Tag Archives: La Niña

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Risk Link Roundup

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Here are a few articles that caught my attention during the past week highlighting some interesting issues impacting the world of risk and insurance. They include tips on handling cyber disputes, news about the coming El Niño, Department of Labor remote work policies, how students at Butler University are establishing a captive insurer and an interesting look at potential FCPA lessons learned from the July death of Cecil the Lion.

5 Tips for Success in Cyber Litigation

Insurance Thought Leadership: Many insurance coverage disputes can be, should be and are settled without the need for litigation and its attendant costs and distractions. However, some disputes cannot be settled, and organizations are compelled to resort to courts or other tribunals to obtain the coverage they paid for, or, with increasing frequency, they are pulled into proceedings by insurers seeking to preemptively avoid coverage. – See more at: http://insurancethoughtleadership.com/5-tips-for-success-in-cyber-litigation/#sthash.m6sFEr8X.dpuf

El Niño and La Niña: Weather Patterns that Could Impact Your Business

Interstate Restoration: “…the Godzilla El Niño.”“All Signs Indicate a New Monster El Niño is Coming.” These quotes aren’t from a new action movie. They are just a couple of examples of the dramatic headlines and descriptions about the potential of this year’s El Niño. Since most of the stories hearken back to the El Niño of 1997 – 98—the strongest on record—it’s understandable if you’re concerned about the potential impact that of this year’s El Niño on your business. But depending on where you’re located, you may or may not need to worry.

DOL Forcing Everyone to Change Remote Work Policies: Pitfalls to Avoid

HR Morning: If the DOL’s new overtime regs go through as written — and there’s every indication to believe they will — employers of all stripes will have much more than just classification issues to contend with.

Grant Helps Butler Create Student-Run Insurance Company

Butler University Newsroom: The Butler University College of Business will establish a student-run insurance company with the goal of having the company fully operational by the 2019–2020 academic year, thanks to a $250,000 gift from MJ Insurance and Michael M. Bill.

On the Death of Cecil the Lion and the FCPA

Compliance Week: Cecil the Lion was shot and killed in July. What does the death of this well-known and well-beloved lion in Zimbabwe have to do with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act? More importantly, what are the lessons to be learned by any chief compliance officer or compliance professional from this event? Much more than you would first think, actually.

More Springtime Disaster with Arizona Fires

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As if record-setting floods in the Midwest and deadly tornadoes throughout the South and Midwest were not enough disaster for this country in the last couple of months, Arizona is now battling the second-largest blaze in the state’s history.

The blaze has burned 486 square miles of ponderosa pine forest, driven by wind gusts of more than 60 mph, since it was sparked May 29 by what authorities believe was an unattended campfire. Now more than twice the size of Chicago, the fire became the second-largest in Arizona history Tuesday. No serious injuries have been reported, but the fire has destroyed 10 structures so far. It has cast smoke as far east as Iowa and forced some planes to divert from Albuquerque, N.M., some 200 miles away.

Firefighters from as far away as New York are working day and night in attempt to slow the spread of flames. But residents and firefighters alike are understandably worried since a blaze of this size accompanied by winds of such a high speed could move the Wallow Fire to the number one spot in Arizona’s list of largest fires.

So what’s the deal with all of these wild, weather-related disasters?

According to Bill Patzert, a research scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, the cause it not solely global warming, but more “global weirding.”

“Sometimes it gets wild and weird,” says Patzert. In more technical terms, weather forecasters searching for a unifying explanation point to the La Niña climate pattern, a phenomenon born far out in the Pacific Ocean that shapes weather across the globe, in combination with other atmospheric anomalies that have altered the jet stream flow of air across North America. Less famous than its warm-water climate sibling El Niño, this year’s La Niña has been “near record-breaking” in its intensity, says climate scientist Michelle L’Heureux of the Climate Prediction Center in Camp Springs, Md.

La Niña conditions occur every few years and can persist as long as two years. With the tornadoes, flooding and fires that have already ravaged parts of the U.S., and hurricane season upon us, it is unfortunately shaping up to be an active, expensive and deadly La Niña season.