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The Progressive Corp. is acquiring Indiana-based trucking industry insurer Protective Insurance Corp. in a move that will increase its stake in the commercial lines insurance market.

Progressive has agreed to pay $23.30 per share in cash, for a total transaction value of approximately $338 million. The per share price represents a 49.1% premium and 63.2% premium, respectively, to Protectives share prices as measured on February 12, 2021.

Protective Insurance Corp., founded in 1930, is the publicly-traded holding company for several property/casualty insurance subsidiaries including Protective Insurance Co., Sagamore Insurance Co. and Protective Specialty Insurance Co. The subsidiaries provide liability and workers compensation coverage for trucking and public transportation fleets of all sizes, along with trucking industry independent contractors.

In May, Protective Insurance Corp. reported that a special committee of independent directors has been formed to evaluate a sale agreement offered by certain shareholders and other parties. The offering parties were not identified.

Protective Insurance Co. is licensed in 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and all Canadian provinces and provides coverage for trucking fleets of all sizes.

Sagamore is licensed in 49 states and provides commercial auto coverage to small trucking fleets and artisan contractors, and workers compensation coverage to small and medium-sized transportation-focused businesses via the independent agency system.

Protective Specialty provides excess and surplus lines products in 48 states.

Through the end of nine months of 2020, Protective reported net premiums written were at $320 million and a net loss of $7.4 million, reflecting in part the effects of the pandemic on the trucking sector. The third quarter itself saw improvements net income of $3.3 million due to actions taken to improve underwriting results, including non-renewal of unprofitable business and significant rate increases in commercial automobile, according to Jeremy Johnson, Protectives CEO.

For full year 2019, Protective reported net premiums written of $447 million and net income of $7.4 million with a 106.80 combined ratio. Premium growth in 2019 was only 1.8% compared with 26% in 2018, 30% in 2017 and 7% in 2016.

But given ongoing profitability challenges, CEO Johnson announced the insurer would discontinue writing new public transportation business effective the fourth quarter of 2020.

The move allows Progressive to add products for larger fleets and brings expertise in workers compensation coverage for the transportation industry, which are new areas of business for Progressive.

As a leader in commercial auto insurance, were excited to expand our capabilities with the expertise Protective offers in larger fleet and affinity programs and by providing additional product lines for us to add to our portfolio, said Karen Bailo, Commercial Lines president for Progressive.

Keefe Bruyetts & Woods analyst Meyer Shields, who follows Progressive, commented that the deal will modestly broaden the insurers product offerings. He noted that Protective, along with others writing commercial auto, has underperformed in recent years. However, Shields believes that rising commercial lines rates and Progressives analytical capabilities will quickly produce better results.

According to 2018 figures from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, Progressive is the largest commercial auto insurance writer with about an 11% share of the market, followed by Travelers, Liberty Mutual, Nationwide and Berkshire Hathaway.

Progressive said it plans to maintain Protectives offices in Carmel, Indiana and retain Protectives employees.

The acquisition is expected to close prior to the end of the third quarter of 2021.

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Progressive to Buy Transportation Insurer Protective for $338 Million - Insurance Journal

Support for a progressive alliance is growing in British politics. The notion has surfaced before, often as the spectre of a hung parliament looms on the eve of an election. This time, however, Labours path to victory is so fraught that the idea is gaining traction four years before an election.

A progressive alliance is the idea that centre and leftwing parties come together behind a shared political agenda. Through collaboration during elections, progressive parties can thwart the substantial electoral advantage given by the first-past-the-post system to the Conservatives and place their electoral power behind a common agenda for change.

In recent history, Labour has been hesitant to sign up to any progressive alliance. Following the European referendum, some centre-left parties began standing aside for one another in an attempt to harness a progressive voting bloc against the rise of pro-Brexit parties. In the June 2017 election, around 30 seats were kept out of Tory hands through cooperation. However, its estimated that about 60 seats were lost because Labour refused to step aside. While Jeremy Corbyn feigned a sense of pluralism, the reality of his politics was deeply tribal. Labour would rather have no power than share just a tiny bit of it.

Next time around, boundary changes have made clear the need for a progressive alliance. Labour will need to win an extra 124 seats to take them to a majority in the House of Commons. But the cards are stacked against them. Support for the party is in decline in Scotland, Boris Johnson is set to receive a vaccine bounce in the polls come autumn, and once the peak of the pandemic is over the Conservatives will be able to return to their levelling-up agenda.

