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Shady Adjuster and Alleged Fake Racist Attack Top Fraud Roundup

SoCal Adjuster Jailed for Embezzlement A former licensed public adjuster from Huntington Beach, Calif., was sentenced to 180 days in county jail and five years of felony probation after pleading guilty to three felony counts of embezzlement and one felony …

Once Hacked, Twice Shy: How Auto Supplier Harman Learned to Fight Cyber Carjackers

LAS VEGAS — When researchers remotely hacked a Jeep Cherokee in 2015, slowing it to a crawl in the middle of a U.S. highway, the portal the hackers used was an infotainment system made by supplier Harman International. Harman, now …

Aviation Industry Expects Double-Digit Premium Hikes After 737 MAX Grounding

The aviation industry is bracing for double-digit insurance premium hikes for the first time in about 15 years, as insurers wrestle with higher costs from aircraft groundings, including the grounding of Boeing Co’s 737 MAX jets following two fatal crashes, …

Purdue Opioid Deal May Be Worth Less Than Drugmaker Promised

Purdue Pharma LP’s deal to escape thousands of lawsuits over its role in the U.S. opioid crisis may provide less than half the $10 billion that the closely held drugmaker projected in its Chapter 11 filing, said three people familiar …

Houston Begins Cleanup After Almost 4 Feet of Rain Falls

Imelda’s rains have largely left Houston, but the city and the surrounding region are reeling from the fallout. Much of the area remains flooded, with homes and businesses damaged, hundreds of abandoned cars left on highways, water systems compromised and …

Private Climate Firms Say They’re Helping. Scientists Worry They’re Not

As central banks and financial institutions come to terms with climate risks, they are increasingly seeking data and analysis from private providers that “may be operating outside the bounds of scientific merit,” according to Jesse Keenan, a climate risk and …

America’s Great Climate Exodus Is Starting in the Florida Keys

Lori Rittel is stuck in her Florida Keys home, living in the wreckage left by Hurricane Irma two years ago, unable to rebuild or repair. Now her best hope for escape is to sell the little white bungalow to the …

As Storms Threaten, Geospatial Intelligence Team Keeps Aircraft at the Ready

The 2019 Atlantic Hurricane Center has been challenging the ground rules for an insurance industry organization that dispatches pilots to take aerial photographs immediately after natural disasters. Usually, the Geospatial Intelligence Center doesn’t deploy aircraft or staff unless a Category …

Storm Disrupts U.S. Gulf Coast Energy Operations from Refineries to Terminals

HOUSTON — Energy infrastructure on the U.S. Gulf Coast was hit hard by Tropical Storm Imelda on Thursday, as flooding forced a major refinery to cut production and a key oil pipeline, terminals and a ship channel in Texas were …

Residents Seek Backup Power as Storms, Fires Cause Blackouts

NEW YORK — Climate change has led to deadlier wildfire seasons in the American West and more severe hurricanes and storms barreling up the Southern and Eastern coasts. The dramatic weather frequently knocks out power, leading some residents of storm-ridden …

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