Connecticut Insurance Agent Under Fire for Not Paying Wages

The head of a Hartford, Conn.-based insurance firm under investigation for allegedly failing to pay $670,000 in premiums to two of the city's insurance carriers is also accused of owing wages to employees of his now-defunct restaurant. According to The Courant, two complaints have been filed against Earl O'Garro Jr.'s short-lived eatery Us Restaurant for neglecting to pay wages shortly before the eatery closed its doors in September. The complaints are under investigation by the state Department of Labor. O'Garro has also defaulted on a state loan for his Hybrid Insurance Group, and his home faces foreclosure, state and town records indicate.

N.J. Homeowners Ordered to Elevate Homes After Completing Sandy Repairs

Homeowners in the Sandy-struck New Jersey borough of Little Ferry have been told they need to put their homes on raised foundations to keep future flood insurance costs down. However, NJ.com reports many homeowners have already spent their insurance payouts on other repairs and missed the deadlines for grants that would have helped pay for the elevation. Local officials said they had little time to notify homeowners about the requirement because the state assessed damage to impacted homes too slowly. Conversely, state officials said it was Little Ferry's responsibility to report which homes were damaged as soon after the storm as possible.

Massachusetts Homeowners Fear NFIP Change

Changes to NFIP are raising fears in Massachusetts communities that the costs of protecting homes and businesses from water damage are about to skyrocket as the government redraws flood zone maps and phases out subsidies. According to The Boston Globe, the changes could require thousands of homeowners to buy flood insurance for the first time, and raise average premiums of existing customers by as much as 25 percent annually, or approximately $300 a year. For some seaside home and business owners, premiums will jump by thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars a year as map revisions place their properties into higher risk flood zones or they lose government subsidies. In Marblehead, for example, the annual premium for Harborside Condominiums will soar from $4,300 to $45,000 next year and then climb in subsequent years to an estimated $600,000 because the 27-unit complex was moved into a high risk coastal zone, said Joyce Raymond, one of the condo owners.

Rural Groups React to Cuts in Crop Insurance Subsidies

Rural groups say they'll fight a proposed $100 million-a-year cut in crop insurance subsidies, a measure that has won the support of both houses of Congress and could be a test of agriculture's influence in Washington, reports Bloomberg. The House of Representatives has endorsed reducing the government's portion of farmers' insurance-policy premiums for higher-income farmers, following a Senate measure approved in June. Critics say the measure doesn't go far enough, while supporters warn of ripple effects through the rural economy.