Archive for July 2021

MORRIS, Ill. (AP) — Toxic fumes and smoke from a burning former paper mill in northern Illinois that officials had believed was long abandoned but actually contained massive amounts of lithium batteries prompted officials to extend an evacuation order into … Source: Claims Journal

LOS ANGELES (AP) — James Franco and his co-defendants agreed to pay $2.2 million to settle a lawsuit alleging he intimidated students at an acting and film school he founded into gratuitous and exploitative sexual situations, court filings made public … Source: Claims Journal

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A small volcano near the Philippine capital belched a dark plume of steam and ash into the sky in a brief explosion Thursday, prompting officials to start evacuating thousands of villagers from high-risk areas. Government experts … Source: Claims Journal

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Pacific Gas & Electric asked regulators Wednesday to grant a $3.6 billion rate hike to help it pay for hardening its power systems to prevent deadly wildfires. The nation’s largest electric utility requested the hike beginning … Source: Claims Journal

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Firefighters on Wednesday tried to contain a wildfire that burned 10,000 acres near the farming community of Dufur, Oregon. Gov. Kate Brown invoked the Emergency Conflagration Act in response to the fire, allowing the state fire … Source: Claims Journal

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A cache of homemade fireworks exploded as it was being destroyed by a bomb squad, flipping and damaging cars, smashing windows in homes and injuring 17 people including police officers, authorities said. It could take days … Source: Claims Journal

Five lawsuits have been filed against the Champlain Towers South Condominium Association in Surfside, Florida as of Thursday afternoon as plaintiffs move to preserve evidence at the site of the partially collapsed high-rise to stake a claim to a share … Source: Claims Journal

Extreme temperatures in China coupled with a lack of hydro-power forced blackouts in some of its largest industrial cities last month. A rare and short-lived subtropical storm popped up in the South Atlantic off Argentina and Uruguay. And record heat … Source: Claims Journal

LONDON — Global cyber reinsurance rates have soared by up to 40% in the July renewal season, reinsurance broker Willis Re said on Thursday, as ransomware attacks increase in number and severity. A ransomware attack on Colonial Pipeline in May … Source: Claims Journal

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (AP) — A 15-year plan to abate the opioid crisis in a West Virginia community will cost local officials $2.5 billion, a forensic economist has testified. George Barrett testified Tuesday that Cabell County and the city of Huntington … Source: Claims Journal