Good Morning, Colorado, you’re listening to the Daily Sun-Up with the Colorado Sun. It’s Monday August 23rd.

 

Millions of businesses across the country received financial relief during the pandemic through The Paycheck Protection Program. And those that used it to pay employees are eligible for 100 percent forgiveness. 

 

Today - we dig into the loans that were given to Colorado businesses.

 

Before we begin, let’s go back in time with some Colorado history adapted from historian Derek R Everett’s book “Colorado Day by Day”:

 

Today we’re going back to August 23rd, 1883 when a grand jury indicted three men on charges of murder in an infamous intersection of crime and politics. The trouble started as a struggle between two county Republican politicians John Mills and Edward Weber who battled over many things including county seats and gubernatorial candidates.  The feud boiled over when Mills, the local sheriff, and two other accomplices ambushed and gunned down Weber and two associates. Mills also perished in the fighting.

 

The murderous scandal astonished the state and nearly led to the abolition Grand County altogether.

 

 Now, our feature story. 

 

The federal Paycheck Protection Program loans provided nearly $800 billion in financial relief for millions of U.S. businesses during the pandemic. The attraction was that if the money was used to pay employees, it would be eligible for 100 percent forgiveness. Colorado Sun reporter Tamara Chuang has been tracking these PPP loans in Colorado since the program launched in April 2020. In July, the Small Business Administration began sharing data on which businesses have received forgiveness. Tamara is joined by Taylor Washington in today’s podcast and they share what it was like to dig into the numbers and write the story.

 

Tamara and Taylor’s Paycheck Protection forgiveness story has more than a dozen charts detailing what happened to Colorado’s $15.1 billion in PPP loans. Find this story and more at coloradosun.com

 

Thanks for listening. Finally, here are a few stories you should know about today:

 

Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters is reportedly in hiding after allegedly receiving threats related to a security breach in her election office. About 250 people from across Colorado showed up in Grand Junction on Saturday to support the embattled clerk, who is accused of facilitating the public release of elections system passwords and copies of the system’s hard drives. Peters’ election office is under investigation by the Colorado Secretary of State, the FBI and the Mesa County district attorney.

About 87,000 Colorado residents will lose their unemployment pay when federal benefits expire on Sept. 4. Another 29,000 people will lose the $300 federal bonus paid to anyone on unemployment. As the clock runs out on the aid to jobless people, the state labor department is working to help them find jobs. One of the ways is through the state job board at connectingcolorado.com where there were more than 118,000 openings posted as of Sunday morning. 

Tiny Mineral County posted one of the biggest population gains according to 2020 Census data released last week. But officials in the central mountain community say they don’t have more people today than 10 years ago, it’s just that they did a better job counting this time around. County administrator Janelle Kukuk was worried Mineral County was going to lose out on crucial federal funds if the population was undercounted so she called every property owner in the 865-person community and served as tech support for those who were having trouble filling out forms. That resulted in a 153 person gain, which Kukuk says is a big deal.

For more information on all of these stories, visit our website, www.coloradosun.com. Now, a quick message from our editor.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Good Morning, Colorado, you&rsquo;re listening to the Daily Sun-Up with the Colorado Sun. It&rsquo;s Monday August 23rd.
&nbsp;
Millions of businesses across the country received financial relief during the pandemic through The Paycheck Protection Program. And those that used it to pay employees are eligible for 100 percent forgiveness.&nbsp;
&nbsp;
Today - we dig into the loans that were given to Colorado businesses.
&nbsp;
Before we begin, let&rsquo;s go back in time with some Colorado history adapted from historian Derek R Everett&rsquo;s book &ldquo;Colorado Day by Day&rdquo;:
&nbsp;
Today we&rsquo;re going back to August 23rd, 1883 when a grand jury indicted three men on charges of murder in an infamous intersection of crime and politics. The trouble started as a struggle between two county Republican politicians John Mills and Edward Weber who battled over many things including county seats and gubernatorial candidates.&nbsp; The feud boiled over when Mills, the local sheriff, and two other accomplices ambushed and gunned down Weber and two associates. Mills also perished in the fighting.
&nbsp;
The murderous scandal astonished the state and nearly led to the abolition Grand County altogether.
&nbsp;
&nbsp;Now, our feature story.&nbsp;
&nbsp;
The federal Paycheck Protection Program loans provided nearly $800 billion in financial relief for millions of U.S. businesses during the pandemic. The attraction was that if the money was used to pay employees, it would be eligible for 100 percent forgiveness. Colorado Sun reporter Tamara Chuang has been tracking these PPP loans in Colorado since the program launched in April 2020. In July, the Small Business Administration began sharing data on which businesses have received forgiveness. Tamara is joined by Taylor Washington in today&rsquo;s podcast and they share what it was like to dig into the numbers and write the story.
&nbsp;
Tamara and Taylor&rsquo;s Paycheck Protection forgiveness story has more than a dozen charts detailing what happened to Colorado&rsquo;s $15.1 billion in PPP loans. Find this story and more at coloradosun.com
&nbsp;
Thanks for listening. Finally, here are a few stories you should know about today:
&nbsp;
Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters is reportedly in hiding after allegedly receiving threats related to a security breach in her election office. About 250 people from across Colorado showed up in Grand Junction on Saturday to support the embattled clerk, who is accused of facilitating the public release of elections system passwords and copies of the system&rsquo;s hard drives. Peters&rsquo; election office is under investigation by the Colorado Secretary of State, the FBI and the Mesa County district attorney.
About 87,000 Colorado residents will lose their unemployment pay when federal benefits expire on Sept. 4. Another 29,000 people will lose the $300 federal bonus paid to anyone on unemployment. As the clock runs out on the aid to jobless people, the state labor department is working to help them find jobs. One of the ways is through the state job board at connectingcolorado.com where there were more than 118,000 openings posted as of Sunday morning.&nbsp;
Tiny Mineral County posted one of the biggest population gains according to 2020 Census data released last week. But officials in the central mountain community say they don&rsquo;t have more people today than 10 years ago, it&rsquo;s just that they did a better job counting this time around. County administrator Janelle Kukuk was worried Mineral County was going to lose out on crucial federal funds if the population was undercounted so she called every property owner in the 865-person community and served as tech support for those who were having trouble filling out forms. That resulted in a 153 person gain, which Kukuk says is a big deal.
For more information on all of these stories, visit our website,<a href="http://www.coloradosun.com/"> www.coloradosun.com</a>. Now, a quick message from our editor.See <a href="https://omnystudio.com/listener">omnystudio.com/listener</a> for privacy information.

Welcome to The Colorado Sun's daily podcast, The Daily Sun-Up. Every day we’re sharing an in-depth look at one of our top stories, followed by a quick summary of important things happening in our state. For more visit us at https://coloradosun.com/.

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