Labour is focusing relentlessly on recapturing the so-called red wall seats in the north and the Midlands, but winning all of them doesnt put it close to the seats needed to win outright. The party also needs to win seats in the south such as Reading, Swindon and Southampton and for the Liberal Democrats to win in many of the 80 seats in which they are second to the Tories. An electoral alliance is the only way to defeat the Conservatives.

A progressive alliance wont be plain sailing, and hurdles will have to be overcome. Each party must allow for a spirit of pluralism. While similarities are essential, the Lib Dems, in particular, must be given the space to win over soft Conservative voters without them being denounced as yellow Tories from the more tribal factions of the Labour party.

At the same time, if this is to be more than just a cynical stop the Tories coalition, an agreement needs to be found on a common platform in support of a secure, sustainable and just society, post-Covid. One essential tool to rebuild trust in society will be replacing the first-past-the-post system with proportional representation, so people can finally feel that they have a voice in British democracy.

Standing aside for each other might work in some places, but where possible voters should be allowed a choice. As in 1997, tactical campaigning by redeploying resources away from areas in which fellow progressives show strength might be a better option. To work all this through demands trust and relationship-building in the barren soil of competitive Westminster politics.

The biggest hurdle to a progressive alliance is Labours self-perceived monopoly status. The party has to shift from a mindset in which it is the one and only tent on the centre-left to seeing the progressive terrain like a campsite of shared values and endeavour, with parties retaining their own identity. The most challenging point of cooperation for Labour will be the need to work alongside the SNP who are likely to hold the balance of power.

To date, Labour has opted for no power over sharing, but things are starting to give. Not least because 76% of its members back proportional representation. Progressives of all parties stand on a burning platform safer ground must be found. The prize isnt just the end of more than a decade of Conservative rule but, the biggest prize of all, the refashioning of our divisive political structures and culture into one of collaboration a truly new politics for a new society.

Neal Lawson is a director of the centre-left pressure group Compass

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Only a progressive alliance can defeat the Conservatives at the next election - The Guardian

Ian Silverii, the wise-cracking, fast-talking, political genius who ran the states largest leftie organization for the past five years, is moving on, which should come as a relief as Colorados ragtag Republicans attempt to get their act together.

Silveriis tenure at ProgressNow Colorado roughly coincided with the presidential election that led to Donald Trumps victory in 2016 and QAnon believer Lauren Boeberts election to Congress in 2020 bookends that revved up the liberal base and fattened the organizations coffer with donations.

Silverii, 35, who will stay on at ProgressNow until his successor is hired, says he isnt sure of his next career move.

The group was founded in 2003 as a foil to the Independence Institute, which bills itself as free-market and libertarian. Independence Institute President Jon Caldara who, like Silverii, is a political jester believes ProgressNow has helped turn Colorado into California.

But Caldara also ripped conservatives.

Progressives have taken control of all levels of power in state government as well as all urban areas because they and their financial backers think in terms of decades and about getting changes in policy, Caldara said. Conservatives have let this happen because they and their financial backers think in terms of only the next election and about getting personalities elected.

Silverii and I became friends after the 2010 election when House Democrats hired Silverii, who had worked on legislative races, as their deputy comms director. We talked all the time because a) I covered the Capitol for The Denver Post, and b) Silverii became my latest pro bono tech assistant.

Our decade-long friendship has survived ProgressNows unrelenting, over-the-top, vicious attacks on U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner, a Yuma Republican who lost his re-election bid last year, and my run-ins with ProgressNow staffer Alan Franklin, who is even more juvenile and petty than I am, if thats possible.

Silverii and I actually agree on a number of things that I cant share because we confide in each other. But were on the same page when it comes to former Secretary of State Wayne Williams decency, the damage caused by Trumps presidency and how Silveriis son, Davis, might just be the cutest 1-year-old on Facebook.

And then theres our addiction to politics.

Theres nothing in the world like running a campaign and winning one, Silverii said. Theres a flood of serotonin to your brain thats incredibly hard to get elsewhere.

Silverii moved to Colorado in 2007 after graduating from Rutgers University in New Jersey, where he loaded up on political science classes at the end. He grew up in New Jersey, which explains his habit of frequently using the F-word whether in complimentary or attack mode.

