Michael Finch II on Muck Rack

Michael Finch II

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New Orleans
As seen in: MLK50, MSN, The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Breitbart, Flipboard, The Christian Science Monitor, AL.com, Miami Herald, The Star-Ledger, The Orange County Register and
Covers:  general assignment, crime and breaking news, business, real estate, maritime industry, property insurance
Journalist. Made in Miami. Tennis is life 🎾 OIIIIO
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Articles by Michael Finch II

Southwest Memphis air monitors reveal ‘no relief’ from elevated pollution, researchers find

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By Michael Finch II Verified
| Flipboard
When It Comes To BBQ, This Type Of Charcoal Has One Frustrating Downside If you've decided to use a charcoal grill instead of a gas grill for your outdoor cooking this year, you should know there are a few types of …
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Surge in ICE arrests around Memphis fueled by people who haven’t committed any crimes

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By Michael Finch II Verified
| MLK50
President Donald Trump promised that his mass deportation campaign would target the “worst of the worst” people and make Americans safer, but nearly half of the arrests recorded in the Memphis area since January have been of people who have not been convicted of any crime, according to data analyzed by MLK50: Justice Through Journalism.
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Tax Breaks Cancelled for Two Beleaguered Apartment Communities

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By Michael Finch II Verified
| Memphis Flyer Verified
The Health, Educational and Housing Facility Board of Memphis revoked the tax breaks granted to the owner of two beleaguered apartment communities that were the subject of reporting by MLK50: Justice Through Journalism, citing the board’s pattern of delays when dealing with wayward landlords.
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Tax breaks drain millions from Shelby County coffers, robbing critical services of the support they need

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By Michael Finch II Verified
| MLK50
Every year since 2014, Shelby County has given up nearly $41 million in tax revenue that could have been used to fund the county’s crumbling schools or cash-strapped transit agency. Instead, the money was funneled away from the county’s coffers by several obscure boards empowered to hand out tax breaks without lawmaker approval and with little to no oversight of their activities. Subscribe to MLK50’s newsletter and get Memphis-rooted news and insights right-sized for your neighborhood.
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The community is working on the city’s gun problems even when the legislature isn’t

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By Michael Finch II Verified
| MLK50
What if we thought of firearm injuries as a disease in need of an intervention — or a cure? That’s the idea researchers, community violence advocates and medical professionals have been asking for years now as the number of firearm-related injuries continues to grow. Any time there’s a threat to human life, public health professionals have tried to figure out what could be done to intervene. There are past examples of this.
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Tennessee lawmakers have found a new scapegoat for youth crime

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By Michael Finch II Verified
| Our Community Now
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Tennessee lawmakers using old scapegoat for youth crime

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By Michael Finch II Verified
| MLK50
Amid the lockdown days and barren streets of the pandemic, violent youth crime fell considerably in Shelby County. From 2019 to 2020, burglaries, robberies and assaults, in particular, were down. Yet in the years since, the youth crime rate returned to its pre-pandemic level, a predictable bounce back as people returned to life after lockdown. But that return has been treated as an upward trend and has sent state lawmakers searching for someone to blame.
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Florida man dies after car collides with tractor trailer in St. Tammany Parish

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By Michael Finch II Verified
| The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate Verified
A Florida man died Saturday afternoon after his car was struck by another vehicle and slammed into a tractor trailer parked along Interstate 12 in St. Tammany Parish. Louisiana State Police said Sunday that Silver Angel of St. Petersburg, Florida, was driving west on I-12 north of Madisonville at about 3 p.m. when a Jeep Liberty in the other lane moved into the lane he was in, striking her car.
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Coast Guard rescues 11 boaters during stormy weather on Lake Pontchartrain Sunday

