Capitol to Courthouse Headliners: Tuesday, Oct. 16

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Allstate under state investigation

TALLAHASSEE – Florida regulators have included Allstate in the state investigation of whether property insurers conspired to keep home premiums so high.

 

Allstate Reaps Financial Benefit Of Limiting Risk

CHICAGO – When a series of killer hurricanes walloped the Gulf Coast in 2005, costing Allstate Corp. a record quarterly loss of $1.55 billion, the company tried to make sure its bottom line would never be hit so hard again.

 

Property tax plan gets snarled in Legislature

The compromise property tax plan pushed by the governor and Republican legislative leaders continued to run into trouble Tuesday, as House and Senate committees tinkered with the plan, leaving the carefully crafted deal in shambles.

 

Senate Panel Set For Flood Bill Vote

WASHINGTON —The Senate Banking Committee is due to vote tomorrow on its version of legislation to reform the National Flood Insurance Program, in a format that will be largely the same as a bill approved by the committee last year.

 

Senate Panel Agrees On TRIA Language

WASHINGTON —Agreement has been reached by the leadership of the Senate Banking Committee on bare-bones legislation extending for seven years federal supports to insurers after terrorism

 

Banks to set up $80 billion fund to limit credit crunch

Major banks including Citigroup Inc are looking at setting up a roughly $80 billion fund to buy ailing mortgage securities and other assets, in a bid to prevent the credit crunch from further hurting the global economy, sources familiar with the matter said.

 

GAO Reports about Financial Management

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) today released the following reports, testimony, and correspondence:

 

Editorial Series: Is Florida over? It’s our decision, Part I of IV

After decades of increasing population, prosperity and popularity, the outlook for the Sunshine State has turned dim. For the first time in recent memory, more people are leaving than are coming.

 

Home Insurers Canceling in East Over Storm Fears

The letter said that “hurricane events over the past two years” had forced the company to limit its exposure to further losses; and that because the Grays’ home on Long Island was near the Atlantic Ocean – it is 12 miles from the coast and has been touched by rampaging waters only once, when the upstairs bathtub overflowed – their 30-year-old policy was “nonrenewed,” or canceled.

 

Likelihood of Burst Appendix Tied to Insurance

The kind of insurance a patient has may increase the likelihood of a burst appendix, according to a new study. But the researchers were surprised to find, contrary to previous reports, that the race of the patient is not a factor.

 

Guy Carpenter Changes Name Of Its Finance Firm

Reinsurance broker Guy Carpenter & Company LLC said it has changed the name of its financial consulting services to insurers from MMC Securities to GC Securities.

 

Big U.S. Banks Try to Restore Confidence in Credit Markets

The biggest banks in the United States, with active encouragement from the Treasury Department, unveiled a plan yesterday to keep the housing-related debt crisis from worsening.

 

Housing crisis complicates property-tax reform picture

Tax reform is colliding with a sinking housing market, but experts say fixing the property-tax system is still essential.

 

First Boomer Applies for Social Security

The baby boomers’ stampede for Social Security benefits has begun. The nation’s ‘first’ baby boomer, a retired teacher from New Jersey, applied for Social Security benefits Monday, signaling the start of an expected avalanche of applications from the post World War II generation.

 

State, Seminole Tribe work past deadline on gambling compact

Blowing past what appears to be a deadline in name only, the state and Seminole Tribe will keep working to bring Las Vegas-style gaming to Broward County but don’t know when they’ll have an actual deal.