Fraud checks, errors slow small-business relief loans
Longtime former television and radio sportscaster and Baltimore sports historian hailed for encyclopedic knowledge
The problems plaguing those seeking loans from the government’s revived small-business relief program have ranged from simple to shocking.
Some applications were stalled for weeks by typos. Overzealous fraud filters trapped others. A change of taxpayer identification rules snarled many freelancers and sole proprietors. And then there were the thousands of people turned down because they erroneously registered as having a recent criminal conviction.
Six weeks into the second run of the Paycheck Protection Program, $134 billion in emergency aid has been distributed by banks, which make the government-backed loans, to 1.8 million small businesses. But a thicket of errors and technology glitches has slowed the relief effort and vexed borrowers and lenders alike.
Some are run-of-the-mill challenges magnified by the immense demand for loans, which has overwhelmed customer service representatives. But many stem from new data checks added by the Small Business Administration to combat fraud and eliminate unqualified applicants.
When the Paycheck Protection Program began last year, the Trump administration — eager to get money out the door as quickly as possible — eliminated most of the safeguards that normally accompany business loans. With applications approved almost instantly, thieves and ineligible borrowers siphoned billions of dollars from the $523 billion the program distributed last year.
In December, Congress approved $284 billion for a new round of lending, including second loans to
the hardest-hit businesses. This time, the Small Business Administration was determined to crack down. Instead of approving applications from banks immediately, it held them for a day or two to verify some of the information.
Nearly 5% of the 5.2 million loans made last year had “anomalies,” the agency revealed last month, ranging from minor mistakes like typos to major ones like ineligibility. Even tiny mistakes can spiral into bureaucratic disasters.
In June, Shelly Ross got a $67,500 loan through the program from PayPal for Tales of the Kitty, her San Francisco cat-sitting business. She applied last month for a second loan, but her application sat, stuck in an error queue, for more than a week. Her attempts to reach someone on PayPal’s jammed customer service phone line went nowhere.
Impatient, Ross put in applications at three other lenders, but each was rejected or left in limbo. Finally, PayPal got back to her with an explanation: Her loan in June was
issued under an incorrect employer identification number. The company fixed the mistake, and Ross assumed her loan was imminent — until a new problem arose.
Before taking the PayPal loan in June, Ross had accepted, and then returned, a loan made in April by a different lender. That loan still shows up as active in the Small Business Administration’s system, making it look as if she double-dipped last year, which is forbidden.
Ross has sent multiple emails to the Small Business Administration’s customer service address describing her quandary. After two weeks, she received a generic response instructing her to direct questions to her lender.
Matthew Coleman, an agency spokesperson, declined to comment on individual cases like Ross’. The Small Business Administration “continues to follow through with its commitment to improve resolutions of data mismatches and eligibility concerns,” he said.
Mandy Moore announced the birth of her first child, a son named August Harrison Goldsmith, on her Instagram on Tuesday.
“Gus is here,” Moore,
36, wrote in the post along with a photo. “He was punctual and arrived right on his due date much to the delight of his parents.”
She added that they were prepared to “fall in love in all sorts of brand new ways, but it goes beyond anything we could have ever imagined.”
This is the first child for Moore and husband Taylor Goldsmith, a musician she married in 2018.
Knight to sing at NBA All-Star Game: Gladys Knight will be among the headline performers at the NBA All-Star Game on March 7, performing “The Star-Spangled Banner” during the pregame festivities at State Farm Arena in Atlanta.
Knight, a seven-time Grammy winner who has been vaccinated for COVID-19, will be present at the game, according to National Basketball Association, which made the announcement Tuesday. Many other musical performers will appear remotely, including Grammy winner Alessia Cara, who will sing “O Canada” from Toronto.
The Clark Atlanta University Philharmonic Society Choir will perform “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” The Grambling State University Tiger Marching Band and Florida A&M University Marching 100 will perform during the All-Star player introductions, from their respective campuses.
The performances will air prior to tipoff on TNT.
Woodley confirms engagement:
Shailene Woodley confirmed that
she’s engaged to Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
The actor discussed her relationship with Rodgers on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” Monday, saying they got engaged “a while ago.”
Rodgers, 37, mentioned his engagement and thanked his fiancée while accepting his third career MVP award on Feb. 6 but didn’t say her name.
“Yes, we are engaged,” Woodley, 29, said. “We are engaged. But for us, it’s not new news, you know, so it’s kind of funny. Everybody right now is freaking out over it, and we’re like, ‘Yeah, we’ve been engaged for a while.’ ”
James calls out host Harrison:
“The Bachelor” star Matt James says facing the recent controversies involving Rachael Kirkconnell and Chris Harrison has been “devastating and heartbreaking.”
In a statement posted to social media Monday, James specifically called out the contestant and host’s “disappointing” actions, as well as the franchise’s history of falling short on issues around race. James added that in light of the situation, he is reevaluating his experience on the show and processing what it represents “for all of the contestants of color, especially the Black contestants of this season and seasons past, and ... the viewers at home.”
Feb. 24 birthdays: Actor Dominic Chianese is 90. Singer Joanie Sommers is 80. Actor Barry Bostwick is 76. Actor Edward James Olmos is 74. Musician George Thorogood is 71. Actor Helen Shaver is 70. News correspondent Paula Zahn is 65. Actor Billy Zane is 55. Saxophonist Jimmy Greene is 46. Actor Daniel Kaluuya is 32.
