Author: completebodyneeds

North Carolina’s insurance commissioner has named Chuck Myers to be chief deputy commissioner Oct. 1, succeeding Jackie Obusek. Myers For the past three years, Myers has been deputy commissioner for the Louisiana Department of Insurance, over property and casualty insurance. There, he chaired the Louisiana Auto Insurance Plan, which provides car insurance to high-risk drivers who cannot buy coverage through the marketplace. Myers also helped restructure the Louisiana Fortified Homes Program and led the Title Insurance Working Group at the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, NC Commissioner Causey said in a bulletin. Myers will be an asset to the NC…

TikTok and its Chinese parent company ByteDance on Friday agreed to a $400-million settlement to resolve the U.S. Justice Department’s allegations the short-video app violated children’s online privacy. The Justice Department sued TikTok and ByteDance in 2024 for allegedly failing to protect children’s privacy, and illegally collecting their information. The defendants were accused of violating a law requiring online services aimed at children to obtain parental consent to collect personal information from users under age 13. Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward said the Justice Department’s priority “is ensuring that children are protected online and that companies entrusted with their personal…

The Trump administration’s many steps to reshape and shrink the scope of federal environmental protection have been met with a flood of legal challenges from companies, environmental groups and state officials. So far this summer, it’s been losing more than winning in court. Over the past three months, federal courts nationwide have delivered rulings in several cases centered on attempts by the Environmental Protection Agency to terminate billions of dollars in climate grants and roll back Biden-era air policies. In more than half of them, the judges decided against the agency. Some of those lawsuits remain unresolved. The EPA is…

Cleanup efforts and damage assessment were underway Friday in Delaware’s capital and on Long Island, New York, after tornadoes touched down during storms that battered the Northeast with heavy rains and left dozens of people stranded in their cars during flash flooding. Officials said there were no reports of any serious injuries. The National Weather Service said a trained spotter reported a tornado in Dover, Delaware, during Thursday’s storms. Photos and video on social media show the roof of a motel being blown off and damage to other buildings along Route 13 northeast of downtown. In Atlantic Beach on Long…

A federal judge on Friday dismissed major portions of a Ben & Jerry’s lawsuit accusing its former parent Unilever of trying to silence the ice cream maker’s social activism, dismantle its board and stop funding its namesake foundation. U.S. District Judge Kevin Castel in Manhattan dismissed seven claims and part of an eighth in a 10-count complaint by Vermont-based Ben & Jerry’s, whose flavors include Cherry Garcia, Half Baked and Phish Food, and by various independent directors. Castel also said Magnum, the Amsterdam-based company that has owned Ben & Jerry’s since it was spun off from Unilever last year, will…

The world’s top maritime piracy observer said incidents off the coast of Somalia are on the rise again after a pair of fresh attacks this week — as two major regional conflicts stretch naval forces in the area thin. Yemen’s Houthis said last month that they would block Saudi Arabia’s ports and targeted several vessels, forcing many ships to avoid the area. At the same time, the Iran war brought chaos to the industry with dozens of freighters attacked in and around the Persian Gulf. (Editor’s note: This article was published by Bloomberg on Aug. 21). Naval authorities this week…

Alliant Insurance Services has hired Rick George as First Vice President within its Employee Benefits Group. Based in Fayetteville, Arkansas, George will work with employers nationwide to develop employee benefits strategies that improve the employee experience, strengthen workplace culture, and manage long-term healthcare costs. George has more than 35 years of experience in employee benefits, total rewards, healthcare strategy, and employee well-being. A key element of George’s background is his work transforming benefits delivery through technology, systems, and process improvement. He has led large-scale initiatives to redesign benefits processes, strengthen operational efficiency, improve data integrity, enhance reporting capabilities, and create…

Hawaii’s Big Island is preparing for another round of flooding rain, roughly a week after Storm Lala washed out roads and damaged parts of the electrical grid. Another five to 10 inches of rain are expected through the weekend, with as much as 15 inches in some parts of the Big Island, according to an update from the US National Hurricane Center. The system is forecast to reach tropical-storm strength Friday, when it would be assigned the name Moke. The rainfall “may produce life-threatening flooding and mudslides, especially in steep terrain and over areas that were affected recently by Lala,”…

Several members of the hemp industry are filing an additional lawsuit against the state of Texas alleging the ban on nearly all hemp-derived THC products has led to massive job loss and has created a monopoly for the state’s medical marijuana program. On Wednesday, four hemp retailers filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas against the Texas Department of State Health Services, alleging the agency has engaged in executive overreach by classifying hemp-derived substances as illegal, which violates the 2018 Farm Bill, which removed them from the federal Controlled Substances Act. “Thousands of…

Explosions rocked an Ohio industrial recycling business earlier this week, killing two workers and sparking a large fire, officials said. Flames and dark smoke poured from Brent Industries in Toledo on Tuesday as fire engines surrounded the building, TV news video showed. Crews later discovered the bodies of two employees, a man and a woman, inside the smoldering building, said Toledo Fire Chief Allison Armstrong. Two or three other employees had minor injuries, she said. Two explosions occurred shortly before 5 a.m. Tuesday, during a shift change, Armstrong said. Crews had to deal with hazardous materials, runoff and the threat…