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Farmers to pull back coverage in California over natural disaster costs

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:16:15 GMT

(The Hill) - Farmers Insurance will end its home, auto and umbrella coverage in Florida and curtail coverage offerings in California due to ongoing risks from environmental disaster, the insurer announced Tuesday.In a statement shared with The Hill, Farmers confirmed it will discontinue those forms of coverage in the Sunshine State, saying “this business decision was necessary to effectively manage risk exposure.” The insurer will also curtail new homeowners' insurance policies in California, due to “record-breaking inflation, severe weather events, and reconstruction costs,” Farmers said.This photo shows a portion of the damage done to Plumas Pines Resort and Bar in Almanor, Calif., following a 5.5 earthquake in Lake Almanor at around 4:20 p.m. on Thursday, May 11, 2023. (Plumas Pines Resort and Bar via AP)The announcement comes the month after Farmers announced it would not write new property policies in Florida due to rising catastrophe costs, while State Farm, California’s large...

Sale closed in San Jose: $1.9 million for a four-bedroom home

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:16:15 GMT

1560 Bird Avenue – Google Street ViewThe spacious property located in the 1500 block of Bird Avenue in San Jose was sold on June 16, 2023 for $1,905,000, or $621 per square foot. The house, built in 1990, has an interior space of 3,070 square feet. This two-story house offers a roomy layout with four bedrooms and three bathrooms. Additionally, the home provides a two-car garage, granting ample space for parking and storage purposes. The lot of the property is substantial, measuring 8,625 square feet, and boasts a pool for relaxation and recreation.These nearby houses have also recently been sold:On Carmel Drive, San Jose, in October 2022, a 1,961-square-foot home was sold for $1,550,000, a price per square foot of $790. The home has 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms.A 2,055-square-foot home on the 1500 block of Bird Avenue in San Jose sold in February 2023, for $1,650,909, a price per square foot of $803. The home has 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms.In October 2022, a 2,365-square-foot home on ...

Photos: These 12 Disneyland ride vehicles could fetch $750,000 at auction

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:16:15 GMT

An upcoming auction featuring a dozen Disneyland ride vehicles expected to fetch as much as $750,000 will give Disneyana collectors a chance to add a bit of the Anaheim theme park’s history to their personal memorabilia collections.Related ArticlesEntertainment | Cat’s disappearance near Disneyland sparks a 2-year tale of heartache and hope Entertainment | Disneyland resets Oogie Boogie Bash ticket launch after epic tech failure Entertainment | Looking for the cheapest weeklong Disney vacation? Consider this Entertainment | Photos: Disneyland crews install ‘Big Hero 6’ towers on San Fransokyo bridge Entertainment | Review: Disneyland delivers the Marvel musical you didn’t know you wanted or needed Van Eaton Galleries in Studio City will hold the Joel Magee Disneyland Collection Auction on July 17-19.The collection is on exhibit and open to the public at the Burbank Town Center Mall from Wednesday, July 1...

Bank of America hit with $250 million in fines, refunds for ‘double-dipping’ fees, fake accounts

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:16:15 GMT

By Ken Sweet and Michelle Chapman | The AssociatedBank of America will reimburse customers more than $100 million and pay $150 million in fines for “double-dipping” on overdraft fees, withholding reward bonuses on credit cards and opening accounts without customer consent.Combined, it is one of the highest financial penalties in years against Bank of America, which has largely spent the last 15 years trying to clean up its reputation and market itself to the public as a bank focused on financial health and not on overdraft fee income and financial trickery.BofA must refund $100 million to customers, pay $90 million in penalties to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and $60 million to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. “Bank of America wrongfully withheld credit card rewards, double-dipped on fees, and opened accounts without consent,” said CFPB Director Rohit Chopra, in a statement. “These practices are illegal and undermine customer trust.”Empowered by a broad man...

There’s so much extra milk, U.S. farmers are dumping it in the sewer

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:16:15 GMT

By Nazmul Ahasan and Michael Hirtzer | BloombergThere’s more milk than ever in the US but nowhere left to process it, forcing farmers across the Upper Midwest to pour the excess dairy down the drain.The Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District’s wastewater treatment system has been handling increased volumes of milk, a spokesperson confirmed, though he couldn’t verify how much. Since-deleted videos on social media earlier this summer showed farmers pumping thousands of gallons of excess milk directly onto their fields.Pete Hardin, editor of Wisconsin-based dairy publication The Milkweed, told local media the state’s milk supply with no home could fill as many as 50 trailers a day, each carrying 6,000 to 7,000 gallons.“We know that milk is being dumped in other parts of the Midwest, not just Wisconsin,” said Laurie Fischer, the founder and chief executive officer of American Dairy Coalition. “At the same time, farms are making decisions as milk prices fall to their lowest levels sinc...

