Author: completebodyneeds

Vermont voters will have the chance to weigh in on another amendment to the state’s constitution this fall. The proposal, which got a final sign-off from the House last Wednesday, is aimed at ensuring all people are treated equally under the law regardless of their race, ethnicity, sex, religion, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or nationality. A statewide vote is the last step in the yearslong process that PR.4, or any other proposed change to Vermont’s founding document, must follow. The Senate, where the measure was first proposed nearly a decade ago, gave its final sign-off to the…

The U.S. property/casualty insurance industry posted another record in the first quarter of 2026, with a combined ratio of 89.5—before policyholder dividends—standing as the best first-quarter underwriting result in at least 25 years. The insight comes from S&P Global Market Intelligence, which also said the first-quarter 2026 ratio including policyholder dividends was 91.9, better than any comparable result recorded since 2006. Translated into dollars, the underwriting gain is roughly $22.1 billion, a figure that was driven primarily by exceptional results in the homeowners multiperil and private auto lines, according to S&P GMI. The result comes amid heightened competition in key…

The Ebola outbreak probably started months ago in central Africa and spread undetected until a super-spreader event in early May, possibly a funeral, World Health Organization officials said. The rare Bundibugyo strain circulated for “a couple months” before being identified in blood samples on May 15, Anaïs Legand, WHO’s technical lead for viral hemorrhagic fevers, said at a briefing Wednesday. The first confirmed death took place April 20, and experts used social media posts to reconstruct the recent progress of the virus after the super-spreader event on May 5. Two factors complicated efforts to identify the virus earlier. Authorities used…

Shell Plc is facing off with climate activists at the top Dutch court over demands for legally enforceable emissions cuts on Europe’s biggest oil and gas company. The Netherlands branch of Friends of the Earth, Milieudefensie, is try to convince judges that the London-based company has a duty to reduce its CO2 emissions to 45% below 2019 levels by 2030 to keep its net zero 2050 target on track. Shell disagrees, arguing that lawmakers, and not courts, should have the power to set limits on a company. Friday’s hearing at the Supreme Court follows a long legal battle testing whether…

Ecologists are concerned that the war in the Middle East risks creating an environmental disaster, as satellite images show that the number of oil slicks in the Persian Gulf has increased significantly since the beginning of the conflict in the region in late February. “If it disperses towards a coastal system, that’s going to have detrimental impacts to any bird species, fishing resources and communities that are dependent on them,” said Liz Atwood, a senior scientist at the Plymouth Marine Laboratory, a UK-based research center. Experts said the slicks could be the result of attacks on ships or on oil…

A 36-year-old Ohio man has been sentenced for computer fraud after causing more than $860,000 in losses, Acting U.S. Attorney John G.E. Marck announced. Maxwell Schultz, Columbus, Ohio, pleaded guilty Nov. 18, 2025. Senior U.S. District Judge Lee H. Rosenthal has now ordered him to serve 24 months in federal prison to be immediately followed by three years of supervised release. At the hearing, the court heard about the damage and sophistication of the attack and how Schultz used another employee’s account to mask his intrusion which led to the investigation of that account initially. In handing down the sentence,…

A projection for when Corpus Christi expects to reach a water crisis was pushed back by three months after a wet April brought enough rain to delay an emergency but too little to quench a brutal drought. The city was initially bracing for a Level 1 emergency — the point when water demand is projected to be six months from exceeding supplies — to hit by September. Rain that the community has long prayed for fell last month, delaying the Level 1 projection to December and buying the city a few more months to plan for the expected emergency. Still,…

The US Army Corps of Engineers finalized an easement for a stretch of the Dakota Access pipeline that passes under a North Dakota lake, ending a years-long environmental review of the hotly contested oil conduit. The record of decision issued Thursday followed the US Army Corps’ December publication of an environmental impact statement that evaluated whether the pipeline could continue operating beneath Lake Oahe. Thursday’s result includes additional conditions including enhanced leak detection and monitoring requirements, according to a statement. The Dakota Access conduit began operating in 2017 and transports as much as 750,000 barrels of oil daily from North…

Church Mutual announced several leadership appointments to support its continued growth and operational focus. The company announced Daniel Kim has joined the company as senior vice president and chief financial officer, reporting to president and CEO Alan Ogilvie. Kim brings nearly two decades of insurance and financial leadership experience. Most recently, he served as Head of Planning & Performance Management for Zurich Cover-More, where he led enterprise planning, forecasting, and performance management. Prior to that, he served as CFO for Zurich’s Japan Property & Casualty business. Dewey Gantz, former senior vice president and chief financial officer, will transition into the…

A real estate broker says an organization denied her the opportunity to purchase land in an Arkansas development because of her Jewish ancestry, and because she has a Black husband and biracial children, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday in federal court. The lawsuit, filed in Arkansas on behalf of Michelle Walker, names Return to the Land, a development whose owners have said they must personally confirm that applicants are white before they are accepted, its Ozarks chapter and five officers. It says Return to the Land founders are “explicitly attempting to establish an all-white community.” The lawsuit also calls…