Author: completebodyneeds

Spirit Airlines, an impish upstart that shook the industry with its irreverent ads and deep discount fares, announced this week that it has gone out of business after 34 years. The ultralow cost airline that once operated hundreds of daily flights on its bright yellow planes and employed about 17,000 people said it had “started an orderly wind-down of our operations, effective immediately.” Although Spirit had gone bankrupt twice before, the company said high oil prices, which have been rising because of the war with Iran, made it impossible to stay aloft. The airline, with offices in West Palm Beach,…

Texas Mutual Insurance Company, the state’s leading provider of workers’ compensation insurance, announced that its board of directors has approved a $300 million general dividend distribution for 2026. This marks the 28th consecutive year Texas Mutual has paid a general dividend to its policyholder owners. With this year’s payout, the company will have distributed more than $5.1 billion back to businesses across the state. Dividends are expected to be issued in June to approximately 74,000 qualifying policyholders. Texas Mutual’s dividend program is rooted in its mission to promote safer workplaces across the state. This year, about 90% of policyholders will…

Howden announced it has acquired the intellectual property assets of Cybeta, LLC, a cyber data and analytics provider. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Howden said the acquisition enables the brokerage to provide clients with faster, more precise insight into cyber risk, supporting better underwriting, placement, and claims outcomes. Cybeta was founded in 2019 by a team of data science experts with experience in the U.S. Department of Defense and intelligence communities. Former members of Cybeta’s team will join Howden, bringing deep expertise in proactive, expert-driven cyber threat intelligence and predictive analytics. The acquisition bolsters Howden’s U.S. cyber practice,…

Firefighters worked through the night to extinguish a blaze at a laboratory on the University of South Florida campus in St. Petersburg and officials said Sunday that the building could be a total loss. The fire Saturday night prompted evacuations and sent up plumes of billowing smoke from the marine science lab building. No injuries were reported and no hazardous materials were released, USF President Moez Limayem wrote in a message to students and staff. The cause of the fire remained under investigation. Limayem said damage assessments were ongoing, but the destruction was extensive. “Our recovery teams are working with…

Pennsylvania has sued the artificial intelligence company behind Character.AI to stop its chatbot from posing as doctors. Governor Josh Shapiro on Tuesday called the lawsuit against Character Technologies the first of its kind by a U.S. governor. It followed the creation in February of a state AI task force to stop chatbots from impersonating licensed medical professionals. In a complaint filed in the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, the state said it found chatbots on Character.AI that claimed to practice medicine. One character, “Emilie,” allegedly told a male investigator posing as a patient with depression that she was licensed to practice…

The White House is reviewing a proposal from the Securities and Exchange Commission to formally end Biden-era climate disclosure rules for publicly-traded companies. The regulator sent the measure to the White House’s Office of Management and Budget for review on May 4, according to a post on a government website. The old corporate disclosure regulations, issued under former SEC Chair Gary Gensler, had never been implemented amid a spate of legal challenges. The Trump administration had effectively set the rules aside a year ago when the regulator told a judge that it would no longer to defend the policy in…

Exceptionally warm waters and a developing El Niño will increase the risk of direct hurricane impacts in Hawaii, Southern California and parts of Mexico this year, according to an AccuWeather analysis out on Wednesday. The forecast shows the Eastern and Central Pacific basins are expected to produce above the historical average number of named storms, hurricanes and major hurricanes in 2026. Related: Worsening Ocean Heat Waves Are ‘Supercharging’ Hurricane Damage, Study Finds The 2026 Eastern Pacific hurricane season forecast calls for 17 to 22 named storms, nine to 13 hurricanes, four to eight major hurricanes and six to nine direct…

Elon Musk agreed to pay $1.5 million to settle Securities and Exchange Commission allegations that he cheated Twitter shareholders in 2022 by failing to properly disclose his growing stake in the social media company. An Elon Musk revocable trust would pay the penalty to end the SEC’s lawsuit under the plan, which is still subject to court approval. Musk didn’t admit to the regulator’s allegations, according to a filing on Monday. It’s a much smaller penalty than what Musk’s attorney said the SEC initially sought. The agency in December 2024 asked Musk to pay more than $200 million to settle,…

ACORD, the global standards-setting body for the insurance industry, announced the formation of the ACORD Inter-Association Advisory Council (IAAC). IAAC is a coalition of North American property/casualty associations representing independent agents, brokers, and intermediaries across the North American distribution channel. The IAAC aims to advance digital communication and improve the efficiency of the P/C market by ensuring data is consistent, high-quality, and standardized for organizations to succeed. The inaugural meeting on May 4 included leaders from ACORD, AUGIE Group (an insurance tech exchange), the Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers (CIAB), the Centre for Study of Insurance Operations (CSIO), the…

Gov. Abigail Spanberger is weighing whether to sign or veto legislation that would, for the first time, allow Virginians to file class action lawsuits in state courts — a shift advocates say would expand access to justice, but one that has drawn pushback over how far the change should go. Proposal would create long-missing legal pathway, but governor’s changes draw pushback over limits on venue and damages. Virginia is one of only two states, along with Mississippi, that does not provide a formal class action procedure in its state court system. As a result, groups of plaintiffs cannot currently band…