The Birmingham City Council has approved the first part of funding for a small business loan program designed to help small businesses struggling with the impact of COVID-19. The program, which was approved in concept last week, would provide eligible small businesses with up to $25,000 in interest-free, 180-day loans. Read more.
UPDATED — Alabama lawmakers are expected to be back in Montgomery March 31, but how long they’ll be able to work and what they’ll be able to do in the middle of a public health emergency is in question. “I can’t say in the present situation we can pass budgets,” Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh, R-Anniston, told Alabama Daily News on Monday. “The big question is, how long will this last? It’s one thing for a couple of weeks; It’s another if it lasts for months.” As local and state governments try to stop the spread of the coronavirus and businesses slow or shutter temporarily, the impact on state revenue is expected to be significant. How bad that will be will depend on how long people are asked to stay home, state leaders said this week. Read more.
The Alabama Department of Public Health has established a phone number and email for residents to ask general questions about COVID-19. Read more.
Gov. Kay Ivey has extended the deadline for filing income tax forms to July 15, following the feds’ lead. Tax payments also will be due July 15, rather than April 15, so there’s no penalty for filing later. Read more.
In a growing pandemic that threatens global health, the worry about the unknown, upended routines and economic concerns can significantly impact the mental health of Americans. There are ways to help manage the impact. Read more.
Large gatherings are banned due to coronavirus, so churches can't meet as usual. One Alabama church tried a drive-in service. Read more.
Life under COVID-19 is a cognitive dissonance-inspiring trip on the merry-go-round Scenes flashing by run the gamut from grocery stores that are swamped with people to isolated city streets where a lone person or two are walking. “There are two parallel but different worlds happening,” a Facebook commenter said. “You have a lot of folks staying home and then there is another group still going to work and living life not that much differently.” Read more.
Voterama KEY VOTES AHEAD Congress will take up its third coronavirus relief package in the week of March 23, a measure that could promptly send at least $500 billion in direct payments to individuals and households and provide bailouts to industries including the airlines. WASHINGTON — The Senate on Wednesday, March 18, passed a $100 billion safety-net and economic stimulus package to help families, individuals and small and medium-size businesses cope with the first wave of the coronavirus outbreak, and the president signed it the same day. The Senate vote was near to a sweep with 90 for and eight against. Both Alabama Sen. Richard Shelby, a Republican, and Sen. Doug Jones, a Democrat, voted for the measure. Read more.
As the state grapples with education, government and industry closures in response to the coronavirus, the digital divide across the state is probably the most apparent it’s ever been. Much of rural Alabama doesn't have the infrastructure to take broadband Internet into homes. “You have one-fifth of the state population that doesn’t have access,” Sen. Clay Scofield, R-Guntersville, said. The chasm is perhaps most evident in schools, where administrators are faced with decisions when some of the students can partake in online learning and some cannot. Read more.
UPDATED — Stepping up its response to one of its employees’ testing positive for the COVID-19 virus, the Alabama Department of Corrections said Friday its prisons will not take in any “new inmates from county jails for the next 30 days.” Others subject to the moratorium include those who have violated terms of their parole or probation and those ordered back to prison by a court. In a news release, the department said it would “continue to receive inmates with severe medical or mental health conditions, subject to the usual review process by the Department’s Office of Health Services.” It said it would screen those inmates to ensure they have no symptoms of the COVID-19 virus. Read more.
