Nicholas made landfall in Texas as a Category 1 hurricane and weakened to a tropical storm this morning, although the National Hurricane Center says the system could still cause life-threatening flash floods. The storm is forecast to move into Louisiana, where Hurricane Ida made landfall as a Category 4 storm in late August.

A "safe system approach" would benefit traffic safety more than the existing approach, "which favors automobiles and punishes only drivers for crashes" and "is clearly not working," National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy said in prepared remarks. Speeding is one area of concern, Homendy said, questioning whether road and vehicle designs and federal guidance are among the factors encouraging high-speed driving.

Stay-at-home parents need life insurance, too, according to Jessica Lepore, founder of online life insurance agency Surevested. "Without that person, the other parent would need to pay for full-time child care as well as the other home maintenance that the stay-at-home parent provides such as food shopping, cooking, and cleaning (to name a few)," Lepore says.

Litigation is likely to arise over President Joe Biden's COVID-19 vaccination requirements that could apply to 100 million workers, as Republican governors and the Republican National Committee are among those threatening to challenge the measures. Requiring vaccinations as a condition of employment is commonly favored by courts, but Biden's requirements could be susceptible to challenges because they were issued as an emergency temporary standard, American University law professor Lindsay Wiley said.

The aggregate increase in commercial insurance pricing was slightly more than 6% in the second quarter, down from aggregate increases of 8% in Q1 and 10% in Q2 through Q4 of last year, according to a Willis Towers Watson survey. The sharpest reductions in pricing increases during Q2 2021 were in excess/umbrella liability and directors-and-officers liability, the survey found.

From January 2017 through August 2020, the Department of Housing and Urban Development's rate of homes sold in federally designated flood zones was nearly 75 times that of US home sales overall, according to a National Public Radio analysis. Florida, Louisiana and New Jersey "stand out as hot spots," and people purchasing homes from HUD frequently got fewer flood-related disclosures than if they had bought homes from private sellers, according to NPR.

AIR Worldwide's latest estimate of insured losses from Hurricane Ida is between $20 billion and $30 billion, up from its previous estimate of $17 billion to $25 billion. The revised estimate accounts for losses that occurred as the storm moved inland and hit states including New Jersey and New York.

One Inc., an insurance claim payment company, has partnered with Mastercard to create a virtual payment card system that would allow insurers to pay life insurance and annuity benefits through online payment cards. This option would likely be particularly popular with younger beneficiaries, writes Allison Bell.

9/11 and Hurricane Andrew are "roughly tied" as the most expensive insured losses to date, says APCIA's Robert Gordon. However, the response to the tragedy signified the US insurance industry works as intended because losses were paid fairly swiftly and there were not any massive insolvencies, says Britt Newhouse, former chairman of Guy Carpenter, US.

Louisiana and Texas are expected to see heavy rainfall and flooding as Tropical Storm Nicholas approaches. Parts of the Gulf Coast could see up to 20 inches of rain, while Louisiana and eastern Texas could see 5 to 10 inches and subsequent flash flooding, according to the National Hurricane Center.