Time for a national insurance program to cope with natural disasters?Advocates of legislation to create a national insurance program say it's better to plan ahead than do a bailout after a natural disaster. Critics say it would amount to a subsidy for owners of coastal mansions and encourage people to live in places they shouldn't.Guidewire Wins Insurance Canada.ca's 'Best In Class Technology Provider - Insurer Solutions' AwardGuidewire Software, a leading provider of flexible core systems to property/casualty insurers, recently announced that it has won an Insurance Canada.ca Technology Award (ICTA)Unemployment Insurance ExtendedWashington, D.C. - The U.S. Senate voted to extend unemployment insurance and Cobra health benefits for one year.Insurance Mandate May Need Strict PenaltiesThe health care plans before Congress require individuals to purchase insurance. But the penalty for violating the individual mandate may be so low that healthy people might be tempted to pay it instead of buying insurance. That would leave insurers with less healthy customers, prompting companies to raise their rates, prompting more people to drop out, and so forth.Taking insurance education onlineFarmington Hills, Mich.-based Burns & Wilcox Ltd. has created a Web-based portal within its corporate university--The Kaufman Institute--to deliver online education, training and development services to insurance professionals.Interstate health insurance failsA bill giving Washington consumers an opportunity to buy health insurance from other states died in the Legislature this year under pressure from advocates for mental health equality, massage therapists and others.Bainbridge Speaker Manufacturer, Bremerton Port in Lease TalksPosh Speaker Systems, Inc. would move from Bainbridge Island into the port¿s business park.Bainbridge Island man killed by falling tree-- From Times staff reporter Susan Gilmore:Bainbridge Council votes in 2010 budget reductionsIt took more than a month, and six meetings, but the City Council Wednesday unanimously agreed on more than $1 million worth of budget cuts to fund reserve accounts and give the city some financial breathing room. The council concluded this round of budget discussions only a few months out from the beginning of the 2011-12 biennial budget process, when councilors say the discussion of the long ...Bainbridge Island Man Charged With Attacking His BrotherPORT ORCHARD —A Bainbridge Island man was charged with third-degree assault Thursday in Kitsap County District Court after fighting with his brother last Wednesday aboard a boat in Poulsbo Marina.Colton Andreoli, 23, and the brother got in an argument about a boat pump while on the brother’s boat, according to court documents. The brother said that he kicked Andreoli off the boat, but he wouldn ...Bainbridge Island Man Cutting Trees Gets Pinned, DiesBAINBRIDGE ISLAND, Wash. -- A 47-year-old Bainbridge Island man died when a tree he was cutting down fell on him, said Bainbridge Island Police Department.