It is the most flexible word in the English language, he said.

Silveriis first win was in 2008 when he ran Rep. Gwyn Greens re-election campaign. The young Jew Silveriis grandparents were Holocaust survivors became close friends with the older Catholic public servant billed as the fighting Granny. He was inconsolable when Green died in 2018.

But 2010 was a much tougher year for Democrats, in part because of concerns over President Obamas health care plan. Led by Reps. Frank McNulty and Amy Stephens, the GOP wrestled control of the state House by a one-vote margin.

I was convinced my short career in politics was over, said Silverii, who was the deputy director of the House effort to elect Democrats.

Instead he got the comms job and began aiming barbs at McNulty and other Republicans.

House Democrats took back the majority in 2012 and hold it to this day. When Boulder Democrat Dickey Lee Hullinghorst was nominated speaker by her caucus two days after the 2014 election, she tapped Silverii as her chief of staff.

It wasnt a perfect fit. Silverii developed stomach problems and his weight dropped to 145 pounds.

It was the best-worst job I had ever had, Silverii said. Im not a policy wonk, Im a campaign guy.

ProgressNow hired Silverii as its executive director in 2016.

The year after its founding, the organization pulled off an enormous upset, helping Democrats in 2004 win both the state House and Senate for the first time since 1960. But over the years, ProgressNows influence was questioned. A 2014 story in 5280 magazine by respected political reporter Eli Stokols asked, After playing a key role in turning Colorado blue, are the states best-known liberal hell-raisers losing their mojo?

Silverii inherited a two-member staff, including Franklin, and began hiring people to bridge the gap between the progressive nonprofit community and the new activists who were calling themselves the resistance.

Along the way, Silverii met another young Democrat, Colorado native Brittany Pettersen. He was outside the Capitol in late December 2009 when he encountered a really cold blonde in a big puffy ski jacket who was holding a clipboard.

She asked, Do you have a moment to Save the Children? Silveri recalled. I took one look at her and just knew, right there. We stood in the light snow and talked for a few hours and she gave me her number.

That night he called his mother in New Jersey to say, I just met the woman Im going to marry. Seven years later they tied the knot at the governors mansion in front of a whos who of Democrats. By that time, Pettersen was a state representative from Lakewood. She was elected state senator in 2018 as part of the bluest wave to hit Colorado since the Depression.

When Silverii called to let me know that he was leaving ProgressNow and the news would be announced in a few days, I assumed he was going to work full time on his latest hobby: cooking.

He makes bagels and breads, and his smoked and marinated meats are so good that the couples babysitter recently sent home a note with Davis: Do you guys have a recipe you might be willing to share on the ribs & brisket that Davis brings? It looks and smells amazing!

Silverii always joked to Republicans that if they wanted to take him out of the political arena they should invest in a cooking start-up for him. But, he said, that will continue to be his hobby, not his next job.

After his announcement, I reached out to conservatives for their thoughts on Silverii. Many asked, Whats he really going to do? One declined to comment, saying, I hate the bastard.

Kelly Maher, vice president of marketing for Caucus Room, a social media site for conservatives, used to appear on 9News with Silverii, providing the right-left perspective on political issues.

Ian has been a good friend and a worthy adversary over the years. We don't agree on much when it comes to politics but we agree on a lot when it comes to life, she said. I am a better person because Ian made me so.

I have to agree.

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BARTELS | A tribute to the progressive power of Ian Silverii - coloradopolitics.com

Last week, as progressive New York assemblyman Ron Kim was taking care of his children at home on Thursday evening, he got a phone call from an irate Gov. Andrew Cuomo, he says. Cuomo yelled at him for 10 minutes, Kim recalled, and threatened Kims career. Cuomo was reportedly upset over Kims vocal criticism of his handling of nursing homes in the state amid COVID.

Cuomo wasted no time when Kim picked up the phone, the Queens assemblyman told The New York Times. Are you an honorable man? Cuomo began. He said that, if Kim didnt retract certain statements criticizing the governor, he would ruin his career. After the call, Kims wife told CNN, Kim said The governor threatened to destroy my life.

