The current El Nino weather pattern that’s been in place since last summer over the central Pacific Ocean is on its way out, Texas State Climatologist John Nielsen-Gammon said Friday, but not before leaving Texas with one of its warmest … Source: Claims Journal

The use of opioids in California workers’ compensation has declined in recent years, along with the associated payments, yet these potentially addictive painkillers remain the number one therapeutic drug group used in the system according to a new California Workers’ … Source: Claims Journal

Catastrophe activity in the U.S. led to $3.8 billion in insured losses in 29 states during the 2016 first quarter, with much of the damage hitting Texas. Those events were the worst in a decade in terms of frequency and … Source: Claims Journal

The pain and passion over the Penn State sexual abuse scandal were reignited with new allegations that Joe Paterno was told Jerry Sandusky sexually abused a child as early as 1976 and that two assistant coaches witnessed the abuse of … Source: Claims Journal

The images are ones of devastation – scorched homes, virtually whole neighborhoods burned to the ground. It rained a little Sunday morning in Fort McMurray, but Canadian officials say they expect to fight the massive wildfire that has destroyed large … Source: Claims Journal

The Supreme Court of Vermont recently demonstrated in Whitney v. Vermont Mutual Ins. Co., 2015 VT 140, 2015 WL 8540432 (filed Dec. 11, 2015) a practical approach to the application of an absolute pollution exclusion. The case facts involved a … Source: Claims Journal

The raging wildfire in Alberta, Canada, has prompted concerns in the U.S. that this wildfire season will be as bad as last year. In 2015, there were more than 68,000 wildfires in the U.S. making it one of the worst … Source: Claims Journal

Widespread flooding not only disrupts the living but sometimes also creates havoc for the dead. That’s what happened in southwest Louisiana’s Calcasieu Parish when an overflowing Sabine River – helped by days of heavy rain – recently pushed water inland … Source: Claims Journal

The legal immunity provided physicians by Arizona’s medical marijuana law for certifying patients to use pot only applies to the medical certifications, not other conduct such as making false statements in documents, the state Supreme Court ruled Friday. The high … Source: Claims Journal

Describing a dramatic list of missteps by Metro during a response to a station fire, the Federal Transit Administration issued a series of directives to the Washington D.C., transit agency while threatening to shut down the system. The FTA, which … Source: Claims Journal