Texas
Texas home insurance problem worsens as insurer halts new policies
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.
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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 Several private insurers have cut coverage or withdrawn entirely from the Sunshine State in the past few years as Florida faces a homeowner insurance crisis exacerbated by widespread fraud and excessive litigation.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.
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.
Texas
Sweep in the heart of Texas: Twins beat Rangers again
A day off at the pool — and a little sunburn — didn’t stop the Minnesota Twins’ momentum.
Brooks Lee hit a three-run homer as Minnesota scored multiple runs in the first inning for the third consecutive game, and the Twins went on to complete a series sweep of the Texas Rangers with a 9-3 win Thursday.
Minnesota has won four games in a row and scored 25 runs in the three-games series in Texas. The two teams had a rare, mid-series day off on Wednesday with the England-Croatia World Cup game being played in Arlington.
“We’re locked in every day,” Lee told Audra Martin on the team’s broadcast. “Yesterday, taking time off, lay out by the pool, get a little burnt and then right back to it. We did a good job getting focused. I feel like we do that with rain delays, too, just lock back in and we’re doing it.”
Lee’s 12th homer capped a four-run first off Jack Leiter (3-7). Trevor Larnach made it 6-0 in the fourth with a two-run shot to straightaway center that just cleared the extended glove of leaping Alejandro Osuna. Larnach’s third hit was an RBI single in the fifth, and Ryan Kriedler hit a two-run homer in the eighth.
Joe Ryan (5-3) struck out seven but needed 97 pitches to get through five scoreless innings while allowing three singles. Leiter was done after the fourth, and has given up 17 runs while losing three starts in a row.
The Twins never trailed in the sweep that extended their winning streak to four, matching their longest this season. Their 14-5 record at Globe Life Field is the best for any American League opponent since the ballpark opened in 2020.
Wyatt Langford, Ezequiel Duran and Justin Foscue hit solo homers for the Rangers, who have lost five of six games. They are 0-15 when giving up multiple runs in the first inning.
Twins DH Josh Bell, who was born in nearby Irving and grew up in the area, had an RBI single before Lee’s homer. Bell hit a three-run homer in the first inning of the series-opening 4-2 win Monday, and had an RBI single for a 2-0 lead in the first of a 12-2 win on Tuesday.
“We’re just passing the baton each time,” Lee said of the offensive output. “Our guys are hot. They feel good and they came out swinging today. It was awesome to see. We’ve done that for a while now.”
Up next
Twins rookie left-hander Connor Prielipp (2-4, 5.26 ERA) starts Friday at Arizona. The Diamondbacks are scheduled to start right-hander Michael Soroka (8-3, 3.11).
Texas
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Texas
DPS trooper killed in Texas Panhandle crash, agency says
A Texas state trooper was killed in a crash in the Panhandle, becoming the 244th Texas Department of Public Safety officer to die in the line of duty since 1823, according to the agency.
Sergio Romero, 27, died Wednesday after a semi-truck pulled in front of him as he attempted a traffic stop around 4 p.m. on U.S. 287 in Childress County, DPS said.
In a statement, Col. Freeman F. Martin praised Romero’s courage, integrity, and service.
“Today, we grieve the loss of one of our own,” Martin said. “… Our hearts break alongside his family, friends, fellow troopers, and all who loved him. We will never forget the ultimate sacrifice he made in service of his fellow Texans.”
Romero previously served with the Hall County Sheriff’s Office before joining DPS as part of Class B-2025 in Childress, the agency said.
He is survived by his wife, Francisca, and their two young sons.
Funeral arrangements are pending. The crash remains under investigation.
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