Tennessee Unemployment Claims Still High Because of COVID-19, New Numbers Show

Nearly 75,000 Tennesseans were on record as filing unemployment claims as of April 11, according to new numbers the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development put out on their website Thursday.

Residents in Northern Middle Tennessee filed 34,643 claims, the highest regional number, while residents in East Tennessee filed 16,669 claims, according to the TDLWD data.

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Commentary: If Larger States Remain Closed, America May Need a Bank Debt Holiday to Avert Another Financial Crisis

Another 5.2 million Americans filed for initial unemployment claims last week, bringing the total number of jobs lost to the Chinese coronavirus and related government closures to anywhere from 21.8 million to 24.8 million jobs lost in about one month, and when added to the 5.8 million who were already jobless, produces an effective unemployment rate of 16.7 to 18.5 percent.

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Democratic Hawaii Governor Is Proposing 20 Percent Pay Cut for Public Sector Employees, Including Teachers

Hawaii Governor David Ige announced Wednesday that state employees might have to take pay cuts.

“Let me be very frank with you, due to this crisis, the main sources of state revenue have been drastically reduced,” he said. “State government needs to look very different going forward.”

The Democratic governor said he has had ongoing discussions with union representatives and state legislators, but no decision has been made yet.

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Ohio Congressional Candidate Calls Michiganders Who Protested Against Gretchen Whitmer ‘Bad People’

While Michiganders protested on Thursday the authoritarian like measures Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has implemented during the coronavirus pandemic, a person trying to unseat Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH-04) had harsh things to say about them.

Shannon Freshour, a progressive who is competing against two other Democrats for the party’s nomination, tweeted her true feelings about the protesters.

“Republicans everywhere want people to die while claiming to be pro-life,” Freshour said. “Also um gridlock would be an effective tool if there was traffic but y’all only blocking yourselves and your fellow hate-mongering, confederate supporting traitors.”

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