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By Michael Finch II Verified
| The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate Verified
The U.S. Coast Guard rescued 11 people after a patch of stormy weather blew through the New Orleans area early Sunday, leaving the boaters helpless in the churning waters of Lake Pontchartrain. The Coast Guard's New Orleans personnel responded to two different distress calls at about 2 p.m. after wind gusts reached 30 mph on the lake and waves topped 5 feet.
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St. Tammany restaurant burglar arrested after wild highway chase

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By Michael Finch II Verified
| The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate Verified
The St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's deputies apprehended a Tennessee man late Saturday who was driving a white box truck that law enforcement officials say is linked to four restaurant burglaries the previous night. A deputy noticed a vehicle that resembled the box truck at 4:30 p.m. was being driven down Collins Boulevard in Covington, the sheriff's office said.
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Florida woman dies after car collides with tractor trailer in St. Tammany Parish

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By Michael Finch II Verified
| The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate Verified
A Florida woman died Saturday afternoon after her car was struck by another vehicle and slammed into a tractor trailer parked along Interstate 12 in St. Tammany Parish. Louisiana State Police said Sunday that Angel Silver of St. Petersburg, Florida, was driving west on I-12 north of Madisonville at about 3 p.m. when a Jeep Liberty in the other lane moved into the lane she was in, striking her car.
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Louisiana homeowners find lawsuits against insurance bailout program more challenging Original

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By Michael Finch II Verified
| The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate Verified
Cindy Piro looked over the heap of insurance documents she had amassed over the last year. None of it made sense. There was a vast gulf between the cost of needed repairs to her Mandeville home and the $9,247 she received from Southern Fidelity Insurance Co. before it went belly-up. Piro thought Louisiana's bailout fund was supposed to step into the shoes of failed insurers and rescue her. But everything about her experience suggested she was wrong.
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Louisiana's Fortified roof grant program could open for applications in October

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By Michael Finch II Verified
| The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate Verified
A grant program aimed at improving the quality of roof construction in Louisiana could begin accepting applications in October, creating an avenue for homeowners to get modest discounts on their property insurance. Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon said at a news conference Wednesday that the $30 million approved for the Fortified Homes grant program was the highlight of the legislative session.
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Unregulated insurers taking a bigger piece of Louisiana’s property insurance market Original

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By Michael Finch II Verified
| The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate Verified
For nearly a decade, Denise Hancock always turned to a broker to find competitively priced home insurance. So when her insurer, United Property and Casualty, went under earlier this year, Hancock appealed to her longtime agent. “The quotes they came back to me with were both more than double” the price of her existing policy, she said.
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Ozone levels in southeast Louisiana could challenge breathing for some on Sunday

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By Michael Finch II Verified
| The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate Verified
State officials warn vulnerable southeast Louisiana residents to take precautions when venturing outdoors Sunday, as the air quality is expected to worsen for at least part of the Memorial Day weekend. The amount of ozone, a harmful pollutant, will be abnormally high in the atmosphere and could make it harder for people with sensitive lungs to breath, the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality said Saturday.
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First French Quarter murder of 2023 under investigation by New Orleans police

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By Michael Finch II Verified
| The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate Verified
New Orleans police worked Saturday to identify who was responsible for the first French Quarter murder of the year. The victim, a 30-year-old man was shot multiple times Friday night at North Peters and Iberville streets, adjacent to the Canal Place retail and office tower. The circumstances of the killing were not immediately clear, but police said the victim was involved in an automobile collision there.
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Louisiana's insurance market is in shambles. Here's how lawmakers hope to fix it Original

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By James Finn Verified, Michael Finch II Verified
| The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate Verified
Since a series of punishing hurricanes battered Louisiana’s coast and upended the state’s insurance marketplace, officials have tried to right the ship by enticing companies to write policies here with millions in incentive payments. State officials, lawmakers and consumer advocates generally agree that the so-called Insure Louisiana Incentive Program is a solid step — but that it amounts to a temporary fix for an insurance landscape in disarray.
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Why Louisiana keeps turning to low-rated insurers to reduce Citizens' policy load Original

