Author: completebodyneeds

Joshua Baer, the founder and chief executive officer of the venture capital firm Capital Factory, died Tuesday in a plane crash in South Texas, the Austin American-Statesman reported. Baer, a major player in the Texas technology and startup space, was traveling from San José del Cabo, Mexico, to Austin on a business jet with six people on board when it went down on a highway near Laredo at about 10 p.m. local time. Police said there was only one fatality from the crash of the Cessna Citation Latitude, which was operated by NetJets. “Joshua was a fearless leader, a brilliant…

Expanding biofuel demand is a “powerful catalyst” to restore profitability to American farms, according to a new study, as harvests balloon and lawmakers consider broadening the market for corn-based ethanol. Climbing crop yields are creating persistent surpluses thanks to better technology, yet at the same time demand is stagnating, according to research by S&P Global Energy. The scenario will lead to reduced cropland and dropping farmer profits, according to the study. “Without new markets, sustained surpluses are likely to place downward pressure on prices, erode farm incomes, weaken rural economies, and discourage long-term investment and innovation,” the study said. Expanding…

Zurich is committing to expand its property coverage availability in areas designated as distressed in California in a new filing. Zurich U.S. submitted a commercial property insurance rate filing in California under the state’s Sustainable Insurance Strategy, an effort by Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara and the California Department of Insurance to address the state’s insurance market crisis. Zurich is among the first commercial insurance providers to take advantage of the initiative. The Travelers Companies in April said it intends to expand its homeowners insurance offerings across California. Travelers notified the CDI it intends to expand homeowners insurance availability across the…

Uber Technologies Inc. will offer driverless robotaxi rides in Houston in vehicles developed by Lucid Group Inc. and Nuro Inc., setting it up to challenge Waymo in the fourth-largest US city. Nuro is already testing the vehicles in Houston, but the service won’t launch until mid-2027, Uber said in a statement Wednesday. An Uber spokesperson declined to specify how many cars will be available in Houston, saying more details will be shared closer to launch. Lucid is expected to expand its fleet of test vehicles produced at its Arizona factory in the coming weeks to be used for further safety…

Ward Joins Alliant Insurance Services Benefits Team as SVP Brandon Ward joined Alliant Insurance Services as senior vice president within its employee benefits group. Ward has a background working with technology companies, venture-backed businesses and growth-stage organizations. His experience includes human capital management, employee benefits, total rewards consulting, executive and board-level advisory services, and talent attraction and retention planning. Prior to joining Alliant, Ward was a business consultant with an employee benefits consulting firm. Alliant is headquartered in Irvine, California. Delos Insurance Solutions Appoints Cammet Chief Product Officer Delos Insurance Solutions appointed Wendy Cammet to a newly created role of…

A federal judge sent Bayer’s proposed $7.25 billion Roundup settlement back to state court on Wednesday, overruling objections from plaintiffs who had argued the state court had no power to implement a nationwide resolution of lawsuits that claim the company’s Roundup weedkiller causes cancer. U.S. District Judge Henry Edward Autrey in St. Louis sided with Bayer, concluding that the objecting plaintiffs did not have the power to transfer the case to federal court because only the defendant in a case has that right. The ruling is likely to bolster Bayer’s efforts to win approval of the sweeping settlement by restoring…

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…