Author: completebodyneeds

The number of independent insurance agencies fell slightly from 39,000 in 2024 to 37,000 in 2026. Good news is that most independent agencies reported profitability across both personal and commercial lines, with significantly fewer agencies reporting revenue decreases compared to 2024, down from 12% to 8%. That’s according to the Big I’s 2026 Agency Universe Study on behalf of Future One, a collaboration of the Big “I” and 16 independent agency companies. The primary focus of the Agency Universe Study is to provide information on the size and characteristics of the independent agency system Key highlights include: Average size of…

The push for a clearinghouse for Citizens Property Insurance commercial policies appears to have hit a snag with little time to spare before a January deadline mandated by Florida statute. “I looked at the numbers and the numbers make no sense and the implementation makes no sense,” Board Chairman Carlos Beruff said at Citizens’ Board of Governors meeting Wednesday. “So, we’re going to go back to the drawing board and figure it out before we bring a policy forward that we can afford and not continue to increase our costs for our ratepayers.” He did not go into detail about…

Kansas Insurance Commissioner Vicki Schmidt, announced a Johnson County man has been sentenced to 24 months of probation for insurance fraud. Dwayne Wright, aged 52, pleaded guilty on July 9, 2026, in Johnson County District Court to two felony counts of insurance fraud. Wright filed multiple fraudulent claims for damaged and stolen materials while at various worksites and forged receipts to validate his fraudulent claims for the materials. He was sentenced on September 14, 2026, to 24 months of probation and ordered to pay $1,449.31 in restitution. “Every time someone commits insurance fraud, it causes families and businesses across Kansas…

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is probing hackers’ claims that they broke into the bureau’s systems and stole thousands of current and former employees’ data, the bureau said in a statement Sept. 23. A group known as ShinyHunters claimed responsibility for the alleged hack on Tuesday. The gang said it had attacked the FBI in retaliation for statements the bureau had made accusing it of making exaggerated claims in the past. One of the hackers shared samples of allegedly stolen FBI documents with Bloomberg. The documents outlined what looked like health reports on FBI employees, which outlined medical conditions and…

Winifred Sylvah picked a handful of plump cucumbers on a cold, wet September morning as raindrops trickled off rows of solar panels in the background. They’ve been a productive plant for Sylvah on a new plot of land at a solar farm in Big Lake. She’s already harvested about 140 pounds of cucumbers, with rows more waiting to be picked. Sylvah is one of three farmers working the land in between and outside the rows of a 1-megawatt solar array in Big Lake. The Big Lake Farm is an example of agrivoltaics, a technique of mixing farming and solar power…

Munich Re Specialty announced it will offer commercial solutions in the Italian primary specialty insurance market, with its Italian headquarters in Milan. Munich Re Specialty intends to provide solutions to a range of clients from small-to-medium-sized enterprises, mid-market and upper mid-market clients in Italy, with first risks insured in early 2027. Building on its long-standing presence in the UK and Ireland and following the commencement of its operations in the Spanish and German primary specialty mid-market, this announcement marks the next stage of Munich Re Specialty’s European strategy. Munich Re Specialty’s new offering in Italy will offer to primary specialty…

A southwest Florida farm manager could soon face years in prison and more than $3 million in restitution after he pleaded guilty to crop insurance fraud at one of Florida’s highest-profile farm operations. Mark Frisbie, 60, of Punta Gorda, pleaded guilty to one count of making a false statement in a federal crop insurance claim and greatly underreporting production and sales from bell pepper crops at farms around Immokalee, near Fort Myers, federal court records show. The plan swindled $1.7 million from the Federal Crop Insurance Corp. and another $1.5 million from the Farm Service Agency, a U.S. Department of…

The Texas Rangers appear to be pursuing criminal charges against Camp Mystic, saying in a search warrant affidavit they believe camp leadership committed crimes including manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide when 27 girls and counselors died in the July 4, 2025 floods, according to The New York Times. “These offenses were committed against child campers — including both deceased victims and surviving campers of the flood event,” an investigator from the Texas Rangers, Brant C. Johnston, wrote in affidavits, according to the Times. The Rangers’ 14 warrants seeking to investigate electronic data of the Eastland family, which ran the camp,…

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) announced that it is ordering a $1.07 million fine against the DataOne data center in Vineland for allegedly installing and operating 62 large natural-gas power generators without the requisite state permits. The DEP said its order stems from a July 29 site inspection of the Cumberland County facility during which its inspectors observed power generators that were not seen during DEP’s last previous site inspection in December 2025. DEP claims the data center has violated the New Jersey Air Pollution Control Act. “This enforcement action – by far the largest ever taken…

Florida’s insurance commissioner announced his office has approved four rate decreases on homeowner policies, averaging 7% and affecting 62,000 policies at renewal. And more rate cuts are on the way—further evidence that taking excessive litigation out of the equation has had a big impact on the once-struggling Florida property insurance market. “I expect to see more aggressive rate cuts in the near future and going into 2027,” Commissioner Michael Yaworsky said in a statement Tuesday. “OIR is receiving a flood of rate decrease requests,” ranging from 0.3% to 19.7. “This is great news for Floridians and OIR will expedite reviews…