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By Michael Finch II Verified
| The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate Verified
Members of the board that oversees the Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corp. were primed for a discussion that nobody wanted to have. It took the public insurer more than a decade to trim the number of risky policies it was holding to less than 40,000, through a process called depopulation. But over the span of a few months, after the collapse of a dozen insurers, more than 80,000 policyholders had come rushing back into Citizens’ arms.
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Nine insurers seek $62 million in incentive cash to revive Louisiana marketplace Original

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By Michael Finch II Verified
| The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate Verified
Nine insurers have applied for a total of $62 million in grants from a revived program that will allow insurance companies who agree to write business in Louisiana to receive direct subsidies from the state, Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon said Tuesday. It’s unclear how many of the companies will be approved, but the degree of interest exceeds the $45 million provided by the Legislature during the special session.
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Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon says he won't seek re-election

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By Michael Finch II Verified
| The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate Verified
Louisiana Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon announced Tuesday morning that he won't seek re-election. The surprise announcement comes as Donelon, 78, a Republican from Metairie who is serving his fourth term, is attempting to sort out what he has described as a "crisis" in Louisiana's property insurance market. A dozen insurers writing business in the state have failed since 2020's Hurricane Laura, and more than a dozen others have stopped writing business.
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Boil water advisory for Fairgrounds, area west of Dillard

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By Michael Finch II Verified
| The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate Verified
Update: The Sewerage & Water Board on Monday canceled the precautionary boil water advisory issued for parts of Gentilly and the Fairgrounds neighborhood.
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Boil water advisory in place for parts of Gentilly, Fairgrounds

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By Michael Finch II Verified
| The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate Verified
The Sewerage & Water Board of New Orleans issued a precautionary boil water advisory for a section of New Orleans Sunday. The guidance covered a small section of the Fairgrounds neighborhood and the neighborhoods west of Dillard University, the agency said. The boundary extends along Paris Avenue from Milton Street to St. Bernard Avenue; and along the London Canal from Milton Street to North Broad Avenue.
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Body found in canal in Little Woods early Sunday; police investigating incident as a homicide

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By Michael Finch II Verified
| The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate Verified
A body was discovered riddled with bullet wounds in a canal in Little Woods Sunday morning, the New Orleans Police Department said. Officers received the call shortly after 9 a.m. and arrived at the scene near the I-10 Service Road and Camberley Drive (map). Police said it is unclear when the shooting occurred, but the death is being investigated as a homicide. The Orleans Parish Coroner’s Office was called to help identify the victim and determine the cause of death.
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Gentilly shooting early Sunday leaves one man dead

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By Michael Finch II Verified
| The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate Verified
The New Orleans Police Department is investigating an early morning shooting that left one man dead in Gentilly. Officers were dispatched to Franklin Avenue and Leon C. Simon Drive near the UNO Lakefront Arena (map) shortly before 1:20 a.m. Sunday. They found an unidentified man with a gunshot wound to his body, police said. Paramedics took the man to a local hospital, where he died. No other information was made available.
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Third fire in a year extinguished at Oakmont Apartments in Algiers Saturday night

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By Michael Finch II Verified
| The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate Verified
Firefighters extinguished a blaze late Saturday at an empty Algiers apartment complex once owned by landlord Josh Bruno. No injuries were reported. First responders were dispatched to the Oakmont Apartments at 6:45 pm, according to the New Orleans Fire Department. The first firefighters arrived at the complex, located at 2200 Westbend Parkway at 6:52 p.m. They found sections of the large apartment buildings vacant but “fully engulfed in fire,” the NOFD said.
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Insurers cashed in on Louisiana’s short-lived incentive program. The results were mixed.

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By Michael Finch II Verified
| NewsBreak
A Metairie fishing and hunting guide has been arrested on accusations of fraud after he allegedly took payments for charter trips but never showed up, authorities said Friday. Christopher Pike Jr., 38, has violated state charter guide regulations 10 times since 2017, according to a state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries statement. His 24-foot boat is now under a court-issued seizure order, department officials said.
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Insurers cashed in on Louisiana’s short-lived incentive program. The results were mixed.

