A fire burning in the Jemez Mountains of northern New Mexico has charred 1,405 acres and officials increased containment to 35 percent Thursday evening. The Rio Fire apparently erupted over the Memorial Day weekend near a campsite at Fenton Lake. Rangers suspect that an abandoned campfire may have sparked it. - KOB.com

Teams of workers in protective boots and gloves scoured Alabama’s Dauphin Island Wednesday for washed up tar balls and tar patties that have put the 14-mile-long resort in the front line of the state’s fight against the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The invading oil debris, heralding the arrival on Alabama’s coast of parts of the huge, fragmented oil slick... - Insurance Journal

City police, firefighters and paramedics were busy Wednesday night rescuing people trapped in vehicles in Morningside and East Carnegie that were struck in fast-rising waters from a series of thunderstorms that rolled through Allegheny, Beaver and Washington counties. There were no reports of injuries, but thousands of people were left without power after trees... - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Insurance companies likely will pay out more than $1 billion to cover damage from last month’s back-to-back storms that spawned tornadoes and large hail, industry representatives said Wednesday. The May 10 storms bearing hail and tornadoes that swept through central Oklahoma will cost insurance companies about $595 million, according to an estimate by ISO’s Property Claim Services unit, which tracks catastrophic insured losses. - The Oklahoman

Parts of the desert Southwest, Alaska, northern Great Lakes and Gulf Coast are facing above-normal chances of significant wildfires this month, a federal agency says. A forecast Tuesday by the National Interagency Fire Center also warned of increased fire risk later this summer for parts of Northern California and Nevada... - USA Today

At least two farms north of Mount Ayr in southern Iowa were severely damaged by a tornado early this evening, said Ringgold County Emergency Management Director Teresa Jackson. One large farm saw between $3 million and $4million in damage, with seven or eight buildings and the owner’s home included in the damage. No one was injured in the storm, Jackson said. - The Des Moines Register

Florida Governor Charlie Crist today signed legislation making properties affected by imported or domestic drywall eligible for an adjustment of their assessed value. The bill, HB 965, applies to the 2010 and subsequent assessment rolls and is repealed on July 1, 2017, unless reviewed and reenacted by the Legislature. - Insurance Journal

Severe storms marched through southwestern Pennsylvania on Memorial Day, becoming more intense overnight by flooding some areas and striking some homes with lightning. Thunderstorms Monday afternoon and evening saturated the ground with in excess of an inch of rainfall in several locations, according to the weather service. - The Pittsburgh Channel

Hurricane season starts Tuesday with predictions for many calamities and one swirling dilemma — what if a storm surge swamps homes and businesses in the Gulf of Mexico region with oil-laden water from the spill? This hurricane season, from Tuesday through Nov. 30, will be "one of the more active on record," said Jane Lubchenco, an undersecretary at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. - The Hartford Courant

Case name:Hill v. LDA Leasing, Inc., No. CA09-955 (Ark. Ct. App. 03/31/10). Ruling: The Arkansas Court of Appeals upheld the Workers’ Compensation Commission’s finding that a truck driver’s shoulder injury did not arise out of and in the course of his employment. What it means: While Arkansas courts have held that injuries sustained by employees during... - Risk and Insurance