Still struggling, restaurants call for more relief from Congress
CBSN
Advocates for the battered restaurant industry are calling on Congress to replenish the now depleted revitalization fund dedicated to helping ailing establishments get back on their feet after more than a year of COVID-related starts and stops.
The pandemic created a challenging environment that forced roughly 90,000, or about 1 in 10 restaurants, to close as owners struggled do business in any kind of way that made financial sense for them. Those that remain are still saddled with debt from the government's paycheck protection program and other temporary relief measures. They also face a new set of challenges as they try to claw their way back to profitability.President Joe Biden said France was America's "first friend" at its founding and is one of its closest allies more than two centuries later as he was honored with a state visit Saturday by French President Emmanuel Macron aimed at showing off their partnership on global security issues and easing past trade tensions.
The Consumer Federal Protection Bureau last week launched an inquiry into what the agency is calling "junk fees in mortgage closing costs." These additional fees, involving home appraisal, title insurance and other services, have spiked in recent years and can add thousands of dollars to the final cost of buying a home.
Retired Maj. Gen. William Anders, the former Apollo 8 astronaut who took the iconic "Earthrise" photo showing the planet as a shadowed blue marble from space in 1968, was killed Friday when the plane he was piloting alone plummeted into the waters off the San Juan Islands in Washington state. He was 90.