Another company offering homeowner insurance in Texas will stop offering new policies in the state, per reports, in a move that’s likely to exacerbate the sector’s unfolding crisis.
Progressive Insurance confirmed to WFAA-TV earlier this week that it was “temporarily restricting new homeowners (HO3) business for certain agents in several states,” including Texas. Last month, home insurance comparison website Insurify reported that Progressive would stop offering new home insurance policies in Texas and some Midwestern states, including Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, and Wisconsin.
No other state besides Texas has been confirmed as being included in the “temporary” restrictions by Progressive. Newsweek contacted Progressive Insurance for comment by email on Friday morning, outside of standard working hours.
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According to Insurify, which quoted a report from P&C Specialist, Progressive stopped offering new home insurance policies in Texas as of August 13. While Progressive didn’t cite concerns over more frequent natural disasters as the reason for cutting coverage in the state, the issue is mentioned in a letter to shareholders in the company’s quarterly 10-Q filing obtained by Insurify.
An uprooted tree rests against a house on July 12, 2024, in Houston, Texas. A homeowner insurance firm in Texas will stop offering new policies in the state, per reports, in a move that’s likely… An uprooted tree rests against a house on July 12, 2024, in Houston, Texas. A homeowner insurance firm in Texas will stop offering new policies in the state, per reports, in a move that’s likely to exacerbate the sector’s unfolding crisis.
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“Reducing the impact from weather-related volatility is strategically important and shifting our geographic mix continues to be a top priority,” Progressive’s CEO Tricia Griffith said in the letter. “We continue to focus on growing in states where weather risk is relatively lower, while maintaining or reducing our market share in higher volatile states that are more susceptible to catastrophic weather events and have higher exposure to hail.”
At the end of 2023, Progressive dropped 115,000 policyholders in Florida, a state prone to hurricanes and disastrous tropical storms, sending them non-renewal notices. Several private insurers have cut coverage or withdrawn entirely from the Sunshine State in the past few years as Florida faces a homeowner insurance crisis exacerbated by widespread fraud and excessive litigation.
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According to the Texas Department of Insurance, the Progressive Group is among the ten largest home insurance companies in the state. In 2023, the agency reported that Progressive wrote $390,170,992 in premiums for homeowners’ multiple-peril insurance that year.
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The reported pullback from the company is likely to exacerbate the situation in Texas, where another insurer—Foremost Insurance, a subsidiary of Farmers Insurance—stopped renewing some policies earlier this year. The company cited “our exposure and risks relating to natural and catastrophic losses” as the reason it was not renewing a Houston homeowner’s policy, as reported by the Houston Chronicle.
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Like other states vulnerable to extreme weather events, Texas has seen home insurance premiums climb across the state in the past year. According to Bankrate, Texas homeowners pay an average of $3,898 for $300,000 in dwelling coverage—72 percent more than the national annual average cost of home insurance, $2,270 for $300,000 in dwelling coverage.
In July, NBC 5 reported that some homeowners in the state were hit with double-digit insurance rate hikes, with one resident’s premiums rising from $2,600 last year to $8,800 this year.
Are you a Texas homeowner whose home insurance policy isn’t going to be renewed by Progressive? Have you faced significant rate hikes? Contact g.carbonaro@newsweek.com.
Takeaways from Minnesota’s 54-51 loss to North Texas
The Minnesota Golden Gophers on Wednesday night found themselves on the losing end for the first time this season, falling to North Texas 54-51.
It was an ugly loss for Minnesota, one in which they scored just 14 points in the first half before putting together a better but far-from-good second half. Ultimately the sluggish start was too much to overcome in the loss.
You can read more about the loss, here.
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With that, Gophers Nation offers four thoughts on the Golden Gophers loss on Wednesday.
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1. A missed opportunity
If the Golden Gophers wanted to make the NCAA Tournament this season, they needed to maximize their opportunities within their non-conference schedule. In the grand scheme of things, it’s one of the weaker non-conference schedules in the country. Oral Roberts, Nebraska Omaha, Bethune Cookman, Fairleigh Dickinson, and Morgan State are all opponents rated by KenPom at 250 or higher.
The only respectable opponents on the Minnesota non-conference schedule were North Texas (65), Yale (104), Wichita State (83), and Florida (21) /Wake Forest (74).
Now, the Gophers are off to a 0-1 start in those four games, and little over the last two games will inspire much confidence that the Gophers will be able to win out the remainder of those three games. Even if the Gophers rebound to have a respectable non-conference record once Big Ten play begins, a quad-three loss could be a deciding factor in the discussions for the NCAA Tournament come March.
That being said, making the NCAA Tournament should be the last thing on the Gophers’ mind currently. Their play over their last two games has been highly concerning even when considering the health of key players.
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2. A terrible first half too much to overcome
To start the game 1-for-17 from the field in a game is simply inexcusable and baffling. The Golden Gophers on Wednesday were kept to an embarrassing 14 points in the first 20 minutes of play. Miraculously, they only found themselves trailing 23-14 as Noth Texas seemingly couldn’t get out of their way in the first half as well.
The sloppiness went beyond being unable to buy a basket as well as the Gophers had eight first-half turnovers which resulted in nine points for North Texas on the other side of the court including seven coming off the fast break.
The overwhelming theme of the first-half shooting woes was the Gophers settling for shots. Their first layup attempt of the game didn’t come until the 6:45 mark. Going forward, the Gophers need to do a much better job in their shot selection.
Notably, the Gophers did appear to miss Mike Mitchell’s ability to distribute the ball quite a bit. They had just nine assists in the loss while Mitchell had 12 alone through the first two games. With Mitchell out at least two weeks, the Gophers offense may continue to look sluggish until his return.
