Business and Economic News

Feds warn airlines once again to offer customers refunds
The Department of Transportation received some 25,000 consumer complaints in March and April, up from about 1,500 a month. DOT will also allow airlines to stop serving some cities with little demand.
Workplace protections still apply when you work from home
For many Minnesotans, their homes have become their workplaces but the situation raises legal issues that many employers may not have anticipated when they began having legions of people work from home — from privacy and ergonomics to on-the-job injuries and tracking employees' hours.
Restaurants face a staffing problem: Unemployment pays better
State jobless benefits are beefed up, for now, by an extra $600 a week from the federal government. That means many people are making more money unemployed at home than they were making at work.
Minority-owned small businesses were supposed to get priority. They may not have
The CARES Act required the Small Business Administration to tell banks to prioritize underserved communities for coronavirus relief loans. That didn't happen, a new inspector general's report found.
State workers may lose pay raise as economy tanks
The Minnesota House voted Monday to ratify state employee contracts that would deliver salary increases at a time of a looming budget deficit. The DFL-backed move sets up a showdown with Senate Republicans, who say it’s not a good idea to raise salaries with a budget deficit looming.
The latest on the economy
MPR senior economics contributor Chris Farrell answers questions about the economy.
Minnesota coach buses leave for D.C. to demand federal help
The almost four dozen Minnesota bus companies run a total of nearly 400 coach buses. But they’ve been idled for weeks by the COVID-19 outbreak.
As Minnesota retailers reopen, they're navigating a new way of doing business
Monday marks one week since many “nonessential” retailers in Minnesota were allowed to reopen — with limitations. Those stores and service providers had to take safety precautions and minimize their contact with customers, navigating a new way of doing business.
Shutdown of tribal casinos deals blow to Indian Country
Several hundred Native American casinos across the country have voluntarily closed during the pandemic, often taking away tribes' main source of income in an effort to protect people's health in communities with limited medical resources.