Earlier that day, the New York Post issued a damning report in which Cuomos top aide admitted that his administration purposefully hid COVID nursing home data last year out of fear of criticism. Kim has been critical of Cuomos handling of nursing homes during the pandemic before and was quoted in the New York Post piece maintaining that criticism.

Get the latest news and thought-provoking analysis from Truthout.

After the aide apologized to fellow Democrats over the issue, Kim told the New York Post that Its not enough how contrite they are with us. They need to show that to the public and the families and they havent done that. Cuomos handling of nursing homes has been a subject of much scrutiny over the past weeks and months, particularly when a report by the state attorney general found last month that the state underreported nursing home deaths by 50 percent.

In the early days of the pandemic, the virus hit Queens, which Kim represents, especially hard and Kim suspects that he lost his own uncle to the virus. He has urged Cuomo to apologize to families affected by the nursing home deaths, but the governor has yet to do so.

Evidently, Kim told CNN, Cuomo continued to try calling Kim over the weekend; Kim received calls with no caller ID followed by messages from aides saying that the governor wanted to talk to him, he said. Kim said he didnt pick up the phone.

On Wednesday, Cuomo went public with his grievances with Kim. In a press briefing, Cuomo spent nearly six minutes of the hour-long call criticizing the progressive lawmaker, saying that he and his administration have had a long and hostile relationship with Kim.

Stunningly, he accused Kim of participating in pay to play politics, which is when businesses donate to political campaigns in exchange for professional contracts, over an issue with nail salons from 2015. He called it a continuing racket. Though the spat between Cuomo and Kim over the nail salons remains unresolved, it was a bizarre topic to broach during a call that was supposed to be about the pandemic.

Kim and Cuomo both said that Kim had attempted to get his quotes retracted out of concern for the aide, but the New York Post refused. Still, knowing this, Cuomo tried smearing Kims reputation on Wednesday because Kim didnt want to issue a statement retracting his quotes because, according to Kim, he still felt they were true, even if he felt bad for the aide.

Kim is reportedly not the only one who has faced threats since last week from Cuomo and his aides over criticism for his handling of the pandemic. Three of Cuomos fellow Democratic New York lawmakers, who remained anonymous out of fear of retaliation from the governor, have also faced threats from the governor, CNN reports.

Though Cuomo received much praise as an alternative to Donald Trump during the beginning of the pandemic, holding video briefings on the coronavirus, he has since faced criticism from progressives for his handling of the pandemic.

Cuomo has come under fire, especially in the wake of the nursing home cover-ups, for being obsessed with his image and personal grievances and for what some deem improprieties. For instance, last year, as the pandemic still raged and shortly after his administration covered up nursing home deaths, Cuomo released a book titled American Crisis: Leadership Lessons From the COVID-19 Pandemic.

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Gov. Andrew Cuomo Threatened Progressive NY Lawmaker Over Nursing Home... - Truthout

The oil and gas industry is seeing big fallout following President Biden's executive order canceling the Keystone XL pipeline. FOX Business' Grady Trimble with more.

The average price of gasin the United States hashit a 12-month high, according to new data Thursday fromGas Buddy.

The average retail gas price in the United States is now $2.50per gallon after soaring from an average price of $1.74 per gallon in April 2020. In February of last year, Gas Buddy's chart shows gas prices were about $2.42 per gallon and proceeded to rise slightly before plummeting as the coronavirus pandemic spread across the country.

12 Month Average U.S. Gas Retail Price (Chart courtesy of Gas Buddy)

Gas Buddy senior petroleum analyst Patrick De Haan told FOX Business that a significant contribution to the increase is related to the recovery from COVID-19 as well asrising oil demand globally against the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries' (OPEC)decision to cut production.

"Unfortunately prices are likely to continue rising in the weeks and months ahead so long as we continue to see improvement in the pandemic," De Haan added, "They could rise another 15 to 35 cents a gallon by summer, [it's]all really contingent on what happens in the months ahead with COVID."

OIL PRICES NEAR THEIR HIGHEST LEVELS SINCE AROUND BEGINNING OF PANDEMIC

The new datacomes as President Biden is facing pressure from progressive Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn.,to cancel the Enbridge Line 3 pipeline project as well as a letter signed by dozens of celebrities to shut down the Dakota Access Pipeline for good.