3. Will someone not named Dawson Garcia emerge?
If the Golden Gophers are going to have any sort of chance of building momentum this season, someone will have to emerge as an offensive threat beyond Dawson Garcia. Through three games, Garcia has 40% of all the Gophers points scored with 78 of 199 total points.
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The next closest Gopher? Lu’Cye Patterson with 27 points and Trey Edmonds is the only other Gopher to total over 20 points so far this season.
Garcia is shooting 66.7% from the field this season making 26-of-39 total shots. No other Gopher this season has made more than nine shots.
If the Gophers’ only true scoring option this season is Dawson Garcia, it’s going to be a very long season for Ben Johnson’s program.
4. Gophers guards struggle without Mitchell
As alluded to above, the Golden Gophers’ guards as a whole struggled without Mike Mitchell. In the loss, Femi Odukale, Brennan Rigsby, Lu’Cye Patterson, and Isaac Asuma went a combined 7-for-35 from the field. They also combined for seven of 13 Minnesota turnovers in the game.
Patterson was especially rough for the Gophers, going 3-for-14 from the field in the loss including 1-for-7 from three-point range. After going 3-for-6 in the season opener against Oral Roberts, Patterson is just 6-for-22 over the last two games, a 27.7% shooting percentage.
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Odukale’s struggles are notable as well as he is off to a 3-for-14 start for the season from the field, he’s also missed his only two free throw attempts. The Gophers will need the former Pittsburgh, Seton Hall, and New Mexico State guard to step up his play going forward. There should be hope as well that he can do so as he’s averaged 8.7 points for his career and is a 42% shooter lifetime as well.
The same could be said about Brennan Rigsby who three games is just 5-for-21 including 3-for-12 from three-point range.
For Asuma, freshman struggles are to be expected including Wednesday’s performance which was especially tough as he was 1-for-6 from the field including 1-for-5 from three-point range while turning the ball over three times. The key for the Minnesota native will be to use Wednesday’s game as a learning experience which can sometimes be easier said than done.
With Mike Mitchell Jr likely out for at least another week, the Gophers will need their guards to find their groove quickly starting on Saturday against Yale.
A Texas man and woman are accused of stabbing a man to death after living in his condo with him.
Leo Moore and Haley Barber, both 20, have been charged with capital murder in the killing of Johnny Mac Ross Jr.
Moore and Barber, who reportedly had been living with Ross, allegedly killed him, wrapped him up with rugs and sheets, stole his car and then led police on a chase through the east Dallas suburb of Garland.
Garland police arrested the duo Monday afternoon after a chase, according to FOX 4 Dallas-Fort Worth.
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Leo Moore and Haley Barber, both 20, are accused of killing 53-year-old Johnny Mac Ross Jr.(Garland Police Department)
“It was several days. It does not appear that the stabbing occurred that morning,” Garland Police Lt. Pedro Barineau told the outlet. “We’re working with the medical examiner to determine how long that person had been deceased.”
Surveillance video shows the couple going in and out of the condo during the time period in which Ross was believed to be stabbed to death.
Neighbors said the couple lived in the condo with Ross, and that there had been a staunch odor coming from the home for a few days – a stink that got worse as the days passed.
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Leo Moore and Haley Barber were arrested on capital murder charges.(iStock)
One of the neighbors, Dillan Meadows, told FOX 4 that he’d heard unusually loud noises coming from the apartment. Other neighbors reiterated that sentiment.
“Last week, we heard them a couple of times getting into it,” Meadows said.
Meadows spoke positively about Ross, someone he’d only known for six months.
“We used to go fishing all the time out back,” Meadows said. “He used to come down, sit out there and fish with us. He used to bring us food, sit there on the grill. He was a really cool dude.”
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Others told FOX 4 there was high-risk activity associated with the condo.
“There’s still a lot more information that our detectives are trying to uncover,” Barineau said.
Moore and Barber allegedly stole Ross’ 2001 Mercedes before leading police on a chase. They are being held at the Garland Detention Center without bond.
MINNEAPOLIS — Rondel Walker scored 14 points and undefeated North Texas led for most of the way and held off Minnesota for a 54-51 victory on Wednesday night.
Dawson Garcia scored six points during an 8-2 surge to pull Minnesota to 52-51 with 30 seconds left. Isaac Asuma blocked Brenen Lorient’s layup attempt on the ensuing possession, but Lu’Cye Patterson’s 3-point shot hit the back of the rim and the Mean Green’s Johnathan Massie grabbed the rebound.
Following a North Texas timeout with 3 seconds to go, Lorient added a dunk and Patterson’s midcourt heave bounced off the backboard.
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Lorient added nine points for the Mean Green.
Garcia shot 6 of 9 from the field, made all 10 of his free throws and finished with 24 points to lead Minnesota (2-1). He entered three points shy of 1,000 career points with the Golden Gophers, the first do so since Daniel Oturu in 2020. Garcia has 1,516 points overall.
Minnesota was 15-of-38 shooting (31%), committed 13 turnovers and missed seven (15 of 22) of its free-throw attempts. Patterson added nine points on 3-of-14 shooting.
Minnesota shot just 14% in the first half, missing 18 of 21 field goals and trailed 23-14 at the break. Brennan Rigsby hit a 3-pointer at the 15:41-mark and the Gophers didn’t hit another field goal until Garcia’s second-chance layup with 3:15 remaining in the half.
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Rigsby’s 3-pointer gave the Golden Gophers their only lead, 43-42, with 7:27 left in the game.
It was the first meeting between the teams.
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