The following is stated in a letter that the Sentor made part of Congressional Record to the State Farm CEO. 

"State Farm recently reported that it has handled more than 84,700 property claims in Mississippi, yet requested engineering reports for only 1,100 of the claims. Since engineering reports are needed for the purpose of determining whether damage was caused by wind or by water, State Farm must have acknowledged that other 83,600 properties were damaged by winds alone. In other words, State Farm has paid claims for wind damage far inland where you could not blame flooding, while denying wind claims on the coast where the winds were much stronger, but where you could blame flooding."

Click here to read the article.

A public insurance adjuster in Pennsylvania was charged with fraud after authorities said he inflated a fire claim by nearly $15,000.

Click here to read the story.

From the article>

"An insurance adjusting firm wants two whistleblowers to stop talking about claims they handled for State Farm insurance, pay damages for economic harm and return records they turned over to federal and state investigators.

The company, Alabama-based E.A. Renfroe, said sisters Cori and Kerri Rigsby also gave copies of the records to attorney Richard "Dickie" Scruggs, whose Scruggs Katrina Group intends to profit from lawsuits filed against State Farm.

Renfroe is suing the Rigsbys, insurance adjusters who claim State Farm manipulated engineering firms to minimize or deny policyholder claims. Renfroe said the Rigsbys breached their employment contract and violated the Alabama Trade Secrets Act by turning over confidential records to federal and state investigators and to Scruggs, for whom they are now working.

The sisters also were interviewed for stories in the Sun Herald and on ABC's "20/20."

Renfroe wants a federal judge in Alabama to stop the Rigsbys' disclosures, award Renfroe damages for breach of contract, allow Renfroe to recover any profits the Rigsbys or Scruggs receive from the records, and award extra damages against the Rigsbys."

Click here to read the full Sun Herald article>

Dr, Gray reduces the number of hurricanes again. 

September 1, 2006 Forecast Update

Named Storms - 13

Hurricanes - 5

Intense Hurricanes - 2

In the latest forecast Dr. Gray states;

Causes of August 2006 Over-Forecast

"We view our overestimate of the 2006 hurricane season as a result of our inability to predict the substantial amounts of tropical Atlantic mid-level dryness and the extensive amount of African dust that enveloped this area in August. Rainfall in the African Sahel has also been lower than expected.

Another factor leading to a less active hurricane season is the continued development of El Niño-like conditions in the eastern Pacific.  This has resulted in a modest suppression of 200 mb upper tropospheric easterly wind anomalies in the tropical Atlantic, thereby increasing vertical wind shear in the western Atlantic.  Also, there has likely been an increase in subsidence over the tropical Atlantic due to an eastward shift of the Walker Circulation as waters have continued to warm in the central and eastern Pacific.

The increase of this year’s August hurricane activity in the eastern Pacific is another indication of suppressed Atlantic conditions.  These two tropical cyclone basins have tended to be negatively correlated in recent years.  When eastern Pacific activity is enhanced, as it has been this August, Atlantic activity is usually suppressed.  "

Click Here to read the full September 1 Forecast Update

A link to this article was first posted in the forum by CharlesC, click here to read the post.

Here is a quote from the article.

"AUSTIN — Standard insurance policies used by homeowners to recover billions of dollars in mold losses actually didn't cover mold, the Texas Supreme Court ruled Thursday.

The court, in a 7-2 decision, sided with State Farm, which argued that its policy excluded mold coverage."

Click here to read the full article.