Monthly Archives: <span>March 2019</span>

Jury Awards $4.8 Million to Victim of Crash Partially Caused by Sheriff’s Deputy

IDAHO CITY, Idaho — An Idaho jury has awarded more than $4.8 million to a woman injured in a U-turn accident after deciding it was partially caused by a sheriff’s deputy. But the Idaho Statesman reports that Chellus Dawn Towell …

Woman Convicted of Fraud for Misrepresenting Date of Accident

An Iowa woman who filed a claim for damage that occurred after she purchased an auto insurance policy was convicted last week for felony insurance fraud, according to the Iowa Insurance Division’s Fraud Bureau. Jennifer Lea Fuentes, 43, was arrested …

Accurate Claim Length Estimates Key to Customer Satisfaction

Property insurers generally score well for customer satisfaction, but the carriers that fare more poorly than others could do a better job of communicating with policyholders and setting accurate claim-length expectations, according to J.D. Power. A survey of 6,374 homeowners …

Wildfire Debris Removal Halted Due to Unstable Rain-Saturated Slopes

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — State officials have halted debris removal on Northern California hills scarred by a deadly wildfire because of rain-saturated, unstable slopes. Work crews and truck drivers removing debris in Paradise have been idled at least until March 19, …

Work Starts on 134 Houston-Area Flood-Control Projects after Harvey

Crews are working on 134 flood control projects as parts of a $2.5 billion bond program approved by Houston-area voters last year in the wake of Hurricane Harvey, officials announced Thursday. Another 103 projects are on the drawing board _ …

National Safety Council Says ‘Visual Literacy’ Can Identify Workplace Hazards

Employers can reduce workplace hazards by teaching workers how to see like artists, according to the National Safety Council. The organization isn’t recommending art classes. It says that research by the Campbell Institute in Itasca, Illinois shows that training workers …

FAA Says Boeing 737 Max is Airworthy Despite 2nd Crash

U.S. aviation regulators signaled their confidence in the safety of Boeing Co.’s embattled 737 Max jetliner, issuing a global notice of “continued airworthiness” a day after the model’s second deadly crash in less than five months. There isn’t conclusive evidence …

Even Improved Tornado Warnings Can’t Prevent All Death and Destruction

Sometimes in forecasting tornadoes, you can get everything technically right, and yet it all goes horribly wrong. Three days before the killer Alabama tornado struck, government severe-storm meteorologists cautioned that conditions could be ripe for twisters in the Southeast on …

Oregon Lawmakers Mull Overhaul of Dam Safety Rules

Oregon’s dam safety regulations could be getting an overhaul, for the first time in nearly a century. The Statesman Journal reports a bill pending in the Legislature would rewrite the laws governing construction, inspections and enforcement authority for hundreds of …

Pilot’s Opioid Abuse Suspected as Cause of Fatal Nevada Crash

Opioid abuse by the pilot was among the likely causes of a fatal airplane crash in Nevada that killed the pilot and his two passengers, the National Transportation Safety Board has said. The Reno Gazette Journal reported Tuesday that the …