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By Michael Finch II Verified
| The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate Verified
In the grim years after Hurricane Katrina, Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon was desperate to find companies willing to sell homeowners insurance in southern Louisiana. Armed with a $100 million pool, the state offered insurers millions of dollars in government grants if they could sell a certain number of policies in parishes near or below Interstate 10 and stick around at least five years. Free money is catnip for any industry.
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Louisiana regulators continue allowing weak insurers to take on risky policies Original

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By Michael Finch II Verified
| KPXJ 21/KTBS 3 (Shreveport, LA) Verified
BATON ROUGE, La. - After four insurers failed in late 2021, Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon put the fate of thousands of Louisiana homeowners in the hands of little-known Safepoint Insurance Co. The Florida-based firm took on 30,000 risky policies after three companies abruptly collapsed. Three months later, Safepoint assumed 24,000 more.
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Louisiana regulators continue allowing weak insurers to take on risky policies

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By Michael Finch II Verified
| The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate Verified
After four insurers failed in late 2021, Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon put the fate of thousands of Louisiana homeowners in the hands of little-known Safepoint Insurance Co. The Florida-based firm took on 30,000 risky policies after three companies abruptly collapsed. Three months later, Safepoint assumed 24,000 more.
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Insurance bailout fund crippled by lawsuits, claims as Louisiana policyholders wait for relief

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By Michael Finch II Verified
| The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate Verified
If it weren’t for a healthy savings account, Rosanna “Roshi” Mason might still be living in a cramped disaster relief trailer in her front yard with her husband and two kids. Maison Insurance Co. was supposed to pay for the damage to their home in LaPlace, but the insurer went belly-up and was taken over by the state. Maison had sent “settlement” checks, but they were frozen before her lawyer could get them endorsed and cashed.
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Urgent action on insurance incentives rebuffed by Louisiana lawmakers Original

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By Michael Finch II Verified
| The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate Verified
Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon’s request to fast-track funding for an incentive program was rebuffed by state lawmakers this week, leaving the effort in limbo until the next legislative session starts in April. Donelon had urged lawmakers to allow him to use $15 million in leftover premium tax revenue that the insurance department collects to kickstart the Insure Louisiana Incentive Program.
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Amid crisis in Louisiana insurance marketplace, top regulator pleads for action on incentives Original

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By Michael Finch II Verified
| The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate Verified
Louisiana Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon said he might ask political leaders to convene a special session in early 2023 if two legislative committees do not approve his plans to relaunch a multimillion-dollar incentive program this week. Donelon’s comments come amid a spiraling crisis in Louisiana’s property insurance market, which has seen at least 23 insurers pull up stakes or go belly-up since 2020’s Hurricane Laura.
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Low ratings didn’t disqualify weak insurers from taking risky policies from Louisiana Citizens

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By Michael Finch II Verified
| KPXJ 21/KTBS 3 (Shreveport, LA) Verified
State lawmakers created one rule that insurers had to follow if they wanted to take over risky policies carried by the state-run insurer of last resort, Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corp. The private companies needed a letter grade of B+ or better from the leading rating firm A.M. Best — or its equivalent. But state regulators, desperate to move people off the public insurance plan, were lenient in how they interpreted that rule, a Times-Picayune review has found.
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Low ratings didn’t disqualify weak insurers from taking risky policies from Louisiana Citizens Original

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By Michael Finch II Verified
| The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate Verified
State lawmakers created one rule that insurers had to follow if they wanted to take over risky policies carried by the state-run insurer of last resort, Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corp. The private companies needed a letter grade of B+ or better from the leading rating firm A.M. Best — or its equivalent. But state regulators, desperate to move people off the public insurance plan, were lenient in how they interpreted that rule, a Times-Picayune review has found.
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Louisiana Citizens rate increases will be as high as 111% in some parishes Original

