Author: completebodyneeds

A judge in Washington on Wednesday blocked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from sending landmark California vehicle emissions rules for a potential repeal to the Republican-controlled Congress. The four waivers sent by the EPA to Congress for review granted ⁠California authority to enact its own emission standards for cars and trucks as well as lawn-and-garden equipment. The Trump administration has mounted a multi-pronged effort to deny California the ability to require cleaner and more electric vehicles. The EPA and Congress have also enacted rules making it easier for automakers to sell more gas-powered cars and trucks, while making it more…

Since countries signed onto the 2015 Paris Agreement, the United Nations has regularly reported on the world’s progress at limiting global warming to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels. A landmark UN report published today brings an end to that era — and the beginning of a new one. The world will likely surpass 1.5C in the next few years, it says, and warming will peak at around 1.8C in the best-case scenario. Without changes to current policies, warming could reach roughly 2.6C. Today’s long-term warming level stands at 1.4C, with occasional spikes above that. Since exceeding the 1.5C threshold is virtually…

This article is part of a sponsored series by EZLynx. Key Takeaways As a captive, your carrier hands you the technology. As an independent, you serve as both the buyer and the administrator. Licensing, appointments and entity setup get checklist attention. The operating model rarely gets equal weight. New agencies running multiple disconnected tools pay for it in duplicate data entry every single day. The tooling decision belongs before the license and the office lease. Every captive agent has thought about making the move. Fewer have thought about the first time a client calls to discuss a policy that lives…

This article is part of a sponsored series by Fulcrum. Over the course of my career I have been involved in more than 25 agency acquisitions, first as VP of Agency Operations at a large independent brokerage working through an aggressive growth period, and more recently through my work helping brokerages redesign the operational infrastructure that integrations tend to expose. Across all of those transactions, the financial due diligence varied. The attention to operational readiness varied even more. What stayed consistent were the patterns. The agencies that integrated smoothly shared certain characteristics, and after enough repetitions those characteristics become fairly…

Silva to Succeed Retiring Welch as Amica SVP and Chief Claims Officer Amica Mutual Insurance Co., headquartered in Lincoln, Rhode Island, announced that Sean Welch, senior vice president and chief claims officer, will retire at the end of the year following a 41-year career with the company. Effective December 1, Acel Silva will succeed Welch in the role. Welch played a pivotal role in shaping Amica’s Claims organization, helping strengthen Amica’s customer-first claims experience while acting as a mentor for generations of leaders across the company. Silva brings over 20 years of leadership experience in the property/casualty insurance industry to…

South Korea’s Samsung Group-affiliated insurers plan to acquire London-based reinsurance company Canopius by buying an additional 50% stake for more than 2 trillion won ($1.47 billion), the Korea Economic Daily said on Thursday. Samsung Fire and Marine Insurance Co. and Samsung Life Insurance Co. are expected to sign a deal with major share owners including asset manager Centerbridge Partners, it added, citing unnamed industry sources. Samsung Fire and Samsung Life now hold a 40% share in Canopius, the paper said. Nothing has been decided at this stage, the two companies said in a statement. In a regulatory filing, Samsung Life…

Philadelphia Insurance Companies (PHLY) announced the launch of PHLY TankEAS, a self-service online platform that allows agents and brokers to quote, bind, and issue admitted policies for eligible risks under PHLY’s Storage Tank Environmental Policy (STEP) program. The portal reduces manual steps in the insurance process for above-ground and underground storage tank exposures. The launch comes as storage tank owners and operators face persistent environmental liability risk. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates there are more than one million above and underground storage tanks nationwide storing petroleum or hazardous substances. Cleanup and remediation expenses from leaks can reach tens…

A U.S. appeals court on Wednesday reversed a federal labor board ruling that said Starbucks broke the law by barring workers at a flagship Manhattan store with a “steampunk hipster vibe” from wearing t-shirts or multiple pins supporting a union. The New York-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the National Labor Relations Board failed to properly balance Starbucks’ ability to present its preferred image to customers with its workers’ rights to encourage unionizing. Starbucks and a spokesman for the labor board did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The ruling is the latest by a U.S. appeals…

Insurance continued to be the biggest generator of complaints to the Oregon Division of Financial Regulation, according to the division, which reported it recovered $3.88 million through the first six months of 2026. Insurance produced the majority of complaints filed with more than 1,000 complaints in each of the first two quarters. Credit unions (120 complaints) and mortgage servicers (87) were other areas regulated by the division high on the list. Consumer finance (40), banking (25) and securities (47) were other big industries on the list. Related: Insurance Matters Topped Consumer Cases in Oregon in 2024 A few examples of…

New York’s attempt to make fossil fuel-producing industries pay into a $75 billion fund to repair the damage wrought by climate change was struck down by a federal judge, who said the sweeping law reaches beyond a state’s responsibility and into an area of federal interest. The law, signed in 2024 by Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul, was challenged in court by a range of fossil fuel interests, business associations including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, 22 Republican state attorneys general and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. U.S. District Judge Brenda Sannes ruled Monday that the state’s climate law operated on…