Author: completebodyneeds

California regulators apologized to SpaceX CEO Elon Musk this week as they settled a lawsuit that claimed a state agency showed political bias against the rocket company and its chief executive. As part of the settlement, the California Coastal Commission acknowledged its members made “improper” statements about Musk’s political beliefs at a 2024 hearing on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 launch program. “The commission agrees that it may not consider irrelevant factors in performing its function and specifically agrees that it will not take into account the perceived political beliefs, political speech or labor practices of SpaceX or its officers in considering…

A few Iran-linked vessels are making their way through the Strait of Hormuz, as the crucial waterway remains effectively closed to most international shipping amid blockades by both Tehran and the US. Just a single Iran-linked fuel tanker was observed entering the Persian Gulf on Thursday morning, with no exits for the day recorded so far, according to vessel-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. That follows just three outbound and two inbound transits of dry cargo ships on Wednesday, most of which have ties to Tehran. Brent crude futures earlier hit a four-year high amid the supply disruption. The US and…

Reflecting the property protection philosophy that has driven the company for nearly two centuries, commercial property insurer FM has earned a Guinness World Records title for the world’s largest display of fire sprinklers. A total of 1,007 sprinklers line the wall of the FM Research Campus lobby in West Glocester, Rhode Island, with models spanning from the 19th century to the present. The facility is about 20 miles northwest of FM’s headquarters in Johnston. “You are officially amazing and the recipient of a brand-new Guinness World Records title,” said Guinness World Records Adjudicator Thomas Bradford, who counted every device in…

Camp Mystic on Thursday said it has withdrawn its application for an operating license, a decision that means it will not reopen to campers this summer. The decision follows a grueling hearing earlier this week when Texas lawmakers pushed the family that runs the camp to consider if they were truly ready to reopen after 25 campers and two counselors died there during last year’s July 4 flood, along with the camp’s executive director Dick Eastland. Family members of the girls who died also spoke passionately to the camp directors in that hearing about their loss. “No administrative process or…

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has secured an agreement with Northeast Gravel Company and Boulder Creek Development Corporation to address PFAS contamination at their Belmont property. The Administrative Order on Consent (PDF) requires the companies to investigate the extent of PFAS contamination at the property, conduct necessary response activities, and take actions to protect residents whose drinking water has been impacted. Northeast Gravel Company previously operated a landfill at the Belmont site. In 2018, one of the cells at the landfill was found to be leaking PFAS, which was subsequently discovered to be contaminating groundwater used for drinking water by…

Glass shards flew everywhere as Eric Gockel waited out one of the worst hailstorms to hit Missouri. One of the softball-size hunks of ice that hit the Springfield area on Tuesday measured 4.75 inches (12 centimeters). The hail killed an emu at the zoo, injured some drivers, knocked out power to thousands and damaged hundreds of vehicles and even some aircraft. “I feel blessed that I came out unscathed,” Gockel, whose windshield was battered as he waited in his car along the side of a highway for the storm to pass, said Wednesday. Severe spring weather is plaguing the South…

The Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California has submitted a September 1, 2026, pure premium rate filing to the California Insurance Commissioner proposing advisory pure premium rates that will be on average 10.4% above the average approved September 1, 2025 advisory pure premium rates. The WCRIB’s proposed advisory pure premium rates are based on insurer losses and loss adjustment expenses incurred during accident years 2025 and prior. According to the WCIRB, drivers of the change include increased frequency of cumulative trauma claims as well as higher medical costs and allocated loss adjustment expenses. Once the CDI schedules a public…

The Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation celebrated more than $670,000 in IICF Community Grants awarded across the region to 78 nonprofit partners at its 11th annual IICF Western Division Horizon Award Gala. The event was held drew insurance leaders from across the Western U.S., along with IICF’s nonprofit partners, to celebrate their efforts to help local communities. The IICF Western Division also bestowed its Golden Horizon Award on Loren Nickel, director, business risk and insurance at Alphabet Inc., parent company of Google. The IICF Golden Horizon Award honors those within the insurance community who have demonstrated philanthropic leadership. Nickel’s risk and…

A New Jersey jury has awarded $5.2 million to a Watchung man who suffered spinal injuries after being hit in an accident in a Costco parking lot in 2017. The jury rejected the claim by the other driver and his insurer that the injury was caused by the man lifting his 12-pound dog, not by the accident. On October 22, 2017, Marc Ferrara was in his car waiting in line for gas at the Costco in North Plainfield. When he opened his door to exit his car to check on his child in the back seat, he was struck by…

A businessman accused of stealing more than $50 million from hundreds of people in upstate New York as part of a massive Ponzi scheme pleaded guilty this week to charges stemming from the fraud, according to the state attorney general. Miles “Burt” Marshall faces four to 12 years in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree grand larceny, securities fraud and first-degree scheme to defraud, according to the attorney general’s office, which secured an indictment against him last summer. Marshall, 74, prepared taxes and sold insurance in the quaint village of Hamilton, near Colgate University. For decades, he also took money…