The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas has noted that although payroll employment in Texas contracted by 1.25 million jobs in March and April, it was less severe of a contraction than in other parts of the country.

Millions of Texas residents have filed for unemployment since the COVID-19 pandemic began in March. The unemployment rate is almost double the figure in January, and although the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas sees some recovery, it’s a grim picture.

Project HOPE, a partnership with the Indiana Small Business Development Center (SBDC), has partnered with the IU Kelley School of Business to provide digital marketing and E-commerce assistance to small businesses affected by COVID-19.

Rental assistance, the Broadband Ready Community Program and more programs are part of the Rural Road to Recovery Initiative, which seeks to help communities in rural areas to fix problems and regain economic ground after the pandemic began.

Gov. Doug Ducey announced $98 million in aid for essential workers and businesses on Aug. 13.

Tax abatements are good for business owners in the renewable energy industries – but not for taxpayers and special districts, said Bill Peacock, policy director of The Energy Alliance.

The hotel industry is in trouble but flexibility from lenders providing commercial mortgage-backed security loans and support from government at all levels (local, state and national) can provide relief.

The end of July could bring changes to the country’s rental markets, according to the website Marketplace, which reported on a series of surveys by the rental site Apartment List.

A steady and reliable electrical system is a must for the Texas summer, but economics professor Mark J. Perry said a lack of wind during the summer of 2019 shows the dangers of increasingly relying on wind turbines.

Local governments have the power to determine whether a business is “needed” in their communities or not, and the COVID-19 pandemic has, according to two writers in a South Florida Sun-Sentinel opinion piece published June 15, stopped an ambulance service provider (Brewster Ambulance Service) from transporting the sick and disabled in handicapped accessible vans or ambulances because Lee County officials saw a “lack of need.”

Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill is pushing back against attacks by one of his challengers, Todd Rokita, who alleged that Hill had misused taxpayer funds to renovate his office.

The Federal Reserve is predicting that a huge number of small businesses across the United States could fail during the recession sparked by the COVID-19 crisis, according to a report the Fed issued June 12.

Even though the federal government has floated trillions of dollars in economic rescue to businesses large and small across the country, it appears that small businesses and poor households are still struggling. A June 21 report by The Hill noted that it is likely that economic recovery will be uneven and slow, particularly for small businesses.

The COVID-19 crisis has affected businesses large and small, although some might say that the smaller the company, the harder the impact might be to overcome, as explained in an April 29 report in Small Business Trends. The report surveyed more than 500 small and medium businesses to find out what types of small businesses were most impacted by the crisis.

Indiana attorney general candidate Todd Rokita, a former secretary of state and congressman, hopes to unseat current Attorney General Curtis Hill, whom Rokita says has overspent taxpayer money when renovating his office.

Millions who joined the unemployment rolls as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic starting in March could remain unemployed through the end of 2020, according to a statement released by the Federal Reserve.

Armadillo Solar Center LLC is one step closer to obtaining tax abatements in Navarro County after a June 8 meeting of the Navarro County Commissioners Court.

From April 26 to June 6, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, the percentage of business owners who have said that there has been a large negative effect has declined with 41.3 percent of respondents saying that there had been a large negative effect, and 43.3 percent saying they experienced a moderate negative effect.

The Heart of Texas (HTX) wind farm in McCulloch County has been completed by Scout Clean Energy, according to an announcement in North American Windpower but there could be tax revenue problems for local entities.

A solar farm proposed west of Troy drew a crowd of approximately 60 to a mid-May Bell County Commissioners Court public hearing in Belton.