Author: completebodyneeds

Insurance Journal’s Risky Future series is hosting the “AI Tools for Homeowners Data” Demo Day, a series of free AI tool demonstrations designed exclusively for home insurers. This event features property data platforms and AI tools designed to enhance homeowners underwriting, catastrophe modeling, inspection and analysis, and more. In partnership with Insurance Journal, Risky Future’s AI Tools for Homeowners Data Demo Day will be held on Wednesday, May 13. Beginning at 1pm ET, AI technology experts will present and demo their products to attendees. Vendors will demonstrate property attribute enrichment, wildfire/hail/wind modeling, roof condition analysis, replacement cost tools, and real-time…

Connecticut has enacted legislation addressing wage theft in the building trades; job protections for services workers; and compensation for workers who are assaulted on the job, including nurses and teachers; The new law also requires employers to disclose position wage ranges and general benefit descriptions in job postings. Governor Ned Lamont signed into law Public Act 26-12, noting that the omnibus bill passed with bipartisan support. He called the new provisions “commonsense safeguards on behalf of those who keep our state and our economy running.” The omnibus measure includes enhanced workers’ compensation for assaulted workers. Teachers, health care providers, and…

Rufus French, a former NFL player who starred at Ole Miss, was sentenced last week to over 16 years in prison for orchestrating a years-long scheme to scam government agencies out of nearly $200 million by selling patient information and sham doctors’ orders for orthotic braces that patients did not want or need. According to the Department of Justice, French worked with overseas telemarketing call centers that pressured elderly Americans to provide their personal and health insurance information and agree to accept medically unnecessary orthotic braces. French paid sham telemedicine companies kickbacks to obtain signed doctors’ orders from doctors and…

New Zealand’s government plans a law change to prevent private legal action against greenhouse gas emitters, arguing cases have created business uncertainty and deterred investment. The amendment will impact current and future proceedings before the courts, including a case brought by climate campaigner Mike Smith against companies including Fonterra Co-operative Group, Genesis Energy, Z Energy and New Zealand Steel. Smith’s case alleges that the companies’ emissions add to damage from climate change, creating a public nuisance for him and others. His case is due to be heard in the High Court next year, after the Supreme Court overruled a lower…

Iran says it’s deployed small submarines to act as an “invisible guardian” of the Strait of Hormuz amid a series of rejected peace deals between Tehran and the US. The Islamic Republic has at least 16 of the Ghadir-class midget submarines, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies. Each has a crew of fewer than 10 people and can carry either two torpedoes or two Chinese-designed C-704 anti-ship cruise missiles. But they are noisy compared with most modern submarines, according to a person familiar with the matter, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter. Their crews…

Netflix NFLX.O was sued on Monday by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who accused the streaming company of spying on children and other consumers by collecting their data without consent, and designing its platform to be addictive. Texas said that for years, Netflix has falsely represented to consumers that it did not collect or share user data, when it actually tracked and sold viewers’ habits and preferences to commercial data brokers and advertising technology companies, making billions of dollars a year. The Los Gatos, California-based company was also accused of quietly using “dark patterns” to keep users watching, including an…

Hopes for a peace deal on Iran faded on Tuesday after Donald Trump said a ceasefire with Iran was “on life support” as Tehran rejected a U.S. proposal to end the conflict and stuck to a list of demands the U.S. president described as “garbage.” Iran has called for an end to the war on all fronts, including Lebanon, where U.S. ally Israel is fighting Iran-backed Hezbollah militants. Tehran also emphasized its sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz, demanded compensation for war damage, and an end to the U.S. naval blockade, among other conditions. Trump said Iran’s response threatened the…

Appealing to voters’ anxieties about the soaring cost of living is central to Democrats’ messaging in their hopes of big wins in this year’s midterm elections. In Oregon, a question on the primary ballot is complicating that strategy. The Democratic-controlled Legislature raised the state gas tax and a range of fees last fall as a way to pay for road improvements and plug a hole in the state’s transportation budget. Republicans responded with a petition to repeal the increases, leading to a referendum that will land before voters just as the Iran war is causing the price of gas to…

New York City’s Rent Guidelines Board voted to set a 0% to 2% range for rent increases for roughly one million stabilized apartments, putting Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s pledged freeze within reach. The nine-member panel approved the preliminary range for one-year leases Thursday and set a range of 0% to 4% for two-year leases. The initial vote doesn’t set rents. A final decision will be made in June by the board, which will choose one percentage within the range as the limit for rent hikes. Mamdani’s focus on rents helped launch the 34-year-old Democratic socialist to City Hall in November amid…

Across the insurance landscape, a familiar tension is playing out. Interest in captives and alternative risk solutions is rising, even as many small and mid-size businesses still miss the basics when premiums spike, disasters hit, or litigation arises. The result is a widening gap between what companies think they’re protected against and what they can withstand. The conversation around 831(b) plans often centers on structure and compliance. That matters. But the more urgent question for business owners is simpler: Will your risk strategy keep the doors open when something goes wrong? For many, the honest answer is no. The Coverage…