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By Michael Finch II Verified
| The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate Verified
The unlucky residents who rely on the state’s insurer of last resort pay the most for property insurance coverage in the state. Thanks to the hurricanes of 2020 and 2021, the prices charged by Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corp. are set to rise by an average of 63%. But in some parishes, the financial pain will be much more severe. In St. John the Baptist Parish, where 2021's Hurricane Ida did massive damage, the cost of a homeowners policy will go up by an average of 111%.
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Amid crisis, Louisiana auditor urges regulators to scrutinize insurers' backstop coverage Original

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By Michael Finch II Verified
| The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate Verified
The Louisiana Legislative Auditor is urging insurance regulators to dig deeper into why nearly a dozen insurers folded as they struggled to pay claims after four powerful hurricanes made landfall in the state. In a report released Monday, the auditor called on the Louisiana Department of Insurance to thoroughly examine a claim the agency has made frequently: Why did so many of the failed companies lack enough reinsurance — that is, coverage insurers use as a backstop against catastrophic events.
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By Michael Finch II Verified
| The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate Verified
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Our Views: Insurance crisis offers Louisiana few good options Original

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By Michael Finch II Verified, Joseph Cranney Verified
| The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate Verified
The difficult 2020 and 2021 hurricane seasons are fading from memory, but it will take a long time for Louisiana to recover. It’s not just the blue roof tarps that still dot the landscape from Lake Charles to Lafourche. The most serious aftereffect is the disruption in the precarious property insurance market, which threatens to do lasting damage to home values in our communities.
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State program placed Louisiana’s riskiest policies with untested insurers; many then failed Original

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By Michael Finch II Verified, Joseph Cranney Verified
| The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate Verified
Over the last decade and a half, more than 129,000 policyholders have been offloaded from Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corp., the state-run insurer of last resort. Through a program known as depopulation, some of the riskiest policies were placed with untested private insurers as the agency tried to reduce its exposure to future hurricane losses.
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Here are the Louisiana insurers that have gone broke or left the state amid deepening crisis

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By Michael Finch II Verified
| KPXJ 21/KTBS 3 (Shreveport, LA) Verified
BATON ROUGE, La. - Louisiana is in the middle of a property insurance crisis: As of this week, nine insurance companies that wrote homeowners policies in the state have gone belly-up since a series of hurricanes hit the state in 2020. A dozen other companies have withdrawn from the state, either by canceling existing policies or announcing they won’t renew them. All of the companies are relatively small: None had a market share as large as 3%, according to the Louisiana Department of Insurance.
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Here are the Louisiana insurers that have gone broke or left the state amid deepening crisis Original

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By Michael Finch II Verified
| The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate Verified
Louisiana is in the middle of a property insurance crisis: As of this week, nine insurance companies that wrote homeowners policies in the state have gone belly-up since a series of hurricanes hit the state in 2020. A dozen other companies have withdrawn from the state, either by canceling existing policies or announcing they won’t renew them. All of the companies are relatively small: None had a market share as large as 3%, according to the Louisiana Department of Insurance.
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Ninth insurer with Louisiana presence slips into insolvency Original

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By Michael Finch II Verified
| The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate Verified
Fednat Insurance Co., a Florida-based insurer with a presence in Louisiana, has been steered into insolvency by regulators after struggling to pay existing claims. It’s the ninth company with policies in Louisiana to go under since a flurry of storms hit the state starting in the summer of 2020. Fednat had filed a notice to withdraw from Louisiana in May, a move that allowed it to cancel its existing 13,500 policies in the state, records show.
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Louisiana Citizens wants 63% rate increase for homeowners' policies amid failures

