Central Floridians should find calmer weather this morning and cooler temperatures this evening after a day of squalls pushed through the area, causing damage to homes and reports of tornadoes in some areas. The National Weather Service said Sunday night that the threat for severe weather had passed. Residents can expect a cloudy day today with highs in the mid-70s this afternoon.

Eric Amoako, 51, of Houston, has been sentenced to federal prison for his role in an insurance fraud scheme, acting United States Attorney Tim Johnson announced Nov. 25. Amoako, a personal injury attorney with an office on Bissonnett in southwest Houston, was convicted along with several others by a jury’s verdict of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to launder funds and three counts of wire fraud following trial before Judge Nancy F. Atlas in Jan. 2008.

The 2008 Hurricane Season, which ends November 30, will go into the history books as the fourth most costly on record, according to the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI). As predicted, this year was another above average storm season with 16 named storms to date. There were eight hurricanes: two Category 1 (Hanna, Kyle), one Category 2 (Dolly), two Category 3 (Bertha, Omar), and three Category 4 (Gustav, Ike, Paloma).

The Federal Trade Commission has filed suit to block the merger of CCC Information Services Inc. and Mitchell International Inc., charging that the merger would hinder competition in the market for electronic systems used to estimate the cost of collision repairs, known as "estimatics," and the market for software systems used to value passenger vehicles that have been totaled, known as total loss valuation (TLV) systems.

A new study by the Insurance Research Council estimates that claim fraud and buildup added between $4.8 billion and $6.8 billion in excess payments to auto injury insurance claims closed with payment in 2007. The excess payments amount to between 13 percent and 18 percent of total payments under the five main private passenger auto injury coverages. Excess payments have increased from 2002, when they were estimated at between $4.3 billion and $5.8 billion, or between 11 percent and 15 percent of total payments.