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Talk of the bay

By TIMES WIRES
Published January 5, 2007

CUT LOOSE BY ALLSTATE, BUT NOT TO CITIZENS

Starting next week, about 106,000 homeowners with Allstate Floridian property insurance can expect a letter telling them their policies will not be renewed. But there's an out: They can switch to Royal Palm Insurance. Continuing an agreement from May, Allstate is letting policyholders transfer to the Ormand Beach-based insurer instead of being forced into Citizens. Once the state's second-largest property insurer, Allstate will be down to just 300,000 policies. Earlier, it moved 120,000 polices to Royal Palm, a privately held company founded two years ago by former state Sen. Locke Burt. Burt has assured policyholders Royal Palm's rates "won't be much different from other companies."

Great view of the sea, trans-fat free

Healthy eating and cruise vacations might seem to go together as much as healthy eating and, oh, say, football tailgating parties. Royal Caribbean International is trying to change the perception. The Miami-based cruise line has switched to using a trans-fat-free frying oil from artery-clogging oil. Royal Caribbean has declared itself the first cruise line to "move toward" removing trans fat from its menus March 1 and aims to be totally trans-fat free by year's end. Jumping on an industry trend, the company says the move follows a shift in customer attitudes toward healthier lifestyles. (More buff, less buffet?)

In California, it's a better neighbor

Cal-i-forn-ia dreamin' on such a winter's day. At least it is for some State Farm customers. The insurer said it will lower rates by 20 percent on its 1.4-million homeowner policies in California, plus cut auto rates in the state 10 percent. An attack of conscience? Hardly. John Garamendi, California's insurance commissioner, saw the record $60-billion profits the insurance companies made last year and demanded lower fees. Can the same thing happen here? Dream on. Not only does Florida have a hurricane problem that easily trumps California's earthquake threat, after Hurricane Andrew in 1992, but Florida lawmakers also allowed major insurers to create Florida-only subsidiaries to isolate their losses. Though still joined at the hip with their parent companies, the subsidiaries say the prospect of future hurricanes justifies higher rates.

Correction

SRI International Inc. received a National Science Foundation grant in 2005 to develop of a mobile radar facility to observe weather events in space. A story Thursday gave an incorrect description of the project.

[Last modified January 4, 2007, 23:09:04]