Republicans running this year to win back one of Colorado’s U.S. Senate seats often extol their fiscal conservative bona fides and criticize government spending. A Colorado Sun analysis shows several received federal loans or unemployment payments to weather the economic downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic. One GOP Senate candidate received a Paycheck Protection Program […]
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Colorado tourism suffered a $9 billion loss in 2020. Lodging properties were hardest hit.
The coronavirus pandemic cost Colorado’s tourism industry nearly $9 billion in 2020. The latest figures from the Colorado Tourism Office show travel spending dropping to $15.4 billion in 2020, down from a record $24.2 billion in 2019. That’s the lowest tally of visitor spending since the depth of the recession in 2011. Things were looking […]
Posted inEducation, News, Politics and Government
Denver isn’t pursuing a true-up with charter schools that got federal coronavirus loans
Denver charter schools that received federal COVID-related small business loans last spring won’t need to forgo any future funding to make up for the $16 million in forgivable loans they received, district and charter officials said. An earlier agreement implied such a reconciliation would happen. It was never clear how the arrangement would work, only that the […]
Posted inBusiness, COVID, Culture, Economy, News
Can televised Russian face-slapping save Denver’s sports bars?
When cardboard cutouts filled the stands and the real fans were at home on their couches, Tom Ryan and his team were plotting the rebirth of Denver’s sports bar scene. Banking on corked-up demand, they prepared for this summer’s launch of a new 14,000-square-foot pub in downtown Denver, with high-definition video screens, immersive, room-size video […]
Posted inBusiness, Economy, News
What’s Working: How ID.me will help get the jobless paid, a Denver program offering employers $6,000 to hire
Three weeks have passed since federal unemployment benefits ended. While new federal aid is still expected to start by early February, one of the holdups was revealed Thursday when the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment announced it would start using a new identity verification system called ID.me within 2 weeks. The technology, now being […]
Posted inBusiness, Economy, News
Updated federal coronavirus loan program offers more relief, but not all Colorado businesses are eligible
Frisco restaurateur Bob Starekow got some devastating news last week. His federal Paycheck Protection Program loan came with unexpected strings. “My accountant informed me that due to the ‘income’ of the forgiveness portion of the PPP loan, I will owe $45,000 in taxes on phantom income,” Starekow, owner of Silverheels Bar & Grill and Kemosabe […]
Posted inBusiness, COVID, Economy, News, Politics and Government
$900 billion coronavirus relief bill passed by Congress, sent to Trump
By Andrew Taylor, The Associated Press WASHINGTON — Congress passed a $900 billion pandemic relief package Monday night that would finally deliver long-sought cash to businesses and individuals and resources to vaccinate a nation confronting a frightening surge in COVID-19 cases and deaths. Lawmakers tacked on a $1.4 trillion catchall spending bill and thousands of […]
Posted inBusiness, COVID, News
New form isn’t the “blanket forgiveness” some Colorado businesses hoped for in federal paycheck loan program
Months after the federal Paycheck Protection Program stopped taking applications for forgivable small business loans, banks and lenders are still unclear on how to forgive them. The new simpler form, released Friday, is supposed to make it less complicated for those who borrowed up to $50,000. But it isn’t as simple as some had hoped, […]
Posted inBusiness, COVID, News
A mission-minded loan source that doesn’t care if you’re a startup with no experience, revenues or credit
When Valerie and Cesar Beltran decided to open Beltran’s Meat Market & Grill in Northglenn four years ago, they thought their past experience of running their own meat market in New Mexico and then a Front Range tortilla factory was enough to make them creditworthy. But as opening day approached, the couple realized they needed […]
Posted inBusiness, Coloradans, COVID, Health
Black-owned businesses weighed down by coronavirus struggle to stay afloat
Nothing in the previous experience of Jeannette Mayhew and her husband, Marty, prepared them to open a donut shop. They just saw an opportunity, and jumped on it. “We didn’t really know how to make donuts,” Mayhew said. “The [previous] owner said, ‘I’ll stay here and make donuts until you figure it out, we’ll pay […]