WISCONSIN — Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers has extended the Safer at Home order until May 26. The order had previously been in place through April 24. The new extension includes a few changes, such as allowing more businesses and activities to open back up. Golf courses may open again, with restrictions on scheduling and paying tee times virtually. Public libraries can now provide curbside pick-up of books and other materials. Non-essential businesses can now perform minimum basic operations, including deliveries, mailings and curbside pick-up. In addition, essential businesses must increase cleaning practices and retail stores must limit the number of people in the store at one time. As of Sunday, April 19, there were 4,199 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 211 deaths in Wisconsin.
CHICAGO — Cushman & Wakefield has launched a global employee assistance fund, part of a $5 million commitment to employee assistance programs for those impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The fund has two components to provide financial relief to employees. The immediate relief fund addresses an immediate need by quickly disbursing up to $250 to eligible impacted employees who submit a request. The disaster and hardship fund is a larger payout for those more significantly impacted by the crisis. As part of this commitment to supporting front-line employees, members of Cushman & Wakefield’s global management team will voluntarily forgo a portion of their salaries. Effective April 20, CEO Brett White will forgo 25 percent of his base salary, while CFO Duncan Palmer and COO Michelle MacKay will forgo 20 percent of their base salaries. Effective May 1, President John Forrester will forgo 20 percent of his base salary until December 31, or earlier if determined by the board of directors. In addition, all of the firm’s 53,000 employees have been given the opportunity to make a charitable donation to the employee fund. “We have a responsibility to care for our employees with the same level of dedication that they’re showing …
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Freddie Mac has changed its previously announced Multifamily COVID-19 forbearance program in three ways to better align with the federally enacted Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act. The program allows Freddie Mac’s multifamily borrowers to defer their loan payments for 90 days if they can show hardship as a consequence of the COVID-19 outbreak and if they receive approval from their lenders, which are part of Freddie Mac’s Optigo network. The first change to the program is an extended deadline for multifamily owners to enter forbearance due to COVID-related hardships. The new deadline is until the end of the year or the end of the federally declared emergency period, whichever occurs first. The previous end of the program was set for Aug. 1. The agency also revised its eviction policy pertaining to borrowers that enter forbearance, saying none of the borrowers’ residents can be evicted, whether or not they can prove their nonpayment stems from COVID-19-related hardships. The third change is participating owners are required to waive late fees, penalties or other charges related to tenant nonpayment of rent during the forbearance period. “The program has already proved to be an important source of relief …
AUSTIN, TEXAS — More than 1 million people in Texas have filed for unemployment over the past four weeks, according to data from the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC). By contrast, during the three-week period ending on Saturday, March 14, the state received just 22,000 unemployment claims. The TWC reports that as of April 4, the industries that have borne the biggest job losses are retail trade, accommodation and food services and healthcare and social assistance. The agency, which has been expanding its call center operations and hiring more staff to field claims, also says that it has paid out some $400 million in unemployment benefits since March 14. About 22 million Americans have filed for unemployment during the past four weeks.
LOS ANGELES — Verity Health System has sold the 381-bed St. Vincent Medical Center in Los Angeles for $135 million. The hospital is currently operating on a temporary lease with the State of California as a surge facility for treating COVID-19 patients. The buyer, surgeon and medical researcher Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, will continue to honor the lease with the state, while also using several buildings as facilities for COVID-19 research. Soon-Shiong is the principal officer of the Chan Soon-Shiong Family Foundation, a California-based private grantmaking organization. “Verity Health is proud of its partnership with the State of California and is confident that Dr. Soon-Shiong and his team will continue to enhance the collaboration with the state and local government to address COVID-19,” says Rich Adcock, CEO of Verity Health. Verity Health System filed for bankruptcy in summer 2018. The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California in Los Angeles recently approved the sale of the nonprofit’s assets, including St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood to Prime Healthcare. Located at 213 W. 3rd St. in the Westlake neighborhood of Los Angeles, the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul originally opened the hospital in 1856. The property closed …
WASHINGTON, D.C. — An estimated 5.2 million people filed for first-time unemployment in the week ending April 11, the U.S. Department of Labor reports. COVID-19 has continued to take a toll on the daily lives of almost every American and those around the world as local, state and federal governments issue stay-at-home orders and urge non-essential businesses to close to the public. Over the past four weeks, the total number of Americans filing for unemployment has exceeded 22 million, according to the Department of Labor. To put the pandemic’s swift movement through the economy into perspective, there were 24.4 million jobs created over the past 11 years since the Great Recession, according to the Department of Labor. The latest weekly unemployment claims figure is down from 6.6 million the prior week. As of this writing, there were 31,015 deaths and 640,291 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the United States, according to Johns Hopkins University (JHU).
