Liz Rammer, president and CEO of the trade group Hospitality Minnesota, said the state needs to signal to the events and tourism markets that it’s open for business so that it doesn’t lose out to states that have been faster to reopen .
Associated Press
MINNEAPOLIS Minnesota’s food shelves saw a big jump in need in 2020 amid the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting economic instability, according to an annual report released Friday.
Hunger Solutions Minnesota, which collects data from 350 food shelves across the state, said they saw a record 3.8 million visits in 2020, up 7% from the year before, led by a 31% jump in visits by older people.
Those numbers represent both the “great need” statewide, and the “great work” by programs to adapt how they provide services and to take advantage of state and federal COVID-19 relief funding, said Colleen Moriarity, the group’s executive director. Hunger Solutions distributed $21 million of that aid money to food programs across the state.
Pandemic drives increase in visits to Minnesota food shelves Photo: AP Photo/Gerald Herbert. FILE - Volunteers distribute food to people who waited in line in their cars overnight, at a food distribution point in Metairie, La., Thursday, Nov. 19, 2020. Associated Press Created: February 05, 2021 02:19 PM
Minnesota’s food shelves saw a big jump in need in 2020 amid the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting economic instability, according to an annual report released Friday.
Hunger Solutions Minnesota, which collects data from 350 food shelves across the state, said they saw a record 3.8 million visits in 2020, up 7% from the year before, led by a 31% jump in visits by older people.
Shadow seekers, billionaire tax, vaccines for cabbies: News from around our 50 states From USA TODAY Network and wire reports, USA TODAY
Alabama
Montgomery: The state on Monday launched an online portal for people to check their eligibility for COVID-19 vaccinations and make appointments. The Alabama Department of Public Health said the site at alcovidvaccine.gov will allow those eligible to make an appointment if shots are available in their county of choice. The portal also provides information about additional drive-thru and walk-in clinics being offered. Starting next Monday, Alabama will expand who is eligible for the vaccine to everyone 65 and older, educators, court officials, corrections officers, postal employees, grocery store workers, some manufacturing workers, public transit workers, agriculture employees, state legislators and constitutional officers. Currently, only people 75 and older, first responders, health care workers and long-term care reside
Associated Press
MINNEAPOLIS The president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis said Tuesday that getting Minnesotans vaccinated against the coronavirus will be key to reviving the state’s economy.
Neel Kashkari told a legislative hearing that the country and state have made progress toward putting people back to work amid the pandemic. The national unemployment rate has fallen to 6.7% while the state’s jobless rate is down to 4.4%, but he said those figures mask how many people have given up on finding work.
The Minneapolis Fed estimates that the true national unemployment rate is actually around 10%, which Kashkari said is as bad as it got in the 2008-09 recession.