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By Michael Finch II Verified
| KPXJ 21/KTBS 3 (Shreveport, LA) Verified
BATON ROUGE, La. - Louisiana Citizens Insurance Corp., the state’s insurer of last resort, wants to raise its already-high prices by more than half, following a dramatic increase in demand for coverage after eight private insurers collapsed and nearly a dozen others exited the state. The organization has asked the Louisiana Department of Insurance for a 63% rate increase for personal property coverage, which would hit its more than 102,000 homeowners policies, records show.
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Louisiana Citizens wants 63% rate increase for homeowners' policies amid failures Original

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By Michael Finch II Verified
| The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate Verified
Louisiana Citizens Insurance Corp., the state’s insurer of last resort, wants to raise its already-high prices by more than half, following a dramatic increase in demand for coverage after eight private insurers collapsed and nearly a dozen others exited the state. The organization has asked the Louisiana Department of Insurance for a 63% rate increase for personal property coverage, which would hit its more than 102,000 homeowners policies, records show.
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New Orleans firefighters extinguish early morning blaze in Treme restaurant

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By Michael Finch II Verified
| The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate Verified
The New Orleans Fire Department extinguished an early morning blaze Sunday at a Treme restaurant in the 1600 block of Basin Street. Firefighters were dispatched to 714 N. Claiborne Avenue shortly after 5:30 a.m. and found a blaze inside the two-story brick building, the NOFD said. The fire was largely contained inside a kitchen of what was most recently known as TaTa’s Wings, Wine & Oyster Bar.
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LaPlace residents rebounding one year after Hurricane Ida - but still in harm’s way

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By Michael Finch II Verified
| The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate Verified
About three weeks ago, it was finally Kimbra Williams-Webber’s turn. At long last, the camper was hauled off her front lawn, and she could once again look onto the street from her home on Derek Lane in LaPlace. “I’m happy to see my grass is growing back,” Williams-Webber said on a recent Wednesday. “It’s the little things that make you happy.” The once-flooded neighborhoods of LaPlace are rebounding one year after Hurricane Ida’s winds and waters nearly destroyed St. John the Baptist Parish.
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As policy load rises steeply, Louisiana's insurer of last resort prepares for the worst

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By Michael Finch II Verified
| The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate Verified
Tens of thousands of homeowners and businesses have lost their property insurance coverage in the last year, following four major hurricanes, eight company failures and a dozen pullouts from the state’s increasingly dicey market. The shakeup has triggered a mass migration away from small private insurers. Most people left without coverage have only one place to turn: Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corp., the state-run insurer of last resort.
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Eighth Louisiana homeowners insurer goes under, stranding 10,300 policyholders

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By Michael Finch II Verified
| The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate Verified
Weston Property & Casualty Insurance Co., a Miami-based insurer that was on the verge of financial collapse for weeks, has been taken over by Florida's government. The firm had 10,300 Louisiana policyholders who will now be directed to the state’s industry bailout program. Weston is the eighth insurer writing policies in Louisiana to collapse in the past year.
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Amid insurance crisis, crowd packs New Orleans meeting to gripe about spiraling premiums

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By Joseph Cranney Verified, Michael Finch II Verified
| The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate Verified
About 100 people packed a public meeting in New Orleans on Wednesday night to express their frustrations over skyrocketing home insurance rates and lob questions at Louisiana’s top official tasked with regulating an industry that is overwhelmed with claims after two years of major storms. Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon and members of the New Orleans delegation to the Legislature sought to assure residents that recent laws will help stabilize the teetering industry.
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Louisiana homeowners, insurance brokers seeing premiums skyrocket amid marketplace 'crisis'

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By Michael Finch II Verified
| The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate Verified
The marketplace for homeowners insurance in Louisiana is getting tighter. The number of insurers is in decline. And prices, once steady, only seem to go up, up and up. Just ask Ryan North of Metairie, who relied on the Lighthouse Excalibur Property Insurance Co. until the firm collapsed earlier this year. First, he received a notice that his policy would be assumed by another company. Then, that firm backed out at the last minute.
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