Facebook, Google and other tech giants for more than a decade have rejected allegations that they build products deliberately to get kids addicted to social media. For the first time, company executives, including Meta Platforms Inc. Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg, will answer these accusations in front of a jury as part of a trial that’s drawing comparisons to Big Tobacco’s reckoning with consumer addiction three decades ago. Facebook and Instagram parent Meta and Google’s YouTube are at the center of the trial, with Zuckerberg expected to testify in Los Angeles as early as next week. The trial will serve…
Author: Awais
Josh Courville has harvested crawfish his whole life, but these days, he’s finding a less welcome catch in some of the fields he manages in southern Louisiana. Snails. Big ones. For every crawfish Courville dumps out of a trap, three or four snails clang onto the boat’s metal sorting table. About the size of a baseball when fully grown, apple snails stubbornly survive all kinds of weather in fields, pipes and drainage ditches and can lay thousands of bubblegum-colored eggs every month. “It’s very disheartening,” Courville said. “The most discouraging part, actually, is not having much control over it.” Apple…
This brief, originally published on December 18, 2025, was updated on February 9, 2026, to reflect the PBM-related provisions that were enacted in February 2026. The price of prescription drugs in the U.S. continues to be a concerning issue to the public, with KFF polling consistently showing the public supports various approaches to lowering prescription drug costs. Efforts to rein in drug costs have long been a priority for both federal and state policymakers. The Trump administration has recently taken steps to address drug costs through various administrative and regulatory actions, including multiple voluntary pricing agreements with drug manufacturers, the…
Diessner Promoted to President of Kraus-Anderson Insurance Jonathan Diessner has been promoted to president of Kraus-Anderson Insurance, one of Minnesota’s largest privately held independent insurance agencies and a member of the Kraus-Anderson family of companies, providing construction, real estate, risk management and advisory services to clients and owners nationwide. Jonathan Diessner A third-generation leader in the family-owned enterprise, Diessner joined Kraus-Anderson in 2009 in property management with KA Realty before moving to the insurance agency in 2011 as a property & casualty producer. After building a book of business, he advanced into managerial leadership, serving as executive vice president in…
The statements presented here reflect projections based on assumptions and forecasts, and is intended for information purposes only. They are not intended to be legal, underwriting, financial or any other type of professional advice and the recipient should consult with its own counsel or other advisors to verify the accuracy and completeness of any information used and to determine its applicability to the recipient’s particular circumstances. Any descriptions of coverage are meant to be general in nature and do not include nor are intended to include all the actual terms, benefits and limitations found in an insurance policy. No representation…
Jurors have awarded $8.3 million to the family of a Kansas foster teen who died in 2021 after he was held facedown for 39 minutes in a juvenile intake center while in the throes of a mental health crisis. Five juvenile officers in Sedgwick County either used excessive force on Cedric “C.J.” Lofton or failed to intervene, the jurors decided Wednesday after a trial in federal court in Wichita. John Marrese, an attorney for Lofton’s brother and the estate, said Thursday that he was pleased that jurors rejected arguments that the death stemmed from “excited delirium,” a controversial diagnosis discredited…
Republicans have hitched themselves to the “Make America Healthy Again” campaign, banking on its popularity to give them an electoral bounce. But the strategy carries risks. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime anti-vaccine activist who rails against Big Pharma and ultraprocessed food, is the leader of the movement. And Americans’ support for Kennedy is cratering. Plus, polls show voters care more about reducing health care costs than MAHA priorities such as ending vaccine mandates and promoting raw milk. Enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies expired at the end of 2025, fueling a nationwide affordability debate. Roughly…
Fourth quarter 2025 net income at CNA Financial shot up to $302 million compared with $21 million the prior year quarter. Results, CNA, said, included a $290 million benefit from a pension settlement transaction. The underwriting gain for CNA’s property/casualty operations was $167 million for Q4 2025 compared with $178 million for Q4 2024. The combined ratio increased 0.7 points to 93.8. Catastrophe losses were $40 million in the fourth quarter versus $45 million during the same time the year prior. While CNA maintained Q4 results in the commercial segment (with an underwriting gain of $109 million versus $106 million…
Nearly two weeks after an ice storm knocked out power to her home, Barbara Bishop still finds herself trying to flip the lights on and looking in her fridge for food that has since spoiled. Bishop, 79, and her 85-year-old husband, George Bishop, live in a rural area near Oxford, Mississippi, where ice-coated trees snapped in half, bringing down power lines and making roads nearly impassable. After the storm hit, the Bishops took in their son, granddaughter and two children, whose homes lost both power and water. The family endured days of bitter cold with nothing but a gas heater…
In this edition of Insurance Business TV, we catch up with Doug Wordekemper, of AXIS. He explains how carriers and brokers can work together more effectively to close protection gaps, and what brokers should do more of when interacting with carriers and underwriters.
The European Union is set to relax emissions-reduction rules for thousands of companies, recalibrating the world’s most rigorous carbon market under pressure from industry and governments concerned about the region’s sinking competitiveness. Before a summit of EU leaders next week on strengthening the bloc’s economy, talks are heating up on reforming the Emissions Trading System, a key tool to curb greenhouse gases. Less than three years after tightening the market in a green push, governments are ready to slow the pace of pollution cuts and consider measures that would alleviate industry costs, according to EU policymakers and diplomats with knowledge…
Insurers through the first nine months of 2025 recorded an underwriting profit of $35.3 billion—far above a $4 billion result at the same point the year prior. As public insurance companies announce fourth quarter and full-year earnings, Verisk and the American Property Casualty Insurance Association (APCIA) took a look at the industry’s financial results through the first nine months. New premiums written as of Sept. 30, 2025 were $740.7 billion, up 5.1% compared with results during the same time in 2024. Verisk and APCIA said the increase reflected more adequate prices and stable demand in most personal and commercial lines…
A California state court case over whether Instagram and YouTube harmed a woman’s mental health through addictive app design kicks off on Monday with opening statements, in a test of whether Big Tech platforms can be held liable for harming kids. The 20-year-old woman identified as K.G.M. filed the lawsuit against Facebook and Instagram parent company Meta Platforms and Alphabet’s Google, which owns YouTube. She says the attention-grabbing design of the platforms got her addicted to them at a young age, according to court filings. She alleges the apps fueled her depression and suicidal thoughts and she is seeking to…
The UK, Ireland and the Netherlands joined a wave of European nations issuing recalls of Danone SA infant formula as the French company’s exposure to the contamination crisis deepens. Some batches of Danone’s Aptamil and Cow & Gate formula brands will be taken off shelves in the UK and Ireland, according to statements on Friday from food safety agencies there. Dutch authorities said some Nutrilon products will be pulled over concerns they are contaminated with the toxin cereulide. It comes after Austria, Germany, France and Switzerland announced recalls — adding up to hundreds of batches — on Thursday. AFP reported…