Pa. GOP wants to restore work-search rule for jobless benefits
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A sign seeking to hire laborers is posted Wednesday, May 5, 2021, outside a concrete products company in Evans City, Pa. A bill by Pennsylvania s Republican-controlled Legislature to reinstate work-search requirements for people claiming unemployment benefits cleared the House Labor and Industry Committee on a party-line vote Tuesday. Labor and Industry Committee Chairman Jim Cox, R-Berks, contends that employers are having trouble finding workers, and that they often blame the additional $300 per week in federal unemployment benefits during the pandemic and the lack of a work-search requirement.AP Photo/Keith Srakocic
As virus cases drop, Virginia plans to loosen restrictions
May 6, 2021
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RICHMOND, Va. (AP) Virginia could lift capacity limits and relax rules for social distancing next month if the rate of coronavirus infections continues to fall in the state, Gov. Ralph Northam said Thursday.
The state s tentative plan is to loosen those restrictions on June 15 and allow businesses such as theaters and yoga studios to operate at full capacity.
Northam said Virginia still needs to evaluate a possible change in the future to its mandate for wearing masks, with the state most likely continuing to follow guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
May 6, 2021
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) Virginia could lift capacity limits and relax rules for social distancing next month if the rate of coronavirus infections continues to fall in the state, Gov. Ralph Northam said Thursday.
The state’s tentative plan is to loosen those restrictions on June 15 and allow businesses such as theaters and yoga studios to operate at full capacity.
Northam said Virginia still needs to evaluate a possible change in the future to its mandate for wearing masks, with the state most likely continuing to follow guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“But this is good news,” the Democratic governor said at a news conference. “And it’s thanks to the millions of Virginians who have done the right thing for so long.”
by Elyse Kelly, The Center Square | May 06, 2021 05:00 PM Print this article
Some Wyoming businesses that received COVID-19 relief funds are being asked to return some funds totalling nearly $10 million.
Wyoming Business Council CEO Josh Dorrell said mistakes, mostly honest although some fraudulent, are the main reason for the returned funds, the Wyoming Tribune Eagle reported.
Around $3.5 million in relief funds have already been returned voluntarily, the Tribune Eagle reported, while 175 more businesses have been asked to return a total of $9.7 million. In total, that s approximately 3% of the $425 million distributed since the pandemic began last year.
A significant contributing factor to the mistakes was the complex application process and parameters for use, according to some business leaders.
One survey shows that workers are not taking open jobs at a record rate
May 6, 2021
HARRISBURG (AP) Republicans in Pennsylvania’s GOP-controlled Legislature are advancing legislation to reinstate work-search requirements for people claiming unemployment benefits, with one survey showing that workers aren’t taking open jobs at a record rate.
The bill cleared the House Labor and Industry Committee on a party-line vote Tuesday.
Lawmakers suspended the work-search requirement through 2020 amid the pandemic last year, and Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, extended the waiver administratively into this year. The bill would reinstate the requirement starting June 8.
Wolf’s office did not say whether he supports or opposes the bill, only that he would review it should it pass the Legislature.