Billions of dollars in aid for small businesses go unclaimed

June 30, 2020 11:06 am Leave a comment

FILE - In this May 4, 2020 file photo, waitress Jill Lawrence. right, waits on customers at Shakers American Cafe Monday in Orlando, Fla. Restaurants, retailers and salons are desperately trying to stay afloat as the U.S. economy reopens in fits and starts after months in a coronavirus lockdown. But billions of dollars allocated by Congress as a lifeline to those very businesses are about to be left on the table when the government's Paycheck Protection Program stops accepting applications for loans Tuesday, June 29. (AP Photo/John Raoux, File)

Billions of dollars offered by Congress as a lifeline to small businesses struggling to survive the pandemic are about to be left on the table when a key government program stops accepting applications for loans.

Tagged with: coronavirus small business

Report: COVID-19 halts clean energy job growth in Wisconsin

June 26, 2020 3:20 pm Leave a comment

The coronavirus pandemic has dimmed Wisconsin's fast-growing green energy industry, costing the state some 11,000 clean energy jobs since the crisis begin in March, according to a report.

Tagged with: coronavirus RENEW Wisconsin solar energy

Milwaukee County Zoo Blood Drive runs June 29-July 1

June 16, 2020 12:40 pm Leave a comment

The American Red Cross, Milwaukee Radio Alliance and the Milwaukee Zoo, along with sponsor Building Advantage, will partner together for the 15th annual Milwaukee County Zoo Blood Drive from Monday, June 29 through Wednesday, July 1 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the zoo’s Peck Center, 10001 W. Bluemound Road, Milwaukee.

Tagged with: Building Advantage

HTT donates $10K to local charities in Sheboygan area

June 9, 2020 12:41 pm Leave a comment

HTT Inc., a metal stamping company based in Sheboygan, asked all employees to participate in a “Pay it Forward” donation drive for three local charities: Sheboygan County Food Bank, Meals on Wheels and the Sheboygan Salvation Army.

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Renters, no longer saved by eviction ban, can soon apply for funding to pay rent

June 5, 2020 12:50 pm Leave a comment

A foreclosure sign is posted outside a home in Los Angeles recently. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File)

Wisconsin renters who lost income because of the coronavirus pandemic are no longer protected from Gov. Tony Evers' eviction ban, but they will soon be able to apply for as much as $3,000 in state aid.

Tagged with: foreclosures

Nation’s public schools need major repairs, report finds

June 4, 2020 2:28 pm Leave a comment

An employee of Irwin Seating Co., Grand Rapids, Michigan, secures one of 671 seats to the floor in the auditorium at Menomonee Falls North Middle School, a project VJS Construction Services, Pewaukee, worked on in 2017. Based on a U.S. Government Accountability Office report, many school districts are left on their own to pay for building repairs but often lack the necessary dollars, leaving them stuck with aging buildings that can pose health and safety risks. (File photo by Kevin Harnack)

The majority of U.S. public school districts need to make major building repairs in at least half of their schools, yet many districts are unable to pay for updates or have postponed them to improve security in case of a shooting, according to a federal report.

Tagged with: referendums VJS Construction

Report: School referendum voters in giving moods despite pandemic

April 30, 2020 2:45 pm Comments Off on Report: School referendum voters in giving moods despite pandemic

Despite an election marred by an outbreak of COVD-19, voters overwhelmingly passed school referendums seeking cash for new construction or other needs, according to a report.

Tagged with: Miron Construction referendums

Businesses urge legislators to OK re-opening plan

April 30, 2020 2:19 pm Leave a comment

Wisconsin's powerful chamber of commerce urged legislators Thursday to adopt its business reopening plan, telling an Assembly committee that Gov. Tony Evers' stay-at-home order is crushing the economy and that the state has the coronavirus under control.

Tagged with: coronavirus

Regulators approve $16.8M solar array at Dane County airport

April 30, 2020 2:16 pm Leave a comment

The Wisconsin Public Service Commission on Thursday signed off on Dane County's plan to build a $16.8 million solar array at the Dane County Regional Airport.

Tagged with: Madison Gas and Electric solar solar energy

3 takeaways from the small-business loan program

April 22, 2020 8:52 am Leave a comment

FILE - In this April 2, 2020 file photo, a notice of closure is posted at The Great Frame Up in Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich. The government is closing in on the $349 billion lending limit on its Paycheck Protection Program that is sending relief money to the nation’s small businesses. The Small Business Administration says that it has approved more than 1.6 million loans worth more than $339 billion. The program will likely reach its ceiling Thursday, April 16. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)

Small businesses have, like much of the U.S. economy, been walloped by the coronavirus. In response, Congress created the Paycheck Protection Program to infuse small businesses — which typically have less access to quick cash and credit — with hundreds of billions of dollars in emergency loans so they can keep workers employed.

Tagged with: coronavirus small business