Author: completebodyneeds

Higginbotham, ranked as the 16th-largest independent brokerage in the U.S., has expanded again, this time with the acquisition of Blanton & Griffin Insurance Agency in Valdosta, Georgia. The collaboration adds southern Georgia market strength and an established local team to Higginbotham’s growing Georgia presence, while giving Blanton & Griffin expanded resources, carrier relationships and service support, the company said in a news release. Blanton has retained its name but is now known as a Higginbotham partner, its website shows. The agency was born in 1985 with the merger of Lou Blanton and Archie Griffin agencies. It has focused on commercial…

Demand for ocean divers who specialize in barnacle scraping is soaring as ships stranded in the Persian Gulf for more than three months prepare to disembark. The surge in orders for crews to clean ship hulls fouled by algae, slime and crustaceans has jumped more than 30-fold since US President Donald Trump announced an interim peace deal with Iran that will reopen the Strait of Hormuz, said Captain Manandeep Singh Kukreja, chief surveyor at Dubai-based Prominence Shipping Services LLC. The rush has the potential to push the fees commanded by scraping crews for underwater work on a single vessel up…

Hiscox appoints Bailey as Head of Channel, Traded and Corix in the US Lori Bailey Hiscox, with headquarters in Atlanta, appointed Lori Bailey as head of channel, traded and Corix. Bailey will report to Mary Boyd, CEO of Hiscox USA, and will serve on the Hiscox U.S. leadership team. Bailey will lead Hiscox USA’s traded channel, in addition to the recently acquired Corix business. Prior to joining Hiscox, Bailey served as head of global cyber and technology for Axis. With nearly 30 years of experience in the industry, she has served as chief insurance officer with Corvus Insurance and held…

Some coral reef ecosystems have a far greater chance of surviving the effects of climate change than previously understood, according to new global research. About 166,000 square kilometers (64,093 square miles) of coral reefs across 71 countries have capacity to either withstand or recover from the effects of global warming, a study presented Tuesday by the Wildlife Conservation Society and Macquarie University found. Roughly 60% of the climate-resilient reefs are located in Australia, the Bahamas, Cuba, Indonesia, and the Philippines, scientists said in the paper outlined at a conference in Mombasa, Kenya. Marine heatwaves have triggered an accelerating pattern of…

Amazon.com Inc. is facing a possible lawsuit from the US Federal Trade Commission that may lead to billions of dollars in civil penalties, over claims the e-commerce giant misled advertisers, according to people familiar with the matter. The FTC, which enforces antitrust and consumer laws, has drafted a potential complaint against Amazon as part of an ongoing investigation by the regulator, said some of the people, who asked not to be named discussing a confidential matter. Multiple state attorneys general are also involved, the people said. The federal agency may wrap up its investigation either through a lawsuit or settlement…

Six months after President Donald Trump warned states not to regulate artificial intelligence, they are increasingly doing just that. Congress has stalled on producing federal regulation of artificial intelligence as states forge ahead and scrutinize how chatbots interact with children, how AI systems are used by employers and what developers must do to try to prevent an AI-caused catastrophe. State lawmakers have stepped back from earlier, wider-ranging attempts to regulate AI that were vetoed or otherwise derailed by governors who viewed the measures as too onerous toward the industry’s development, including efforts to hold developers accountable for bias in AI…

A Flint, Michigan man was charged last week in a criminal complaint with arson and other related offenses for setting fire to St. Mark Missionary Baptist Church, United States Attorney Jerome F. Gorgon Jr. announced. According to the criminal complaint, in the early morning hours of August 30, 2025, St. Mark Missionary Baptist Church in Flint, Michigan was intentionally set on fire. The incident was captured on St. Mark’s video surveillance cameras and shows a suspect, alleged to be Billy J. Chambers, setting the church on fire. In the video, Chambers brought a gas can wrapped in a black trash…

The anti-referral provision in Pennsylvania’s workers’ compensation law does not prevent a provider from referring a patient to a pharmacy in which the provider has a financial interest. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has ruled 5-2 that the law’s prohibition on self-referrals is limited to the eight enumerated categories of services listed in the plain language of the statute — a list that does not include prescription drugs or professional pharmaceutical services. The court rejected the argument that the phrase “goods or services” in the law acts as a catchall category to bring other unenumerated services, including prescription drugs and professional…

Days before the beginning of Pride Month in June, a glamorous drag queen with long, wavy red hair, a matching mustache and carabiner earrings stared into a camera and levied a strong accusation against a famous sustainable outdoors apparel brand: “This is a corporation trying to erase an activist.” The drag queen, Pattie Gonia, said in the video she was breaking her silence on a lawsuit filed against her by Patagonia, a brand blazed across the chests of adventure athletes and midtown Manhattan investment bankers alike. The apparel company is suing her for $1 for alleged trademark infringement, although experts…

A former Atlanta City Council member will face incumbent Insurance Commissioner John King in the Nov. 3 election, after she defeated a longtime insurance agent in the Tuesday runoff. Waites (Linkedin) Georgia voters gave Keisha Sean Waites some 58.7%, or 223,909 votes in the Democratic Party runoff, compared to 41.3%, or 157,519 votes for Decatur-based State Farm Insurance agent DeAndre Mathis, the Georgia Secretary of State reported. Both Waites, a former state legislator, and Mathis had campaigned on a pledge to end insurers’ use of ZIP codes and credit scores to set premiums for Georgia policyholders. King, a Republican, was…