Monthly Archives: <span>July 2018</span>

Smarter, Safer Bridges With Sensors

Along with flying cars and instantaneous teleportation, smart bridges, roads and subway lines that can send out warnings when they’re damaged are staples of futuristic transportation systems in science fiction. Sandia National Laboratories has worked with Structural Monitoring Systems PLC, …

Amtrak Rail Cars in Fatal Washington Crash Didn’t Meet Current Standards

The passenger rail cars on an Amtrak train that derailed near Seattle last December while traveling more than twice the posted speed, killing three people, didn’t meet current crash-protection standards, federal investigators said Tuesday. The Talgo Inc. cars had to …

Colorado Campaigns Aim to Curb Auto-Pedestrian Deaths

Twice in a week this month in unrelated collisions, cars barreled into pedestrians on East Colfax Avenue, in Aurora, killing one man and seriously hurting another. And investigators say those two crashes are far from outliers. They’re part of a …

Aon: U.S. Cyber Insurance Premiums Rise 37%, to $1.84B

A new study released by Aon, a global professional services firm providing a broad range of risk products, indicates that cyber remained a profitable line of business, as industry loss ratios decreased in 2017 – from 47.6 percent to 32.4 …

Supercomputers Measure Quake Risk Across San Francisco Bay Area

Scientists and engineers are simulating precisely how a large-magnitude earthquake along the Hayward Fault would affect different locations and buildings across the San Francisco Bay Area. A team from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, both U.S. …

Startup Plans to Analyze Rising Sea Levels to Aid Florida Homeowners

From the frothy assault of the Atlantic Ocean to the placid trespass of the Lake Worth Lagoon, sea level rise is a mounting concern for South Florida property buyers who are turning to science, and private companies, for guidance. The …

North Dakota Farmers Want Change in Crop Insurance Payments

North Dakota’s largest farm group is pushing for adjustments to price adjustments to the PLC (Price Loss Coverage) program and to crop insurance payments to protect farmers from international trade retaliations. The U.S. House and Senate versions of a new …

Lawyer Compares 2014 Arrest at Vegas Hotel to Mass Shooting Case

The arrest of a man in 2014 with multiple weapons in an upper-floor room at a Las Vegas Strip resort should have led to tightened hotel security and prevented a shooting last October from the same hotel that killed 58 …

U.S. Postal Service Will Pay $3.5M for Stamp Copyright Infringement Case

A stamp that mistakenly featured the image of a Statue of Liberty replica in Las Vegas instead of the original New York Statue will cost the U.S. Postal Service $3.5 million in a copyright infringement lawsuit. Las Vegas sculptor Robert …

Top Private Flood Insurers and Market Report

During 2017, the private flood insurance market expanded considerably with 50 new carriers. In total, insurers reported direct private flood insurance premiums written of $630 million, an increase of $217 million over 2016. That’s according to Insurance Journal’s Top Private …