The $4.3 million payment that Ohio-based FirstEnergy made to veteran lawyer and lobbyist Sam Randazzo in 2019, shortly before he was appointed as the state’s top utility regulator, is at the center of the latest criminal trial to get underway in a sweeping $60 million bribery scandal. Prosecutors allege that then-FirstEnergy Corp. CEO Chuck Jones and then-FirstEnergy Services Corp. Senior Vice President Michael Dowling played roles in orchestrating the hefty payout to Randazzo in exchange for regulatory and legislative favors he would later deliver to the company. Both men have pleaded not guilty to felony corruption charges, denying all wrongdoing…
Author: Awais
How do you make E&S work no matter what the market conditions are? Transparency is the key. That’s according to Monarch E&S president Yiana Stavrakis, who also dives into how to talk to clients and break difficult news. In addition, she looks at AI’s role going forward.
Kyle Goedeke XPT Specialty, headquartered in Plano, Texas, hired Kyle Goedeke as an underwriter/broker. Goedeke has nearly a decade of experience across wholesale brokerage, underwriting, and excess and surplus (E&S) line placements. In his role at XPT Specialty, Goedeke will underwrite and place a wide range of commercial P&C binding business, with a focus on owners, landlords & tenants (OL&T), hospitality, and habitational risks. He will work closely with retail agents to structure and place coverage for complex property and liability exposures. Topics Agencies Excess Surplus Underwriting Was this article valuable? Yes No Here are more articles you may enjoy.…
Chief Executive Officer Damian Ely (pictured on the left) said the phased build began in 2024, with a 70-strong global aviation claims team operating across the UK, Asia, China, the Middle East, the US, and Latin America. The success of that model laid the groundwork for expansion into marine and energy, where Ely and Hagan joined Sedgwick in early 2025 to accelerate development.
A federal judge declared unconstitutional a 2021 law restricting state investments in companies seeking to rely less on fossil fuels or boycott that industry. In a decision made public on Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Alan Albright said the law violated First Amendment free speech protections because it punished businesses for speaking about fossil fuels and associating with organizations that oppose fossil fuels. The Austin, Texas-based judge also called the law known as Senate Bill 13 “facially overbroad” and “unconstitutionally vague,” saying it invites and has already led to discriminatory enforcement. “SB 13’s definition of ‘boycott energy companies’ permits the state…
Kristen Hanneman made a small decision in 2022 that would upend life for her entire town. State scientists were checking private drinking water wells across Wisconsin for a widely used family of harmful chemicals called PFAS. They mailed an offer to test the well outside her tidy farmhouse surrounded by potato farms cut out of dense forest. Without much thought, she accepted. Months later, Hanneman found herself on the phone with a state toxicologist who told her to stop drinking the water — now. The well her three kids grew up on had levels thousands of times higher than federal…
Six people aboard a private business jet registered to the same address as a prominent Houston law firm were killed on Jan. 25 when the jet crashed on takeoff in Bangor, Maine. Local officials on Tuesday named four victims. The plane, a 2020 Bombardier CL 600, was registered at the address of Arnold & Itkin law firm, a well-known personal injury firm co-founded by Kurt Arnold and Jason Itkin, both University of Texas School of Law graduates. Tara Arnold, an attorney for the firm and wife of Kurt Arnold, were among those killed, Bangor police officials said Tuesday. In total,…
Seventeen additional former N.C. State male athletes have joined a state lawsuit alleging sexual abuse under the guise of treatment and harassment by the Wolfpack’s former director of sports medicine, pushing the total number to 31 in a case that began with a federal lawsuit from a single athlete more than three years ago. The complaint filed in Wake County Superior Court late last week expands a case alleging years of misconduct by Robert L. Murphy Jr., including improper touching of the genitals during massages and intrusive observation while collecting urine samples during drug testing. All but two of the…
Ryan Specialty, the international specialty insurance intermediary, announced the appointment of Stephen Stewart as chief executive officer of Ryan Specialty Canada Ltd., the newly formed Canadian operating and holding entity for Ryan Specialty’s underwriting management businesses in Canada. Stewart will hold his new role as CEO of Toronto-based Ryan Specialty Canada in addition to his current position of president and CEO of Stewart Specialty Risk Underwriting, a Ryan Specialty managing general underwriter. With the formation of its Canadian holding entity, Ryan Specialty completes the amalgamation of its Canadian operations, including the Canadian operations of the following managing general underwriters: Alive…
El gobernador de California, Gavin Newsom, que aspira a presentarse en las elecciones presidenciales, ha enfurecido tanto a demócratas como a republicanos por su posición sobre la atención médica para los inmigrantes en su estado. La situación revela el delicado camino político que tiene por delante. Por segundo año, el demócrata pidió a los legisladores estatales que eliminen la cobertura para un sector de los inmigrantes ante los recortes federales al gasto en Medicaid y un déficit presupuestario de aproximadamente $3.000 millones. Muchos analistas advierten que, si estalla la burbuja de la inteligencia artificial, el déficit podría empeorar. Newsom propuso…
The captain of a container ship that crashed into a U.S. tanker off Britain’s east coast last year was jailed for six years on Thursday for causing the death of a crew member through gross negligence. Russian national Vladimir Motin, 59, was captain of the Portuguese-flagged Solong when it hit the Stena Immaculate tanker, which was anchored and carrying just over 220,000 barrels of high-grade aviation fuel, on March 10, 2025. The collision started a blaze on both ships and caused the death of Philippines national and Solong crew member Mark Pernia, 38, whose body has never been found. Motin’s…
The National Weather Service announced Wednesday that a new winter storm is expected to bring additional snow and harsh winds to several states. States bracing for an “arctic blast” through the weekend include Michigan, Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and the Carolinas.
On Wednesday, just over a week after a U.S. District Court judge ordered New Hampshire to take all necessary steps to continue its vehicle inspection program, the New Hampshire Executive Council voted to let the state’s emissions testing contract expire. Republished from New Hampshire Bulletin At an emergency meeting, the council voted, 3-2, against a 60-day extension to the state’s contract with Gordon-Darby, the Kentucky-based contractor that has provided electronic equipment for the emissions portion of New Hampshire state inspections since 2004. Gordon-Darby is also the plaintiff in a Clean Air Act lawsuit brought against the state over the program’s…
Under existing Iowa law, insurers can use credit scores to underwrite and rate risks for private passenger, snowmobile, and recreational vehicle policies. However, carriers cannot rely solely on credit information to deny, cancel, or refuse renewal without considering other factors. Regulations also require insurers to use credit scores updated within the prior 90 days.