HOUSTON — Weatherford International, a Houston-based oilfield services firm, will cut its global workforce by 25 percent as part of a larger move to reduce capital expenditures by 50 percent in 2020 relative to 2019, the company announced on Wednesday. The company also plans to reduce its geographic footprint and reduce the headcount of its operations in North America by 38 percent. As of 2016, Weatherford, which also plans to delist itself from the New York Stock Exchange, had about 30,000 employees worldwide. Despite recent agreements by major-producing nations to undertake supply cuts, the impact of COVID-19 has drastically reduced energy demand. The price of West Texas Intermediate crude opened at $20.39 per barrel on Thursday, down from about $64 per barrel a year ago, an approximately 68 percent decrease.
RICHFIELD, MINN. — Best Buy Co. Inc. (NYSE: BBY) has taken additional steps in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Beginning April 19, the Minnesota-based company will temporarily furlough approximately 51,000 domestic hourly store employees, including nearly all part-time employees. Best Buy is retaining approximately 82 percent of its full-time store and field employees on its payroll, including the vast majority of in-home advisors and Geek Squad agents. Furloughed employees will maintain their health benefits at no cost to them for a minimum of three months. Also beginning April 19, some corporate employees will participate in voluntary reduced work weeks or voluntary furloughs. CEO Corie Barry will forego 50 percent of her base salary and the members of the board of directors will forego 50 percent of their cash retainer fees through at least Sept. 1. Company executives reporting directly to the CEO will take a 20 percent reduction in base salary through at least Sept. 1. Best Buy is also suspending its 401(k) company matching program. In order to assist employees financially impacted by the pandemic, Best Buy has partnered with its founder, Dick Schulze, to establish a $10 million employee assistance fund, available to all part- and full-time employees …
HOUSTON AND PASADENA, TEXAS — Walgreens will open two COVID-19 testing sites in Harris County on Friday, April 17 as part of the Illinois-based pharmacy chain’s effort to ramp up testing in seven states. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo made the announcement yesterday. The sites, which will have the capacity to conduct 200 tests per day at each store, will be located at 14531 Westheimer Road in Houston and 101 W. Southmore Ave. in Pasadena.
“How do you fight the enemy without knowing where it is?” The question posed by Kathryn Sweeney, co-founder and managing partner of Blue Moon Capital Partners LP, underscores the need for senior living communities to have priority access to personal protective equipment (PPE) and adequate testing to battle the COVID-19 virus. “We’re really fighting this battle with very rudimentary and limited tools,” said Sweeney, whose Boston-based firm provides equity exclusively to the seniors housing sector. “We have had inconsistent access to tests in our portfolio. What we’re finding is those operators who are more on the healthcare end of the spectrum have relationships with healthcare professionals such that they are able to access tests more so than operators who are more on the social end of the spectrum,” said Sweeney. Her comments came during an April 9 webinar hosted by the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care (NIC). The hour-long webinar, titled “The Intersection of Operators and the Financial Community in a COVID-19 Environment” and moderated by NIC’s chief economist Beth Burnham Mace, featured two other speakers: Fee Stubblefield, founder and CEO of The Springs Living; and Wendy Simpson, president and CEO of LTC Properties (NYSE: LTC). As …