• President Trump unveils plan to reopen the economy
  • Unemployment claims skyrocket for second straight week
  • Funding exhausted for small business paycheck protection program
  • State’s highest court hears arguments in signature requirement lawsuit
  • New York extends shutdown; so does the United Kingdom
  • A recorder pushes one homeschooling parent to the brink
  • Judge upholds Governor’s decision on recreational cannabis
  • Today’s Bright Spot: 99-year-old British veteran raises $9 million to fight COVID-19

 

  1. President Trump unveiled a three-phased plan to reopen the economy, largely reinforcing plans Governors around the country are currently implementing. The guidelines are aimed at state’s with strong testing capabilities and a decline in COVID-19. Many public health and infectious disease specialists remain cautious as lifting restrictions too quickly could cause a second wave of infections.

 

  1. A COVID-19 continues to devastate the economy, an additional 5.2 million people filed for unemployment for the first time last week brining the nationwide unemployment number to 22 million which is roughly 13 percent of the workforce. Here in Massachusetts, 535,000 residents have received benefits and the Department of Unemployment Assistance has updated their website to include new guidance on the CARES Act.

 

  1. $350 million of the $2.2 trillion CARES Act set aside for small business assistance is gone. The Payroll Protection Program, funded by the federal CARES Act has been depleted. Negotiations on Capitol Hill have yet to find a clear path forward to immediately increase the funding for the program.

 

  1. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has extended the state’s stay-at-home and social distancing orders until May 15. Cuomo said he will continue to monitor the data available for COVID-19 transmission and modify orders as need be. They’re not alone, as the United Kingdom announced they too were extending their lockdown for another three weeks.

 

  1. Five weeks into homeschooling and many parents have reached their breaking point. Music class finally drove one homeschooling parent over the edge when her twin’s lesson plan proposed a “fun activity.” While in school her sons were learning the recorder in music class and that’s where she drew the line.

 

  1. An emergency injunction sought by recreational cannabis shops to stop Governor Baker’s classification of them as nonessential whose arguments were heard earlier this week, was denied.

 

  1. Tom Moore, a 99-year-old British World War II veteran raised more than $9 million to fight COVID-19 for the United Kingdom’s National Health Service by walking laps of his backyard garden.