As COVID-19 recedes, a tide of new U.S. businesses rolls in
CBSN
A record number of new businesses are being created in the U.S. as the COVID-19 pandemic wanes and the economy reopens. The pace of applications for new businesses from the second half of 2020 through May 2021 marks the greatest on record dating back to 2004, according to a recent report from the National Bureau of Economic Research.
Many of the new businesses were concentrated in the non-store retail sector, which includes e-commerce, truck transportation, and accommodation and food services. New business applications declined early in the pandemic but rebounded by summer of 2020. John Haltiwanger, a professor of economics at the University of Maryland and the author of the report, attributes that surge to Americans having more time on their hands with much of the economy under pandemic-related restrictions and fewer opportunities to socialize.The launch of Boeing's star-crossed Starliner spacecraft on its first piloted test flight is slipping to at least June 1 to give engineers more time to assess a small-but-persistent helium leak in the capsule's propulsion system, and its potential impact across all phases of flight, NASA announced Wednesday.
Washington — As former President Donald Trump's "hush money" criminal trial in New York proceeds to closing arguments next week, the legal focus is moving south. His attorneys and longtime aide Walt Nauta appeared before Florida federal Judge Aileen Cannon, where they sparred with prosecutors during two contentious, day-long hearings on Wednesday.