Author: completebodyneeds

The Baltic Exchange, the world’s top provider of benchmark shipping indices, has denied allegations from Mercuria that some of its oil tanker pricing data caused losses at the commodity trader. In a court filing dated April 30, Switzerland-based Mercuria said the losses were caused by oil tanker pricing data that did not account for the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Mercuria sued the Baltic Exchange, alleging that it has not met its statutory and contractual obligations in producing the TD3C benchmark based on voyages from the Middle East to Asia. Read more: Trader Mercuria Sues Baltic Exchange Over…

Leslie Clark isn’t counting on money from the Maui wildfire settlement to help rebuild her family home near Front Street in Lahaina. Worrying about something out of her control “is not good for your health,” said Clark, 62, who lost her home in the August 2023 fire. “It’s not good for anything.” As Maui fire victims like Clark inch toward finally receiving their share of a $4.03 billion settlement to compensate them for their losses, one thing has become painfully apparent: Few victims will be made whole, even many who, like Clark, had property insurance. Settlement checks could start flowing…

Rhode Island Governor Dan McKee announced that the state has finalized a settlement agreement with Deloitte Consulting LLP related to the December 2024 cybersecurity incident that shuttered the state’s benefits administration site, RIBridges. In February 2025, Deloitte, the services provider for the site, paid the state $5 million to compensate for the ransomware attack that forced the benefits site offline and exposed private information of some of the more that 650,000 people who use the system. Under the terms of the final agreement, Deloitte has agreed to pay the state an additional $7 million, bringing the state’s total direct financial…

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is delaying the city’s $127 billion budget as he pressures the state to limit a tax credit used by hedge funds, private equity firms and other businesses. Mamdani and City Council Speaker Julie Menin called on Governor Kathy Hochul and lawmakers in Albany to limit the city’s pass-through entity tax credit on Tuesday. The break, known as PTET, allows business owners to bypass federal limits on state and local tax deductions. “More than 95% of PTET credits go to those making more than $1 million a year,” Mamdani said at a press conference inside…

Denver, Colorado-based Rachel McCarter joined Alliant Insurance Services as vice president within its employee benefits group. In this role, she will partner develop and implement benefits services designed to drive value and enhance employee engagement. McCarter has worked with clients across a range of industries and geographic markets as a consultant and business development leader. Prior to Alliant, McCarter was a senior principal with a global employee benefits consulting firm, where she led business development for voluntary benefits across the West and Central regions. Alliant is headquartered in Irvine, California. Topics Alliant Employee Benefits Was this article valuable? Yes No…

Under a bill poised to win approval in the South Carolina legislature, the decades-old practice of letting many drivers automatically enjoy relatively painless windshield replacements may soon disappear. House Bill 4817, titled the “Insurance Rate Reduction and Policy Holder Protection Act,” also would give the state Department of Insurance more investigative and enforcement powers and would set new penalties for insurers and insureds that violate certain statutes. The 40-page bill, which has multiple sponsors, would end the 37-year-old law that exempts auto glass from mandatory auto insurance deductibles for drivers with comprehensive coverage. If passed and signed into law, the…

A group of 80 South Texas plaintiffs are suing Elon Musk’s aerospace company SpaceX, alleging its rocket testing caused “massive” sonic booms that damaged their houses repeatedly over a two-year period. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. Southern District of Texas Court on Thursday, accusing the company of gross negligence and trespassing for loud blasts caused by 11 rocket tests from April 2023 to October 2025. Because some of SpaceX’s tests involve 400-foot, two-stage rockets, with both stages capable of landing, tests sometimes subjected residents’ homes to multiple prolonged periods of damaging noise, according to the suit. During the…

Five members of a pickleball club who died after the small plane carrying them crashed in Texas are being mourned by a tight-knit community of fellow players. The Texas Department of Public Safety confirmed Saturday that Justin Appling, Hayden Dillard, Brooke Skypala, Stacy Hedrick and Seren Wilson were on board the Cessna 421C that crashed Thursday night in Texas Hill Country. Appling was the pilot. The aircraft had departed from Amarillo and was heading to New Braunfels National Airport. It crash-landed in Wimberley, a city about 40 miles (64 kilometers) southwest of Austin, the Texas Department of Public Safety said.…

Berkshire Hathaway reported improved first-quarter performance from the conglomerate’s insurance businesses, but CEO Greg Abel told investors the sector faces competitive headwinds. “The reality is that … as our insurance business softens, we cannot realize the value we should for the related risk,” Abel told shareholders attending Berkshire’s annual meeting in Omaha, Nebraska, on Saturday. The boost in first-quarter revenue to $81.1 billion from $77.6 billion a year earlier reflected what Abel called a “pretty benign period” for insurance losses, one that passed without any major catastrophes such as wildfires or hurricanes. The flip side, he said, is that new…

KBRA, the Kroll Bond Rating Agency, has assigned a BBB issuer rating to Universal Insurance Holdings, along with a BBB credit rating, ahead of the Florida insurance holding company’s refinance of $100 million in unsecured notes. The ratings are slightly lower than the financial strength rating of “A-” that KBRA and the AM Best rating firms granted last fall to Universal Holding’s insurance carriers, Universal Property & Casualty and American Platinum P&C Insurance. “KBRA views UVE’s holding company financial flexibility as supported by substantial recurring dividends and distributions from non-insurance subsidiaries, which provide cash flow not subject to ordinary insurance…