First quarter 2026 net income at W.R. Berkley Corp. increased about 23.4% compared to the same period a year ago to about $515.2 million. Operating income for the first three months of the year was a record $514.3 million. The company ended 2025 with record Q4 operating income of $450 million and, for the full year, net income and operating income grew to records of $1.8 billion and $1.7 billion, respectively. The Q1 consolidated combined ratio for the Greenwich, Connecticut-based commercial insurer was 90.7—about flat versus a year ago. W.R. Berkley’s insurance segment combined ratio for the period increased to…
Author: Awais
Iran seized two ships in the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, tightening its grip on the strategic waterway after U.S. President Donald Trump called off attacks indefinitely with no sign of peace talks restarting. Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency said the Revolutionary Guards had seized two vessels for maritime violations and escorted them to Iranian shores. It was the first time Iran has seized ships since the war began at the end of February. The Revolutionary Guards also warned that any disruption to order and safety in the strait would be considered a “red line,” Tasnim said. Earlier, a British…
The case centered on Stephen M. Dodge, a longtime state employee who was exposed to airborne asbestos fibers both on the job and at home over the course of several decades. Dodge worked as a custodian for the Town of Manchester during the summer of 1967, sweeping and buffing asbestos-containing flooring. He then spent 30 years, from 1973 to 2003, as an analyst at the Department of Motor Vehicles headquarters in Wethersfield, a building that contained asbestos material throughout and had elevated concentrations of asbestos fibers in the air. Outside of work, Dodge had also been exposed to asbestos through products including grinding wheels, joint compounds, drywall, and…
A federal judge on April 21 delayed the planned criminal sentencing of Purdue Pharma by one week, saying she wanted to allow more public participation before concluding a criminal case over the company’s marketing of addictive opioid drugs. U.S. District Judge Madeline Cox Arleo was expected to accept Purdue’s 2020 guilty plea at a court hearing in Newark, New Jersey, which would have imposed a $3.5 billion criminal fine and $2 billion in criminal forfeiture against the company for its role in fueling an opioid epidemic that has claimed more than 1 million lives in the U.S. since 2000. Arleo…
Rideshare giant Uber is liable for the behavior of a driver who grabbed the inner thigh of a passenger as she was leaving the front seat of his car and asked if he could “keep her” with him, a jury in North Carolina found Monday. The federal jury in Charlotte awarded the plaintiff $5,000 in damages, said Ellyn Hurd, one of the plaintiff’s lawyers. The so-called bellwether case is part of a broader group of sexual assault lawsuits filed against Uber in multiple jurisdictions around the country and is the third to go to trial. In February, a federal jury…
A Travis County district judge has temporarily lifted a statewide ban on the sale of natural smokeable hemp products, such as flower buds and rolled joints, until at least April 28. Judge Maya Guerra Gamble granted the Texas Hemp Business Council, Hemp Industry & Farmers of America, and several Texas-based dispensaries and manufacturers a temporary restraining order against new testing requirements that creates 0.3% total THC threshold, effectively eliminating smokeable products. Lawyers for the hemp industry argued that the agencies have overstepped their constitutional authority by rewriting the statutory definitions of hemp established by lawmakers in 2019. A hearing on…
World Insurance Associates LLC reports that it acquired the business of Baldon Insurance Group of Patchogue, New York. Terms of the January 1, 2026 transaction were not disclosed. Baldon, which was established in 2000, is a Long Island independent agency with a focus on New York’s commercial insurance market for hospitality operators, real estate investors and construction businesses. “We are happy to be joining World, a company that has a wide variety of products and services we can now offer to our clients,” stated Tom Donahue, owner of Baldon Insurance Group. World Insurance, based in Iselin, New Jersey, is ranked…
Broker Aon states that intensifying flood and drought patterns are reshaping risk profiles across global insurance and reinsurance markets, according to its 2026 Climate and Catastrophe Insight (CCI) report.The firm’s CCI report, which draws on Aon’s catastrophe data and forward-looking climate modelling, underscores that physical climate risks are continuing to change, with implications for communities, policymakers and insurers. The broker estimates that global economic losses from flooding exceeded $42 billion in 2025, contributing to a cumulative total of approximately $2 trillion since 2000. At the same time, Aon also identifies that drought is emerging as a major driver of secondary…
The data, compiled by the Brookings Center on Health Policy, shows that average prices for some services like imaging were seven-times higher than Medicare prices.
The hidden drivers of disaster losses force a rethink in re/insurance modeling, says Gallagher Re science chief
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against two California-based online kratom retailers for deceptively marketing and selling synthetic kratom products and adulterated products that are up to 96% 7-hydroxymitragynine (“7-OH”). According to the lawsuit, that is nearly fifty times the legal limit allowed under Texas law. The lawsuit is a part of an initiative by Attorney General Paxton to limit unlawful distribution of adulterated and contaminated kratom products across Texas. To protect consumers from the dangers of synthetic alkaloids and adulterated kratom products containing dangerous levels of 7-OH, the Texas Legislature enacted the Texas Kratom Consumer Health and…
Newfoundland and Labrador Observes DST. Clocks go forward at 02:00 Newfoundland Standard Time (NST) on the second Sunday in March and back at 02:00 Newfoundland Daylight Time (NDT) on the first Sunday in November. No specific provincial exceptions noted in the federal table. National Research Council Canada, “Time zones and daylight saving time” (Newfoundland row). Nova Scotia Observes DST. Clocks change at 02:00 Atlantic Standard Time (AST) in March and 02:00 Atlantic Daylight Time (ADT) in November, on the North American standard dates (second Sunday…
Not long ago, Nebraska’s growth was quite literally a national cover story. Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts soared through the air wearing skis and goggles on the Olympic-themed March 2018 cover of Site Selection, an economic development industry magazine. The cartoon image illustrated Nebraska’s high-flying, three-year run as winner of the “Governor’s Cup,” awarded to the state landing the most economic development projects per capita in the nation. But when Site Selection last month named the top development states for 2025, Nebraska was nowhere to be found. It didn’t crack the magazine’s top 10 at all, the second straight year it…
As artificial intelligence and automation become faster and more precise, insurance industry leaders are finding that the differentiator isn’t just better technology but how the people behind the technology are using it. That’s according to experts at InsurTech New York’s annual spring conference, held this year in March. “It’s an art,” said Gaurav Vasisht, executive director and CEO of The New York State Insurance Fund. “We believe that in the end, data and analytics getting you better insights to make better decisions means using the analytics in the right way.” Gaurav Vasisht He explained that advanced tools, analytics and models…