1. Homeowner Feels Revictimized By Insurers
Insured Mississippi Man Still Waiting On Payouts As Insurance Profits
Rise
OCEAN SPRINGS, Miss., Aug. 22, 2007
CBS Evening News
(CBS) When Hurricane Katrina ripped through Ocean Springs, Miss., it tore
Rodney Freeman's home and heart apart.
"We walked in, everything was rearranged. Black mud, crabs in the house.
You know when you see crabs in the house something's wrong," he said tells CBS
News chief investigative correspondent Armen Keteyian.
Still, Freeman figured he was one of the lucky ones. After all, he had
double-barreled protection; $201,000 from Nationwide Mutual against wind damage
and $115,000 in flood from Empire Fire and Marine. It was more than twice the
replacement cost of his three-bedroom house and its contents.
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2. Calif. Bill to Lower Industry Support for Earthquake
Coverage
By Steve Lawrence, Insurance Journal
September 4, 2007
California homeowners who buy earthquake insurance through the state-run
California Earthquake Authority (CEA) could see their premiums rise under a bill
that passed an Assembly committee over opposition from the state treasurer and
consumer advocates.
When the California Earthquake Authority was established in 1996 two years
after the Northridge earthquake, participating insurance companies were required
to provide $2.2 billion to help underwrite it. They were to keep that money in
reserve through Dec. 1, 2008.
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3. Farmers Insurance Fined $2M in
Calif.
Associated Press, Sept 6, 2007
LOS ANGELES - Farmers Insurance refunded $1.4 million to thousands of
California homeowners and agreed to pay $2 million in penalties to settle
complaints the company overcharged policyholders, officials said.
The settlement came after a California Department of Insurance
investigation found the insurer was classifying some homes as having a high fire
risk when those homes should have been classified as having a lower fire risk,
said department spokeswoman Jennifer Kerns on Wednesday.
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4. CA mobile hospitals prepped for disaster
State
spends $18 million for three 200-bed mobile field hospitals to address disaster
concerns.
BY P.J. HELLER | SACRAMENTO, Calif. | Disaster News Network |
September 19, 2007
What is being billed as the "world's largest mobile civilian hospital" –
actually there are three of them – could be pressed into service if a major
disaster were to occur in California.
"When disaster strikes, being prepared is key to saving lives," said
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. "The state’s new mobile field hospitals and our
trained volunteer emergency responders are going to help prepare California to
quickly and effectively provide emergency services during a major medical
disaster."
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5. Exhibit could prepare you for the very worst
Mona
Shadia, SB Sun Staff Writer 09/20/2007
Earthquakes, wind, fires, floods and, inevitably, mud.
The Inland Empire has been through it all, with sometimes devastating
consequences.
So, how do you stay safe? Where do you get information when disaster
strikes?
Visitors to the San Bernardino County Museum will know, thanks to an
exhibit designed to inform, educate and prepare you to make the right decisions
in an emergency.
"Living On the Edge" was created in March and is open to the public until
Oct. 28.
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6. Big Bear Lake's mayor mulls life after
wildfire
By George Watson, SB Sun Staff Writer 09/22/2007
As the plush forest west of Big Bear Lake burned last weekend, Mayor
Bill Jahn found himself in what would seem like an unusual position of
encouraging tourists to still come to his resort community.
During an interview broadcast on one of Southern California's biggest
local TV news programs, Jahn told viewers that they should still come to his
town's Oktoberfest.
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7. Angora victims meet weekly to share concerns
Teri
Vance, Tahoe Daily Tribune
September 25, 2007
Each Tuesday, South Shore residents who lost their homes in the Angora
fire meet to share information, questions and hope.
"We were a very close neighborhood," said Larry Lambdin, who hosts the
weekly meetings along with his wife, Paula. "We just did a lot of things
together. We've found that this is a good way to support each other."
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8. Law will provide tax relief to fire victims
Earlier this month, California extended several tax breaks to El Dorado
County and Angora fire victims.
By signing Assembly Bill 62, Gov. Arnold Schwar zenegger pledged that the
state would provide tax relief to residents who lost their homes. The bill would
also reimburse El Dorado County for approximately $854,000 in property taxes
lost as a result of the fire, according to a press statement from Sen. Dave Cox,
a co-author of the bill.
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9. Highway 18 vulnerable to closures
Joe Nelson, SB Sun
Staff Writer 09/27/2007
From Waterman Canyon in San Bernardino to the Big Bear Valley and down
to Lucerne Valley, Highway 18 spans the San Bernardino Mountains and is the
primary corridor to mountain resort communities.
Mountain resort areas including Big Bear Lake and Lake Arrowhead are
dependent on tourist dollars to thrive and depend on the highway to get those
tourists to them.
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10. Fire threat haunts bid to expand Inland
wilderness
Thursday, September 27, 2007
By BEN GOAD and KIMBERLY TRONE
The Press-Enterprise
Lawmakers have worked for decades to keep vast swaths of wilderness
pristine -- free of human development and industry.
But as the space between communities and protected wilderness areas
narrows, firefighters are concerned about the increasing threat of wildfire,
particularly in places like fire-prone Inland Southern California.
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11. Dorland Mountain Arts Colony Fundraiser [Video
Coverage]
August 28th, 2007
The Press-Enterprise
The Southwest area artist colony destroyed by a wildfire is trying to rise
from the ashes.
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12. The five who died fighting the Esperanza Fire are named on a
monument in Sacramento
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Lora Hines / The Press-Enterprise
SACRAMENTO - The names of five firefighters who died fighting the arson-set
Esperanza Fire in the San Bernardino National Forest north of Cabazon last year
were among the 29 added to the limestone memorial for fallen firefighters in
Capitol Park on Saturday.
The ceremony bore witness to recent tragic events as well as decades-old
unsung sacrifices. Time and distance meant many of those who attended the event
had never heard of each other's losses, much less met before the late morning
memorial, which was suffused with the sound of bagpipes and the sobs of the
bereaved.
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13. Benefits granted to fire crews'
families
Schwarzenegger cites the five U.S. Forest Service
firefighters who died in a Riverside County blaze last year as he approves wider
health coverage.
By Patrick McGreevy, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
September 30, 2007
SACRAMENTO -- Moved by the deaths of five U.S. Forest Service
firefighters in the Esperanza fire in Riverside County last year, Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger signed legislation Saturday extending health benefits to the
families of federal crew members killed while protecting California.
Schwarzenegger signed the bill in conjunction with an annual ceremony at
State Capitol Park in Sacramento to honor the memory of California firefighters
who have died in the line of duty.
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