Family whose son was killed on California freeway sues Uber, saying driver left him there

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:16:15 GMT

The family of a Corona man who was hit by a car and killed says he was left behind on the 91 Freeway when his Uber ride pulled over to let out another passenger who had to throw up. Now the family is suing the ride-hailing company, alleging the driver’s negligence led to his death.The crash that killed 21-year-old Cory Hunter occurred just before 3 a.m. on Sunday, May 21. At the time, the California Highway Patrol only identified Hunter as a pedestrian who somehow had made it to the fast lane of the 91 near the Serfas Club Drive exit in Norco.Hunter died at the scene after an oncoming Toyota Corolla hit him, the CHP said. But his family said the CHP report left out that Hunter was only on the freeway after his ride left without him.“They said that he was just walking on the freeway,” said his mother, Rhonda Hunter, of Norco. “He could have been homeless. He could have been a guy on drugs. My son never did drugs.“People thought maybe he committed suicide,” she said. “He did not — he ...

Opinion: Lack of investment in women’s health research has consequences

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:16:15 GMT

The summer of 1993 was an eventful time: Prince changed his name to a symbol, “Jurassic Park” was released and Congress passed the National Institutes of Health Revitalization Act requiring the inclusion of women in clinical research.Most people aren’t aware of this law, which requires that women be included in research to develop drugs, therapies and treatments that are designed to improve the health of all people. For decades, women were underrepresented in or excluded from biomedical research studies because they could become pregnant or their hormones were deemed “too complicated.” This caused large gaps in our understanding of how sex and gender inform health and disease.Because men made up the majority of research participants, women’s health suffered. Drugs, therapies and medical devices were developed with the male patient in mind. A 2001 Government Accountability Report found that 8 out of 10 drugs pulled from the market had greater health risks for women than for men. And ...

Opinion: California slavery reparations are about more than cash payments

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:16:15 GMT

When the reaction of state lawmakers and Gov. Gavin Newsom to recommendations by the state task force on reparations was described as “cool,” California Secretary of State Shirley Weber let out a slight, knowing chuckle.“I hope many of those who supported the work of the task force would still see the value of it and continue to support it,” said Weber, who as a member of the Assembly carried the legislation in 2020 that created the panel.The bill was passed with broad backing from Democratic legislators and signed by the governor, who had been an outspoken advocate of repairing the damage the legacy of slavery has had on generations of Black Californians.Weber, D-San Diego, soon was appointed secretary of state by Newsom and was sworn in to office in January 2021.Newsom and many of those lawmakers have since become circumspect in their reactions to the task force proposals, if they have offered any response at all.The caution grew after estimates surfaced th...

Krugman: So much for claims that Big Government has made Americans lazy

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:16:15 GMT

Bernie Marcus, a co-founder of Home Depot, had some negative things to say about his fellow Americans in an interview last December. “Socialism,” he opined, has destroyed the work ethic: “Nobody works. Nobody gives a damn. ‘Just give it to me. Send me money. I don’t want to work — I’m too lazy, I’m too fat, I’m too stupid.’”You’re naive if you think his take is exceptional. Without question, rich men are constantly saying similar things at country clubs across America. More important, conservative politicians are obsessed with the idea that government aid is making Americans lazy, which is why they keep trying to impose work requirements on programs such as Medicaid and food stamps despite overwhelming evidence that such requirements don’t promote work — but do create red-tape barriers that deny help to people who really need it.I’m not under the delusion that facts will change such people’s minds. But everyone else should know that over the past year we have, in effect, conducted a...

Southern California community declares local emergency, residents consider post-landslide future

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:16:15 GMT

The land movement that destroyed 12 homes in a Rolling Hills Estates neighborhood this weekend — and has continued sending 10 of those buildings sliding toward a canyon — has slowed, officials said Tuesday, July 11, the same day the City Council declared a local state of emergency.The shifting land, meanwhile, also broke a sewer line, forcing five additional homes on Peartree Lane to be evacuated, though the earth under those homes is not moving, officials said.Still, the stark reality of the tragedy, as well as its ongoing fallout, belied the placid and suburban normalcy to which the Rolling Hills Park Villas outwardly returned on Tuesday. Residents took out their garbage. They walked their dogs. They made runs to the grocery store.Even the mail arrived.But normal doesn’t really exist on Peartree Lane.Instead, a dozen homes are cracking and crumbling. Most will become rubble. Their owners face an uncertain future. And even those whose homes are safe are now confronting the uncomfor...