Editor’s Note: Due to COVID-19, TommieMedia staff members are working remotely. This is a special News in :90 report from Carly’s home in St.Paul, Minn.
The ranks of Americans thrown out of work by the coronavirus ballooned Thursday to at least 22 million in just four weeks, an unprecedented collapse that has fueled widening protests and propelled President Donald Trump’s push to relax the nation’s social distancing guidelines.
Trump planned to announce new recommendations later in the day to allow states to reopen, despite warnings from business leaders and governors that more testing and protective gear are needed first.
The government said 5.2 million more people applied for unemployment benefits last week, bringing the running total to about 22 million out of a U.S. work force of roughly 159 million — easily the worst stretch of U.S. job losses on record.
Some economists say the unemployment rate could reach 20% in April, the highest since the Great Depression of the 1930s.
A new audit says data errors in a state computer system designed to streamline enrollment for Medicaid and MinnesotaCare has cost the state $76 million in federal funding.
The Office of the Legislative Auditor says the state needs to do a better job preventing errors caused by the system and should better monitor who has access to sensitive data.
It is used by county and tribal workers who enroll people for the Medicaid program that covers 1.1 million Minnesotans. METS collects information from applicants and is supposed to verify eligibility criteria such as income and citizenship against state and federal databases.
COVID-19 concerns forced Plums Bar and Grill on Snelling Avenue to close right before St. Patrick’s Day.
The bar and restaurant is owned by the McQuillans, a St. Thomas family, who also owns J.R. Mac’s Bar and Grill in St. Paul.
This closure has not only affected the family, but its St. Thomas student workers who manage, bartend and serve. These students rely on “college night” income to pay for their education and rent.
Minnesota’s Gov. Tim Walz extended the state’s stay-at-home order to May 4, leaving Plum’s uncertain as to when they will open.
Carly Noble can be reached at nobl1781@stthomas.edu.