California OKS stimulus with $600 payments
California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a $7.6 billion coronavirus relief package on Tuesday that will give at least $600 one-time payments to 5.7 million low-income people while setting aside more than $2 billion in grants for struggling small businesses.
Newsom signed the law as Congress continues debating a much larger stimulus package for the nation. And it comes as the first-term governor is facing a recall effort fueled in part by widespread anger over his handling of the coronavirus, particularly its impact on businesses.
“The backbone of our economy is small business. We recognize the stress, the strain that so many small businesses have been under,” Newsom said at a billsigning ceremony at Solomon’s Deli in Sacramento. “And we recognize as well our responsibility to do more and to do better to help support these small businesses through this very difficult and trying time.”
He used emergency powers in November to set aside $500 million for small business grants. In the first round of funding, the program received more than 334,000 applications totaling more than $4.4 billion in requests.
The law Newsom signed Tuesday puts another $2 billion into that program. Businesses with annual revenues between $1,000 and $2.5 million are eligible for the money, with a priority given to businesses owned by women and minorities and businesses in areas with high unemployment rates.
The Legislature likely wll approve more aid for businesses this week. Lawmakers had planned to pass a bill Monday that would have let businesses deduct up to $150,000 in expenses covered by federal loans from their state taxes — a $2 billion benefit over six years. But they decided to amend the bill to let businesses deduct more than $150,000 from their taxes, raising the price tag for the state to about $2.3 billion, Newsom said.
Jobless claims fall below pandemic benchmark
New California unemployment claims fell sharply last week, dropping below 100,000 for only the second time since government-ordered business shutdowns to combat the coronavirus began, the government reported Thursday.
Workers in California filed 89,500 initial claims for unemployment during the week that ended Feb. 20, a steep decrease of 50,100 from the 139,600 jobless claims filed the week ending Feb. 13, according to the U.S. Labor Department.
In the U.S., workers filed 730,000 initial claims for unemployment for the week ending Feb. 20, a decline of 111,000 from the 841,000 claims filed in the week ending Feb. 13, according to the labor agency.
The claims’ decline below the 100,000 benchmark offers a possible bright spot in the job markets in California, which has been battered by business shutdowns.
Fry’s, electronics titan of old, closes for good
Fry’s Electronics, the go-to chain for tech tinkerers, has closed for good.
The company, perhaps even more well known for outlandish themes at some of its stores, from Aztec to “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland,” said Wednesday in an online posting that the COVID-19 pandemic had made it impossible to continue.
All of its stores ceased operation Wednesday as the shutdown process began.
“After nearly 36 years in business as the one-stop-shop and online resource for high-tech professionals across nine states and 31 stores, Fry’s Electronics Inc. has made the difficult decision to shut down its operations and close its business permanently as a result of changes in the retail industry and the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic,” the company said.
The company said it is in the process of reaching out to customers with repairs and consignment vendors to help them understand what the closures will mean for them and the proposed next steps.