Omaralleged in a letter to Biden that the Line 3 project, which began constructionin December to replace the deteriorating pipeline that was built in the 1960s,had disproportionate impacts on indigenous communities and that the Canadian firm behind its construction, Enbridge, had an abysmal safety and spill history in the U.S.

She went on to explain thatthe greater issue at stake isclimate change, arguing that we cannot afford to build more fossil fuel infrastructure.

That is especially true for projects like Line 3, which are designed for the dirtiest and most carbon-intensive fossil fuel there is, tar sands crude oil, Omar said. Climate change is not just a risk, but a risk multiplier all of the other known impacts of Line 3 will be greatly exacerbated by climate change.

FORMER KEYSTONE PIPELINE WORKER SLAMS AOC: PEOPLE LIKE HER 'LAUGH AT OUR MISFORTUNE'

Enbridge defended the project in a statement to FOX Business, highlighting the multiple reviews and approvals they have received by regulatory and permitting bodies before construction.

"Enbridge has demonstrated ongoing respect for tribal sovereignty. As the result of negotiations with tribal leadership Line 3 was routed outside of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe Reservation and through the Reservation of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa," the company said. "Both Leech Lake and Fond du Lac have spoken and written repeatedly in support of project permits."

Omars letter to the president came a day after the Minnesota Court of Appeals denied a request by two American Indian tribes to shut down the construction of the project.

Opponents, led by the Red Lake Band of Chippewa and White Earth Band of Ojibwe, said in their petition that construction would destroy land that is protected by treaty agreements and would violate cultural and religious rights.

Enbridge said the petition had no merit and did not "recognize the exhaustive and meticulous review" of the project.

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In addition, more than 200 celebrities, climate activists, indigenous leaders and more have signed a lettercalling on the Biden administration to continue its commitment toaddressing the climate crisis by ending the long-disputed Dakota Access Pipeline.

Names on the letter includeAlyssa Milano, Leonardo DiCaprio, Scarlett Johansson, Ryan Reynolds, Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Jason Momoa, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Marisa Tomei, Joaquin Phoenix, Jane Fonda, Don Cheadle, Ed Helms, Cher, Chelsea Handler, Ava DuVernay and Amy Schumer.

The letter highlights the impact the pipeline would have on indigenous people in the area and the fight to preserve their culture.In July of 2020, a judgeordered the pipeline shut downwhile an environmental impact study is conducted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

"We urge you to remedy this historic injustice and direct the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to immediately shut down the illegal Dakota Access Pipeline while the Environmental Impact Statement process is conducted, consistent with the D.C. District Courts decision and order. Additionally, the U.S. Army Corps must ensure a robust environmental review with significant tribal consultation, tribal consent, and a thorough risk analysis," the letter concludes. "With your leadership, we have a momentous opportunity to protect our water and respect our environmental laws and the rights of Indigenous people. This is our moment."

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The calls come after Biden previously signed an executive orderon his first day in office halting the construction of the Keystone XL Pipelinethat would transport upto830,000 barrels of crude oil daily fromAlberta, Canada, to Nebraska.

The project -- initially proposed more than a decade ago --would have sustained about11,000 U.S. jobs in 2021including 8,000unionjobsand generated $1.6 billion in gross wages, according to the Keystone XLwebsite.

Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen told FOX Business' Varney and Company that he believes Biden "didnt look into the legalities or the effects on the ground before halting the project, and is leading the effort to overturn Bidens executive order with a dozen other state attorneys general.

I don't think we'd have gotten 13 other state attorneys general to sign on to this if we didn't think we actually had a good legal case to bring here, he told hostStuart Varney.

We certainly are reviewing all of our constitutional avenues that we think we can get ourselves into district court on the federal side, he added. And I think we're going to be successful there.

Knudsen added thatits important to let thepresidentknow the decision is not okay.

We're not going to take this idly and [we're] going to keep fighting to keep this project alive, he said. It's too vital to a state like Montana.

Berg Pipe announced 106workers will also face layoffs, furloughs or a reduction of hours beginning in April. A number of temporary workers have already been let go. Revoking thepermit has already resulted in 1,000 layoffs at the Alberta, Canada-based TEC Energy.

Fox Business' Bradford Betz, Tyler McCarthy, Jonathan Garber and the Associated Press contributed to this report

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Gas hits highest price in 12 months as progressives, celebrities pressure Biden to cancel more pipelines - Fox Business