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With tips down, some restaurants have raised wages for servers. Will it last?

Jul 13, 2020
“A lot of workers are saying no, I refuse to go back and put my health at risk and my family's health at risk for $2, $3 or $4 an hour.”
With business slow at most restaurants, some are raising wages to incentivize staff to come back.
Byron Smith/Getty Images

Why Disney wants to reopen its theme parks now

Jul 8, 2020
The Walt Disney Co.'s other enterprises, including Disney+ and ESPN, may not be generating enough revenue.
You won't see crowds like this at the reopened Walt Disney World Resort in Florida.
Jacqueline Nell/Disneyland Resort via Getty Images

About a third of companies cut employee pay in response to COVID-19, survey finds

Jul 8, 2020
More than half of the companies making cuts say they helped avoid layoffs, for now.
Of the companies that cut employee pay in response to the pandemic, over half of them say cuts allowed them to avoid layoffs.
Mark Felix/AFP via Getty Images

How one artist expanded her role during the pandemic and protests

Jul 6, 2020
Multimedia artist Atiya Jones says she makes art about “small, accumulative actions.” But the form of that art has changed during COVID-19.
A self-portrait of multimedia artist Atiya Jones, who started making and selling masks during the pandemic.
Courtesy of Atiya Jones

Pandemic death toll may have been undercounted, researchers say

Jul 2, 2020
Researchers found that 28% more deaths may have been related to COVID-19.
Medical personnel at Brooklyn Hospital Center move a deceased patient to a refrigerated truck in April.
Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images

Would a resurgence of COVID-19 hurt the economy?

Jun 18, 2020
Consumer confidence, while increasing overall, is stagnating in regions where there have been recent spikes in the disease.
Florida is among the handful of states that have just reported record-high weekly case numbers.
Eva Marie Uzcategui/AFP via Getty Images

China's big savers weather pandemic uncertainty

Jun 16, 2020
The communist government is not handing out cash to struggling workers. Many have to depend on themselves.
Zhang Lei manages an entertainment center in Shanghai, and for four months, he was not sure whether he would still have a job or not.
Charles Zhang/Marketplace

For public good, not for profit.

Economists expected more job losses. The economy added 2.5 million instead.

Jun 5, 2020
Chalk it up to parts of the economy reopening.
A Las Vegas restaurant tells potential patrons that it has reopened for dine-in business. Restaurants generated a healthy portion of May's job gains.
Ethan Miller/Getty Images

Congress said COVID-19 tests should be free, but who might end up paying?

Jun 3, 2020
Some major health systems say they are sitting on millions of dollars in billing.
Vanderbilt University Medical Center has been holding back many bills related to COVID-19 testing for fear of a backlash from patients, who might be surprised that they owe anything.
Blake Farmer/WPLN

States enter hurricane season with pandemic-strained budgets

Jun 3, 2020
Many states have already used their regular emergency funds battling the virus, and frontline workers may be exhausted.
Hurricane Irma reaches Florida in 2017. Scientists predict a destructive hurricane season this year.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images