A slew of city-wide vaccine mandates announced in 2021 across parts of the U.S. made virtually no difference in stopping the spread of COVID-19, newly released research found.
“These mandates imposed severe restrictions on the lives of many citizens and business owners,” the study, conducted through George Mason University’s Mercatus Center, says. “Yet, we find no evidence that the mandates were effective in their intended goals of reducing COVID-19 cases and deaths.”
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Two years after Seattle slashed its police budget, local business owners say crime has skyrocketed, with police unable to deal with thefts, homelessness and open-air drug use that plague the city.
Seattle and broader King County had more than 13,000 homeless people within its boundaries in 2022, more than every other similar area except Los Angeles County and New York City, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, while the Seattle Police Department (SPD) lost more than 130 officers, KOMO News reported, as homicides, shootings and motor vehicle thefts increased. Local business owners say law enforcement is failing to effectively deter the rampant drug use and theft disturbing their livelihoods.
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A new nationwide small business survey showed that 32% of small business owners believe that inflation is the single-most important issue their business is facing.
The survey, from the National Federation of Independent Business, also showed that 44% of all owners reported job openings they could not fill.
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The state of California is facing a budget deficit of $25 billion going into 2023, the state’s Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) reports.
According to the Daily Caller, the LAO’s Wednesday report claimed that the primary reason for the deficit will be the shortcomings in the state’s tax revenue, which will ultimately be about $41 billion less than originally projected. Corporate tax revenue in the state is expected to drop by about $6 billion from fiscal year 2021-2022 to 2023-2024, and personal income tax revenue has also declined, from $135.9 billion in the prior fiscal year to an estimated $122.6 billion in the coming fiscal year.
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The only grocery store in Point Roberts, Washington, will be forced to close if travel restrictions between the U.S. and Canada aren’t lifted by July 15, the Associated Press reported Thursday.
Point Roberts Marketplace store owner Ali Hayton said the market relies on shoppers who haven’t been able to visit for more than 15 months and that government assistance did little to help the struggling shop, the AP reported. The store received two loans from federal pandemic relief programs, though the funds were used in a week.
“Now that I see that there is absolutely no end in sight, I can’t do it anymore,” Hayton said, according to the AP. “I cannot financially keep subsidizing all of this by myself.”
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City leaders encouraged Minneapolis business owners to consider installing “permanent security gates” ahead of ex-officer Derek Chauvin’s trial in the death of George Floyd.
The trial is set to begin Monday with jury selection but could face delays because of an appellate court’s Friday ruling that the presiding judge in the case erred when he didn’t reinstate charges of third-degree murder against Chauvin, The New York Times reported.
The downtown area is already heavily fortified, with businesses and government buildings boarding up their windows and installing barricades.
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Gov. Mike DeWine, during Friday’s press conference on the coronavirus, told business owners that if they don’t follow social distance rules and keep their employees safe there could be consequences.
“Let me make it very clear: I will err on the side of protecting people,” DeWine said at the press conference. “The bad behavior, the reckless behavior, must stop. The protection of life is the most important obligation that I have.”
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