Repeat drunken drivers will face more time behind bars in Wisconsin starting New Year’s Day under a law the state Legislature passed overwhelmingly nearly a year ago. The new law doesn’t make the first offense a criminal violation, leaving Wisconsin … Source: Claims Journal

The devastation from wildfires that roared out of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, torching hundreds of buildings and leaving 14 people dead, has been voted the top Tennessee news story of 2016, according to an annual Associated Press survey … Source: Claims Journal

Pennsylvania’s avalanche of opioids that rolled from factories through pharmacies to medicine cabinets, and then tumbled into the streets with tragic results, may finally be slowing thanks to pressure on the prescribing practices of its doctors. This year, the long-lagging … Source: Claims Journal

The Ohio Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that five police officers sued by a woman injured during a high-speed chase are immune from legal liability. There was disagreement among the justices on immunity standards. The majority ruled that officers chasing suspects … Source: Claims Journal

Jim Owens, a former Decatur, Ill., police officer, teaches his students a lot more than how to shoot straight and load their weapons. The motto of his concealed carry instruction school is “win the fight,” which translates to surviving an … Source: Claims Journal

Retirees Karen and Richard Bennett were supposed to pay off their Woods Cross, Utah, home by 2013. Instead, they had to take out a $133,000 home equity loan that year to help pay for repairs caused by their home sinking … Source: Claims Journal

The Montana Supreme Court in Parker v. Safeco Ins. Co. of America, 384 Mont. 125, 2016 MT 173, 376 P.3d 114 (2016), held that an earth movement exclusion was not limited solely to damages caused by soil movement. The Court … Source: Claims Journal

Boating fatalities in Minnesota remain high despite stepped-up efforts to stop people from going out on the water while intoxicated. The state Department of Natural Resources reports there were 17 boating-related deaths in Minnesota in 2016, and 18 last year, … Source: Claims Journal

A state district court judge in Austin has upheld the State of Texas’ right to regulate fees paid to air ambulances for transporting patients covered by workers’ compensation insurance. This case is the first in the recent national wave of … Source: Claims Journal

Uber’s push to expand into upstate New York cities such as Buffalo, Rochester and Albany is reigniting a debate over whether the drivers for the app-based ride-hailing service should be fingerprinted. Drivers are already fingerprinted in New York City, and … Source: Claims Journal