American Express Co., Deere & Co. and Johnson & Johnson have dropped diversity criteria for selecting new board directors, according to a conservative shareholder activist group. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is considering a similar change, Bloomberg confirmed earlier this week. The moves are the latest ways that pressure from conservatives is changing corporate management and governance. American Express signed an agreement in October with the nonprofit National Legal and Policy Center, an activist shareholder that opposes DEI programs at companies, according to a letter viewed by Bloomberg News. Deere made changes to its bylaws that came after a shareholder proposal…
Author: Awais
WalkerHughes Insurance, a privately held, founder led retail insurance brokerage, announced its expansion into Ohio with the acquisition of Sacksteder Worland Insurance Agency based in Tiffin, Ohio. This partnership represents WalkerHughes’ fourth state of operation, adding to its established presence in Indiana, Missouri, and Illinois. The agency, owned by Joe Worland, has built a strong reputation for long standing client relationships and trusted local service. Worland will remain actively involved in the business, ensuring continuity for clients, partners, and employees. The Tiffin office will continue to serve clients locally under the WalkerHughes brand, supported by regional and centralized resources. WalkerHughes…
APCIA warns premiums and safety risks could rise
Catastrophe bond issuance is on track to make this first-quarter at least the second busiest start to any year on record, with Artemis’ Deal Directory data already projecting close to $5.86 billion of cat bond issuance for Q1 2026, only falling behind the total from last year at this stage.With February not even over yet there is time for the pipeline of new catastrophe bonds to continue building as well, so the eventual first-quarter 2026 issuance total is likely to be higher still. In addition, it’s worth highlighting that the figures quoted below will become stale in just a few…
Congressional scorekeepers expect the Hospital Insurance trust fund to run dry more than a decade earlier than they previously expected, after Republicans’ megabill slashed the revenues it receives from taxes.
The Medicaid program finances about 4 in 10 births in the U.S. Federal law requires states to provide pregnancy-related Medicaid coverage through 60 days postpartum. After that period, some postpartum individuals may qualify for Medicaid through another pathway, but others may lose coverage, particularly in non-expansion states. To help improve maternal health and coverage stability and to help address racial disparities in maternal health, a provision in the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 gave states a new option to extend Medicaid postpartum coverage to 12 months via a state plan amendment (SPA). This new option took effect on April 1,…
From surging specialty premiums to landmark annuity milestones, the latest earnings period highlights broad-based momentum
The former police chief in New Haven, Connecticut, was arrested Friday on larceny charges following allegations he stole $85,000 from two department accounts. Karl Jacobson, 56, who abruptly retired from the department in January, turned himself in on an arrest warrant. He was later released on a court-set bond of $150,000, a state prosecutor said in a news release. Jacobson faces two counts of larceny related to defrauding a public community. “An allegation of embezzlement by a police official is a serious matter and potentially undermines public confidence in the criminal justice system,” Chief State’s Attorney Patrick J. Griffin said…
Steadfast’s international businesses, meanwhile, posted a sharp step-up in net revenue to $56.4 million, up 220.5%, helped by acquisitions and strong performance in specialty lines, including a contribution from Novum Underwriting Partners, acquired in August 2025, which the group said produced more than US$140 million in GWP and 60% organic growth. In a market where global specialty capacity and delegated authority models are evolving rapidly, that international expansion is likely to interest both Australian broker principals looking for cross-border capability and insurers assessing who controls access to specialty placement.
Kansas is set to invalidate about 1,700 driver’s licenses held by transgender residents and roughly as many birth certificates under a new law that goes beyond Republican-imposed restrictions in other states on listing gender identities in government documents. The new law takes effect Thursday. Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly vetoed the measure but the Legislature’s GOP supermajorities overrode it last week as Republican state lawmakers across the U.S. have pursued another round of measures to roll back transgender rights. The bill prohibits documents from listing any sex other than the one assigned birth and invalidates any that reflect a conflicting gender…
At a meeting held in Galveston today, the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (TWIA) Board agreed to only pursue purchase of the statutory minimum amount of reinsurance and catastrophe bonds needed to hit the 1-in-50 year funding level in 2026, opting not to buy any additional risk transfer to cover higher return period events.Recall that, legislative changes enacted in Texas halved the state mandated calculation for the amount of loss funding TWIA needs, from a 1-in-100 year minimum PML metric, down to a 1-in-50 year. These changes adjust the statutorily required funding level TWIA’s Board needs to prepare for, although the Board…
The South Dakota Legislature is considering a bill that would establish a statutory 75% minimum damage threshold for declaring a vehicle a total loss, which insurers say could negatively impact drivers through increased premiums and reduced road safety. Senate Bill 227 passed the Senate and is being considered in the House Transportation Committee this week. The American Property Casualty Insurance Association opposes the bill, arguing that total loss claims decisions should be guided with the goal of safe, quality repairs to address individual circumstances. APCIA says SB 227 replaces that flexibility with a hard rule that could undermine safety and…
The deal, which will take Enhabit private, comes after private equity investments in healthcare reached record highs last year.
AbbVie on Monday said it would invest $380 million to build two new active pharmaceutical ingredient manufacturing facilities at its Illinois campus, expanding its domestic production capacity for its neuroscience and obesity medicines. The investment is part of AbbVie’s broader effort to scale up domestic manufacturing, as drugmakers are scrambling to shore up their U.S. manufacturing capacity and domestic inventory amid the Trump administration’s hefty tariffs on pharmaceutical imports into the country. The U.S. government imposed a 100% tariff on branded drugs in October, but said it would only apply to producers who had not already broken ground on U.S.…