County Emergency Management Agency in coastal Alabama, where officials have…

Top on the list of gripes was FEMA, and its slowness in processing disaster-assistance applications. “FEMA needs to be faster and easier for folks to use,” said Santa Rosa Mayor Chris Rogers. ” An application to FEMA for assistance after the 2019 Kincade fire was returned unapproved because firefighters didn't have standard lunch periods, Sonoma County Fire Chief…

Edwards did, however, provide an update on efforts to obtain disaster relief dollars for southwest Louisiana, indicating a deal could be reached in Washington to move forward on such legislation as soon as next month. Current forecasts call for a tropical system in the Caribbean to develop into a hurricane and possibly hit Louisiana late Sunday or early Monday,…

Up to a dozen structures were completely destroyed, and about 25 more suffered major damage, Steuben County Director of Public Safety Tim Marshall told the county legislature Monday. Marshall said the statewide damage toll will need to reach $30 million for the county to be eligible for financial reimbursements from FEMA. “With the damage to the school, that…

Although Hurricane Henri was downgraded to a tropical storm and narrowly missed densely populated Long Island, New York, Kroll Bond Rating Agency notes the following as we approach the peak of hurricane season:. The Winds of Change The Colorado State University Tropical Meteorology Project team— one of the pioneers of hurricane forecasting— updated on August…

Hurricane Henri kept on course early Sunday to crash into a long stretch of northeastern coastline, as millions on New York’ s Long Island and in southern New England braced for flooding, toppled trees and extended power outages. With the center of the storm projected to pass just off the eastern tip of Long Island by midday, hurricane warnings extended from…

–AXA XL, the property& casualty and specialty risk division of AXA, expands regional underwriting capabilities with the addition of senior environmental underwriters– Lindsay Judd, Jay Kao, Angela Case and Igor Pavlo. AXA XL also announced the promotion of Jeffrey Anastasio to lead its Environmental Claims team in North America. He assumes the role previously…

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, with Florida agencies more than complicit, made a mistake in 2017 when they took the manatee off the list of endangered species. Vern Buchanan and Democrat Rep. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission statistics are numbing when it comes to manatee deaths.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 18– Resources for the Future issued the following news release:. A new working paper by scholars at Resources for the Future and the Wharton Risk Management and Decision Processes Center at the University of Pennsylvania analyzes one critical cause of this flood insurance demand gap: home equity. “The first thing we see is that flood insurance…

Mercury Insurance, a leading auto insurer in California and provider of auto insurance in 10 other states, has put together a list of the most affordable new EVs to help consumers save them money on insurance. “Electric vehicles are very attractive to consumers from styling to performance,” said Mercury Insurance Director of Product Management R&D Chong Gao.

To qualify for FEMA, Monongalia County must surpass $2.9 million in damages. MECCA 911 Director Jim Smith has said individual and public damage assessments have reached $6 million across Monongalia County. Westover Mayor Dave Johnson said current damage estimates in Westover alone are about $970, 000..

Aug. 17— Despite historic wildfire risk, too many Marin residents are still failing to create defensible space around their homes by clearing away combustible materials, Marin County fire officials said. “To date for this fire season, we've done about 25,000 evaluations, and our compliance rate is between 30% and 50%,” which is below the state average, said Mark…

“The winners of the Best Cars for Teens awards all have active safety features that can help teens safely develop their driving skills while lowering the risk that they’ll be involved in a collision,” said Jamie Page Deaton, executive editor of U.S. News Best Cars. In the used car categories, Toyota won four of the five awards. To be named one of the Best New Cars for…

A new Michigan Department of Insurance and Financial Services agreement ensures unlimited Personal Injury Protection (PIP) medical coverage for uninsured vehicle occupants and pedestrians who were injured in auto accidents prior to the July 2, 2020 implementation of Michigan’s new auto insurance law.

Tropical Storm Grace is moving northwest over the northeastern Caribbean Sea on a forecast track that will bring it into the Gulf of Mexico by Thursday morning, the National Hurricane Center said. At 7 a.m., Grace was moving northwest at around 16 mph with maximum sustained winds of 40 mph. U.S. Virgin IslandsPuerto Rico, including Vieques and CulebraDominican…

Aug. 12— Drought improved slightly in southwestern North Dakota over the past week but worsened dramatically in the eastern part of the state. Extreme and even a small area of exceptional drought now covers most of the Red River Valley, according to the latest U.S. Drought Monitor map, released Thursday. The weekly crop report from the National Agricultural…
Thousands of Florida property owners might be scrambling for coverage.

The liquidation is saddling the state with an estimated $60 million to $65 million in unpaid claims and premium refunds, according to Florida Insurance Guarantee Association Executive Director Thomas Streukens.

Robert Menendez, D- New Jersey, issued the following news release on Aug. 6, 2021:. U.S. Senators Bob Menendez and John Kennedy today introduced an amendment that will tackle systemic problems with the National Flood Insurance Program, invest in cost saving disaster mitigation and prevention and ensure its affordability for middle-class homeowners.

Editor's note: This is the second part of a two-part article penned by Samantha Swank, a Linguistics and Spanish major at UC Davis with a minor in Professional Writing, Politics and Communication. Beth Rose Middleton Manning, 41, a Professor and Department Chair of Native American Studies at the University of California, Davis, instructs a class called “Keepers…