Google has settled with Black employees who alleged systemic racial disparities in hiring, pay, and advancement in a lawsuit filed in 2022. April Curley, a former Google employee, had sued the tech giant for racial discrimination, saying it engages in a “pattern and practice” of unfair treatment for its Black workers. The suit claimed the company steered them into lower-level and lower-paid jobs and subjected them to a hostile work environment if they speak out. Other former Google workers also joined the suit, which later received class action status. “This case is about accountability, plain and simple,” said civil rights…
Author: Awais
Corpus Christi residents and businesses — including one of the nation’s largest petrochemical corridors — may be required to cut water use by 25% during a water emergency that city leaders expect to hit by September unless a devastating drought eases. The City Council voted 7-2 Tuesday to give initial approval to a water curtailment plan that would set water limits for different customers, ranging from residents and local businesses to large oil companies. The council is expected to take a final vote adopting the curtailment plan on May 19. City leaders for months have been bracing for a Level…
The agency is halting enrollments for six months as part of the Trump administration’s broader attempt to crack down on fraud in government healthcare programs. Hospice and home health groups said they largely supported the moratorium.
Six Louisiana residents have been arrested for participating in a long-running insurance fraud scheme involving fire and water damage claims, the Louisiana Department of Insurance announced. The suspects, all from Ouachita Parish, face charges of insurance fraud, identity theft and money laundering spanning nearly a decade. Lashaundalyn Whitlock, 40, is charged with eight counts of Insurance Fraud, five counts of Computer Fraud, three counts of Identity Theft, five counts of Forgery and five counts of Felony Theft. Laquadra Whitlock Brown, 25, is charged with seven counts of Insurance Fraud, five counts of Computer Fraud, three counts of Identity Theft, one…
European Central Bank board member Frank Elderson on Wednesday urged banks in the euro area to quickly prepare for potential cyberattacks launched with the help of Anthropic’s Mythos AI model or similar tools. Elderson, who is vice chair of the ECB’s bank supervision arm, said in an interview in ECB publication Supervision Newsletter that euro area banks’ lack of access to Mythos added to the severity of the issue. “Lack of access is not an excuse for inaction. On the contrary, it makes it even more critical that banks step up and act now,” he said. Reuters reported this week…
A unit of state-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Company said on Wednesday that one of its tankers struck by Iranian drones last week has leaked a small amount of fuel off the coast of Oman, underscoring the ecological risks stemming from the Iran war. Tehran’s effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz has made navigating the vital shipping corridor a precarious task. Hundreds of vessels remain trapped in the Gulf. ADNOC Logistics & Services said it was monitoring the situation concerning its vessel, the M.V. Barakah, and was working “closely with the relevant authorities and specialist response teams.” Read more:…
A District of Columbia woman was sentenced last week to 32 months in prison for her role in a series of seven inside-job robberies of the Chinatown drug store where she was employed as a store manager, reported U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro. Pirro said London Teeter pleaded guilty in February to robbery. In addition to the 32-month prison term, the judge ordered Teeter to serve three years of supervised release. According to court documents, Teeter and three co-conspirators carried out armed robberies of the Walgreens store in Chinatown nearly once a month, beginning in July 2023, when either she…
A South Dakota mining company has canceled a drilling project in the Black Hills after opposition from Native American tribes and local groups. In a letter provided Friday by Indigenous advocacy group NDN Collective, Rapid City-based Pete Lien & Sons told the United States Forest Service on Thursday it is withdrawing its plan of operations for a graphite drilling project. It doesn’t intend to file another plan for this project, the letter said. Groups opposed the project because of its proximity to a sacred site called Pe’Sla, a meadow in the Black Hills where Sioux tribes hold ceremonies and pray…
Paul Boyer, a psychotherapist for Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, California, is experiencing the AI revolution firsthand. He’s a little underwhelmed. The health giant has rolled out a new suite of note-taking software, made by healthcare AI pioneer Abridge, intended to summarize a patient’s visit at supersonic speed. For many clinicians, the technology soothes one of the persistent headaches of their lives — administration and paperwork. But the AI scribe caused another headache for Boyer and his colleagues: It is “not super useful.” They end up correcting the computer-written notes. Abridge is “not good at picking up on clinical nuance, at…
TWFG announced that it has acquired Fortress Insurance Services, adding four new agency locations and a wealth of experienced insurance professionals to the TWFG family. This strategic acquisition strengthens TWFG’s presence in the Upper Midwest and reinforces its commitment to delivering personalized insurance solutions through a growing network of independent agents. Fortress Insurance Services expands TWFG’s local market capabilities across both personal and commercial insurance lines. Agency Brokerage Consultants advised Fortress Insurance Services on the transaction. Topics Mergers & Acquisitions Was this article valuable? Yes No Here are more articles you may enjoy. Interested in Mergers? Get automatic alerts for…
Dr. Gianrico Farrugia has led the system since 2019. The Rochester, Minnesota-based health system said it could elect Mayo’s next leader in November.
Medicaid is a major source of financing for mental health and substance use disorder care. It covers nearly one-third of all adults with mental illness and nearly one-quarter of adults with substance use disorders (SUD), including many people with more intensive behavioral health needs. This includes adults with serious mental illness (SMI) and nearly half of all adults with opioid use disorder (OUD). Because Medicaid covers a large share of people with behavioral health conditions and finances a substantial share of treatment services and medications, it plays a central role in access to behavioral health care. In recent years,…
Jed Daughton Lawley, headquartered in Buffalo, New York, hired John (Jed) Daughton to the newly created role of director of sales development. Daughton will lead the strategy behind Lawley’s sales growth in both property & casualty and employee benefits, building unified sales processes, improving prospecting and pipeline performance, and supporting producers through targeted training and coaching. Prior to joining Lawley, Daughton served as platform president for Upstate New York at Gallagher, contributing to commercial, personal, and employee benefits strategies. He also served as agency president under AssuredPartners Buffalo and as president of Vanner Insurance Agency. Was this article valuable? Yes…
The cost of a surplus-lines homeowners’ policy in Florida is now about the same as admitted-market HO policies, reflecting the growing trend for excess and surplus firms across the state and beyond, recent reports show. The Florida Surplus Lines Service Office, which tracks numbers for the E&S market, reported this week that the average premium for a Florida HO-3 policy in the surplus lines market had fallen below $3,500 for April, marking a new low. “It highlights how the surplus lines market continues to respond to homeowner needs and provide meaningful coverage options for Floridians,” Mark Shealy, FSLSO executive director…