A special alert for VA beneficiaries that do not file a tax return and have dependents that make them eligible for a larger CARES Act stimulus payment need to pay attention to this: Payments will be issued soon. In order for a veteran with dependents to get $500 per eligible child added to their $1200 payment, the IRS needs the dependent information before the payments are issued.Otherwise, the payment will be $1,200 and the additional $500 per eligible child amount will be paid in concert with the filing of the 2020 tax return. There’s a limited window to register to have $500 per eligible child added automatically to their soon-to-be-received $1,200 Economic Impact Payment. Visit the Non-Filers tool on IRS.gov by May 5 to ensure the right payment amount.
Here’s an update on how the second tranche of funding for the Paycheck Protection Program is benefiting small businesses across the country:
As of April 29th at 6 p.m: more than 960,000 loans for over $90 billion have been approved, with more than 5,300 lenders participating.
Small Banks: (< $10 billion in assets)
More than 587,000 loans which is about 61% of the loan volume
More than $43 billion for small businesses
Medium Banks: (between 10 and 50 billion in assets)
More than 206,000 loans for over $20 billion
Large Banks: (> $50 billion in assets)
More than 167,000 loans for over $25 billion
Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler and N.C. Farm Bureau President Shawn Harding spoke yesterday to share an update on how our agriculture sector is operating during the crisis. Here are the takeaways:
Meat-processing facilities are critical.
Shutting down or slowing production at meat processing plants would create a backlog all the way to the farm. It would be devastating to the farm economy and could lead to disruptions in the food supply. At this point, no North Carolina food processing facilities are closed. The N.C. Department of Agriculture has been actively engaged with Emergency Management, Public Health, the CDC and other agencies to help develop guidance for meat processing facilities to ensure the safety of workers. These guidelines were distributed to 3,200 food manufacturing facilities across the state.
The food supply is safe.
COVID-19 is not a food-borne illness. According to the CDC, coronaviruses are generally spread from person-to-person through respiratory droplets. This includes people who are in close contact with each other. There is no evidence to support transmission of COVID-19 is associated with food. Consumers can remain confident in our food supply. Federal and state meat and poultry inspectors remain in processing plants and continue to ensure safe meat handling practices. Produce farmers are taking proactive steps on their farms to protect the public and their workers. The N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services has worked with farmers, grocers and processing facilities to help get food products directly to consumers, an example of this assistance includes truckload sales of bulk chicken products.
There is not a food shortage, just not as many selections of beef, pork, and poultry as a result of a more limited processing capacity due to some plant closures in other parts of the country and worker shortages throughout.
Consumers could continue to see a shortage in selection of products at the grocery stores. For example, the stores could have more whole chickens instead of more highly processed cut-up or boneless chicken. Local farmers and farmers markets are other sources of meat products.
The CDC has new reopening guidelines for public spaces, workplaces, businesses and homes. View them here.
For today’s good news story, I’m highlighting two Johnston County distilleries, which are churning out hand sanitizer for our first responders every day. InStill Distilling Co. in Clayton and Broadslab Distillery near Benson have made and donated thousands of dollars in hand sanitizer to fire departments, EMS squads, hospitals, doctors and nonprofits.
