3 Things To Know Today

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1 Farmers Insurance The Latest Insurer To Pull Out Of Florida

Farmers Insurance announced yesterday that it’ll no longer be offering coverage in Florida, which will affect home, auto, and other policies in the state. The move is expected to impact around 100,000 residents. Farmers is now the fourth major insurer to pull out of the state in the last year due to the growing threat of extreme weather. Trevor Chapman, a spokesman for Farmers, said in a statement yesterday that the “business decision was necessary to effectively manage risk exposure.” Florida law requires companies to give three months’ notice to the Florida state Office of Insurance Regulation before they start telling customers that their policies won’t be renewed, and that notice was reportedly given to the office on Monday. Farmers says the withdrawal only affects company-branded policies, which are around 30% of its Florida policies. Farmers policies sold by Foremost and Bristol West aren’t affected by the decision.

2 Bank Of America Gets Fined For Opening Fake Accounts

Bank of America was ordered to pay more than $100 million to customers yesterday by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The second-largest bank in the U.S. double-charged accounts with insufficient funds, denied credit card reward payments, and used personal data to open accounts without clients’ knowledge according to the federal agency. In addition to the customer payments, the bank will have to pay $150 million in penalties. Rohit Chopra, the director of the CFPB, said in a statement yesterday that “These practices are illegal and undermine customer trust,” and that the agency would be “putting an end to these practices across the banking system.” Bank of America serves 68 million individual and small-business clients, with $1.9 trillion in domestic deposits.

3 Weather Continues Its Assault On America

More than 100 water rescues have been made in Vermont as the state continues to deal with catastrophic flooding after torrential rains dropped record amounts of water in just a few hours. Downtown Montpelier, the capital of Vermont, remained flooded yesterday, and officials say the waters will be “slow to subside and dissipate.” While the Northeast has been dealing with flooding, the heat dome that’s dominated the American southwest continues to cause potentially life-threatening conditions in several states. The record in Phoenix for the most consecutive days at or above 110 degrees Fahrenheit is 18, but the city could break that record Tuesday if the heat continues. The highs in Phoenix have been 100 or higher every day for almost a month. The Las Vegas office of the National Weather Service tweeted yesterday that “Temperatures later this week may challenge daily and all-time records, with little-to-no overnight relief.” The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, known as ERCOT, says it has enough resources to meet the demand as temperatures in the state continue to reach dangerously-high levels this week. ERCOT has projected that electricity use in Texas will break records again this week. The temperature of the waters in the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico are catching attention around the Florida Keys, reaching temps of 92 to 96 degrees, at least three to five degrees higher than normal. The warm waters keep the humidity high, and meteorologists say that’s making it harder for air temps to cool off at night. The warm waters would also be a massive engine for a tropical system if one were to enter the Gulf, giving a storm the energy to rapidly intensify if one passes over them.


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