Coronavirus, COVID-19

INDIANAPOLIS - There is now a third round of COVID-19 response grants available for communities to apply for to help those impacted by the pandemic. Lieutenant Governor Suzanne Crouch and the Office of Community and Rural Affairs are working with and overseeing the program. Crouch says some Northwest Indiana counties were awarded grants during the initial launch of the program in April and in the second round, in August.

Just more than two weeks after reaching 5,000 confirmed COVID-19 deaths, Indiana reported its 6,000th on Tuesday. The Indiana State Department of Health reported 6,109 Hoosiers are confirmed to have died from COVID-19.

New claims for unemployment benefits have been steadily rising since mid-October. Economists say it’s further proof that COVID-19 – not government restrictions – is hurting the economy.

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UNDATED -Beachfront Dance School in Gary has received a $15,000 dollar grant.  The organization is one of an additional sixty-one Midwestern arts and culture organizations that received COVID-19 relief grants Tuesday from Arts Midwest.  The funds come from the United States Regional Arts Resilience Fund.

On this edition of the podcast you’ll hear the latest on the new restrictions put in place on business operations in Lake County to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19, the city of Gary’s “welcoming” ordinance being struck down by a Lake County judge and Chris Nolte has a conversation with Terry Velligan, general manager of operations for Cline Avenue Bridge LLC. All of that, and more, on this edition of “Lakeshore Update”…

MERRILLVILLE - Hoosier small businesses affected by COVID-19 may be able to get some help.  They can apply for the Indiana Small Business Restart Grant.

Carolyn Saxton, President of the Legacy Foundation, says small businesses that qualify need to get their application in quickly as the deadline is December 1st.

"The deadline is coming up very quickly so it's really important that the businesses that think they could apply to go online to do that now," Saxton says.

As coronavirus infection rates skyrocket across the state, many school districts are going back to full-time virtual learning. But that poses a problem for working parents as a temporary paid leave program expires at the end of the year.

State and fedCaerally-funded workforce programs need to continue sharing data and resources while adapting to changes brought by COVID-19. That's the biggest takeaway from Indiana’s Legislative Services Agency annual workforce programs report for legislators.

More than 5,000 Hoosiers have now died from COVID-19. While state officials have tried to slow the spread of the virus, some health experts say it wasn't enough.