SATIRE â According to the University of Louisiana at Lafayette Parking and Mad Stacks Director Bleedum Drye, parking tickets at the university will be going from $50 to $1 million on Thursday, April 1.
âTimes are tough and we need money,â Drye said. âBut hey, weâll probably finish all our beautification projects quicker this way!â
Art History Major Kali Graphy said there isnât enough money in her entire family to pay if she gets a parking ticket after Thursday.
âI donât think anyone in my family has made $1 million over the course of their lifetimes, and I probably wonât either,â Franks said. âI donât know how theyâre going to expect us to pay.â
WASHINGTON â At first, it was expected to be brief. At least, that was the hope.
Instead, a once-in-a-century pandemic has ground on for a year, throwing millions out of work and upending wide swaths of the American economy. Delivery services thrived while restaurants suffered. Home offices replaced downtown offices. Travel and entertainment spending dried up.
The job losses were swift and harsh. But, they hardly fell equally across the economy. Black and Hispanic workers fared worse than others. And many women, mostly mothers, felt compelled to quit the workforce to care for children being schooled online from home. Despite the job cuts, Americans as a whole socked away a record level of savings, buoyed by government aid to the unemployed and income that higher-paid workers, hunkered down at home, managed to squirrel away.
With minimal off-campus travel because of COVID-19, one may have visitors coming to JMU instead as spring and warm weather arrive in Harrisonburg. Options may be more limited than usual, but there are still many ways for students to spend time with their guests in a safe manner.
One should remember that visitors can download the LiveSafe app and fill out JMUâs Daily Health Check-in before entering campus buildings or sign one of the health questionnaires for guests located at the entrances to dining facilities. Groups are recommended to follow all guidelines from JMU and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for wearing face coverings, social distancing and avoiding large crowds and gatherings.
Gov. Ralph Northam wants the legislature to give its word that in exchange for eliminating the controversial coal tax credits that benefit Southwest Virginia, it will invest the savings in the University of Virginiaâs College at Wise.
The General Assembly passed legislation in February that would phase out and eventually eliminate the costly coal tax credits, which provided a financial lift to the economically struggling region. A critical report from the legislatureâs watchdog agency found that the credits â among the stateâs largest â generated economic losses for the state and very few jobs.
The Southwest delegation and other stakeholders in the region have feared scrapping the credits could lead to money leaving the region at a time when it needs even more to reboot an economy that is still working to transition away from the coal industry.
Bismarck-Mandan business leaders who spoke at an economic forum Thursday said they are hoping for a better year.
Members of the health care, higher education, service, and oil and gas industries spoke about their experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic over the past year and their thoughts on the future at the Bismarck Mandan Chamber EDC Economic Outlook Forum. The Chamber also presented the results of its Economic Outlook Survey, which saw businesses anticipating better performance in 2021.
Karel Sovak, dean of the University of Mary s Gary Tharaldson School of Business, presented the results of the outlook survey. Nearly half of the 130 businesses surveyed said they performed below expectations in 2020, with 60% citing COVID-19 as a factor. About 70% of businesses said they expected to do better this year, though COVID-19 and attracting and retaining qualified employees were named the top factors that could adversely affect performance.