Author: completebodyneeds

As the 2026 hurricane season blows in today and a state-funded wind-mitigation program remains as popular as ever, a Florida entrepreneur named John Smith wants a word. The My Safe Florida Home program, providing matching grants for window and door protections, is ripping off taxpayers and is installing hurricane shutters that can’t be easily removed in case of a fire inside the home, Smith said in recent interviews and court filings. “People are dying because of the shutters. That’s what is so incredible,” Smith said. Smith, of Winter Park, is founder and president of StormStoppers, which employs a lightweight, lower-cost,…

Hackers are still trying to trick people to exploit an organization’s systems, but more breaches now with software vulnerabilities Stolen passwords, or credential abuse, are no longer the top way hackers breach systems, according to Verizon’s latest annual Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR). Exploitation of software vulnerabilities now accounts for 31% of security incidents analyzed by Verizon. Credential abuse is now down to 13% of incidents. Verizon said “vulnerability management is an incredibly important risk mitigation process that needs to exist in virtually every organization, but the headwinds facing organizations implementing it have been discouraging, to say the least.” “Put…

Hail volatility and aging roofs are driving higher residential replacement severity, a new study by data analytics and technology provider Verisk finds. Roof losses didn’t slow despite a 20 percent decline in overall claims volume in 2025. Data showed that the average U.S. residential replacement costs jumped 33% and repair costs climbed 25% in 2025, compared to the prior four-year average. Average residential roof replacement costs reached $17,631 in 2025, with repair costs averaging $4,699. Residential roof replacement cost value (RCV) declined to $23 billion in 2025, compared to an average of $24.4 billion from 2021 to 2024, the study…

The US Securities and Exchange Commission wants to formally kill rules it’s now calling a “dramatic overreach” of its own authority that would have required public companies to report greenhouse gas emissions and climate-related risks to their operations. The 2024 rules, which never went into effect, were “unsound as a matter of policy,” the SEC said May 29 in a proposal that would officially dismantle the Biden-era regulations. “We need to stick to our knitting,” Chairman Paul Atkins said on Fox Business Friday morning. “Let the Environmental Protection Agency do their job and we stick to our job.” Comments on…

A bus crashed into vehicles slowing for a work zone on Interstate 95 in Virginia early Friday, killing five people and injuring dozens, including the driver, authorities said. The crash happened at about 2:35 a.m. on southbound I-95 in Stafford County, near Quantico. All five of the people who died were in vehicles hit by the bus, and 44 people were taken to hospitals, including three in critical condition, police said. “The preliminary investigation indicates that traffic was slowing southbound for an upcoming work zone,” state police said in a news release. “A bus failed to slow for traffic and…

Illinois lawmakers this week passed a pair of bills that gives the insurance department the authority to review homeowners and auto rate filings to determine whether they are excessive. The insurance industry has heavily opposed the legislative measures, warning that expanded government control over insurance rates will reduce competition and drive prices. HB 4273 and SB 714 give the Illinois Department of Insurance the ability to review and overturn rate increases that are deemed “excessive, inadequate or unfairly discriminatory.” Brian Christenberry, regional vice president for NAMIC, said the bills add a tighter regulatory framework without addressing the underlying drivers of…

Climate change is in the background this US election year as high prices, conflict in the Middle East, AI and other issues take center stage. But that doesn’t mean the public has forgotten about it. More than half of Americans regard climate change as a very or moderately big problem, and only a quarter of them think the world is equipped to address the challenge, according to new survey results from the Pew Research Center. Since the group’s previous poll on the topic in 2022, storms, heat and wildfires worsened by greenhouse gas pollution have continued to damage communities and…

Five straight years of record heat, sporadic rainfall and divided leadership has Corpus Christi in danger of becoming the first U.S. city to run short of water. Only rain — lots of it — can keep the coastal city from that grim fate. Accessible sources of short-term water, including newly drilled wells, have already been tapped. A controversial desalination plant with the ability to filter seawater — rejected last year over cost and environmental concerns — is back on the table but years away from producing. Building a new lake-size reservoir is another option, but that would take even longer.…

A Kentucky food-coloring manufacturer made a number of missteps and was not equipped to prevent the 2024 runaway chemical reaction that killed two workers and caused millions of dollars in damage to the plant and surrounding neighborhoods. That was the conclusion from the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, which this week released its final report on the Givaudan Sense Colour explosion in Louisville. “This tragic incident was a catastrophe waiting to happen,” Chemical Safety Board (CSB) Chairman Steve Owens said in a statement. “The reactor’s pressure relief system was not designed to release pressure from a reaction like…

Legal reforms, improved building resilience, and disciplined underwriting have combined to restore confidence in the Florida re/insurance market – leading to increased capacity as well as improved terms and pricing during the June reinsurance renewals, according to Guy Carpenter. Since landmark tort reforms were enacted in December 2022, Florida’s property insurance market has strengthened with domestic underwriters posting a 76.8% combined ratio in 2025, said Carpenter in its report titled “June 2026 Florida Reinsurance Renewals – A Thriving Market Restoring Capital to Healthy Levels.” “Policyholders’ surplus surged by 45%, as carriers continued to rebuild from the eroded capital levels that…