Ted Patterson, the sportscaster recalled for his encyclopedia-like memory of past games and players, died of Parkinson’s disease and associated dementia Thursday at Springwell Senior Living in Mount Washington.
He was 76 and had lived in Anneslie, where he housed his collection of sports memorabilia and history.
Mr. Patterson arrived in Baltimore in 1973 and started at WBAL Radio. He did afternoon sports news and had an evening call-in show described as Baltimore’s first regularly scheduled sports talk show.
His son, Michael Theodore Patterson, said Mr. Patterson learned of the job opening from former Orioles play-by-play man Ernie Harwell.
“Ted was one of the most knowledgeable sportscasters around. He began his career in Boston writing and researching for [sportscaster] Curt Gowdy every morning,” said Tom Lattanzi, a WBAL Radio colleague. “Curt depended on Ted for accuracy each day and Ted came through. Ted was a very top sportscaster and a super-friend and neighbor.”
Said WBAL Radio’s Scott Wykoff: “Growing up in Cleveland in the ’70s I was a huge sports fan and I remember Ted broadcasting the Cavalier [NBA] and Crusaders [World Hockey Association] games. So when I started at WBAL Radio, it was a big thrill and huge honor covering the Ravens, Orioles and the Preakness as a member of the Baltimore media side by side with one of my boyhood broadcasting heroes.
“Even though we worked at competing stations, Ted looked out for me when I started in Baltimore and often even told me how much he enjoyed listening to me. Pretty cool stuff from someone who you grew up listening to and aspiring to be just like. And in his last few years we were all more than glad to return the favor and look out for him.”
Mr. Patterson said he got a thrill in 1971 when while working for Gowdy he interviewed Jackie Robinson, the first African American to play in modern Major League Baseball. The interview was later rebroadcast on “WBAL Radio with John Patti.”
Mr. Patterson moved to WMAR-TV in 1980. He announced 16 Orioles games a year on the Super TV channel in 1982 and 1983 alongside color analyst Rex Barney.
Born in Mansfield, Ohio, Mr. Patterson was the son of Theodore Ross and Helen Rita Stuhldreher. He was a 1962 graduate of Saint Peter’s High School, also in Mansfield.
He began working at WUVD-FM at the University of Dayton in 1965 as sports director, and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism in 1966.
Mr. Patterson earned a master’s degree at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.
He was a graduate assistant instructor and play-by-play voice of the school’s Mid-American Conference football team in addition to working on the weekly 30-minute “Sports from Miami” television show.
Mr. Patterson worked for Armed Forces Radio while serving as a lieutenant in the Army in the late 1960s after doing his basic training in Fort Indiantown Gap in Pennsylvania.
He worked for Armed Forces Radio in Washington, D.C., where he met his future wife, Diana Elizabeth Gillett. She died in 2008.
Mr. Patterson was also a radio play-byplay announcer for UMBC and Towson State basketball and for Morgan State and Navy football.
“Ted was one of the best and he was unique. He was a good play-by-play guy and when he had to be a color analyst, he knew how to change direction,” said Frank DiVenti, a former freelance radio sports producer and engineer. “He could talk of just about anything. Ted’s extensive knowledge of history could help him in an interview, which is a big part of our business.
“He could absorb information like a sponge. It was fun to watch him in action. He’d be at an away Navy-Notre Dame game and we’d have a halftime guest, a vet player who had been around a long while. They’d be taken aback at how much Ted knew about him and his career. The breed of a Ted Patterson is hard to find. Without computers, he absorbed information. He was incredibly well-read, and he went out of his way to do it.”
Mr. Patterson announced Navy basketball games during soon-to-be NBA star David Robinson’s senior year in 1986-87. He reported early-morning sports on WPOC, 93.1-FM Radio and later transitioned to afternoon news, from 1984 through the mid-1990s.
He broadcast for the Baltimore Blast and Baltimore Spirit indoor soccer teams on the radio, and was ESPN Radio’s “NFL GameDay” Baltimore correspondent.
Mr. Patterson served as sports director for WCBM-AM 680 Radio from 2000 until his 2011 retirement.
His son said Mr. Patterson didn’t miss an Orioles home Opening Day game from 1973 through 2016.
Mr. Patterson wrote sports histories, including “Football in Baltimore,” “The Baltimore Orioles: Four Decades of Magic from 33rd Street to Camden Yards” and “The Golden Voices of Baseball.”
A lifelong sports memorabilia collector, he called his collection “Cooperstown South.”
Mr. Patterson owned the jersey worn by catcher Ray Fosse the day Pete Rose collided violently into him at home plate in the 1970 All-Star Game. Fosse suffered a fractured and separated shoulder.
“It was a prized possession,” his son said. “He had it mounted on a mannequin.”
A 2014 Towson Times article said: “Patterson’s entire life has been consumed by sports — and that goes for his Towson residence, too, which is overflowing with baseball, football and boxing memorabilia — some of which dates back to the 19th century.
“Posters, photos, media guides, pins, figurines, programs, game boards, buttons, uniforms and hats are strewn about in every room of the house, with the possible exception of the kitchen.”
Mr. DiVenti, the radio sports producer, said, “Ted’s life holdings were so enormous it demonstrated the energy and effort to really be a collector. I was in awe of it all.”
Mr. Patterson was a member Saint Pius X, where his funeral is being planned for the spring.
In addition to his son, survivors include a daughter, Clare Elizabeth Patterson of Broomfield, Colorado; a sister, Lynn Gaston of Columbus, Ohio; and two grandchildren.