The editor-in-chief of Bon Appetit, Adam Rapoport, resigned after a photo of him dressed in a stereotypical Puerto Rican costume surfaced on social media. He says he had blind spots as an editor and the magazine deserves better. Several staffers who star in the magazine’s popular YouTube videos are also calling for equal pay for employees of color. Media companies are facing a moment of reckoning around racism as protests against police brutality against black people spread across the U.S., touching off broader conversations about race. Top editors have resigned from several publications following uproars about insensitive or offensive articles and headlines.
Business
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Survey: Business economists expect worst slump since 1940s
Business economists expect the United States to suffer its worst downturn this year in more than seven decades before growth resumes sometime next year. Overhanging that forecast, though, is the risk that a second wave of the coronavirus could threaten the economy once again. A survey by the National Association for Business Economics predicts that the gross domestic product — the total value of goods and services produced in the United States — will fall 5.9% for 2020 as a result of the recession triggered by the virus. That would be the sharpest annual decline since GDP fell 11.6% in 1946, when the nation was demobilizing after World War II.
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State workers asked to go on furlough to offset RI budget deficit
Rhode Island is asking state workers to volunteer for furloughs to offset a looming budget deficit.
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RI’s to reopen recreational sports and businesses under phase II
The broad-sweeping changes scheduled to begin June 1st will allow opportunities for retail, personal services, restaurants, and summer recreational activities to reopen under state restrictions.
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For seasonal businesses, this summer won’t be a day at the beach
Memorial Day marks the unofficial start of summer, a crucial time for one of Rhode Island’s most important industries: tourism. But the COVID-19 crisis could threaten the peak season in places like South County, where some businesses go dormant in the winter and face a make-it-or-break-it scenario in the summertime.
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‘Don’t hold me back’: As Mass. cautiously reopens economy, hair salon owner says time is running out
Massachusetts began reopening its economy Monday after a two-month coronavirus lockdown. Companies large and small are receiving strict safety guidelines, many of which will completely alter how business gets done. It’s having some businesses wonder how they’ll be profitable in this new environment.
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Massachusetts is reopening. Here’s what it means for South Coast businesses
Massachusetts, a state with some of the country’s highest COVID-19 deaths, will begin reopening its economy. Governor Charlie Baker announced a phased-in approach Monday that will gradually permit certain industries to open under strict safety guidelines.
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For some Chinese immigrants, the American coronavirus experience feels like déjà vu
Wende Chen, the owner of the Chong Qing House restaurant, experienced the virus through his family in China. Now, he worries about the future of his own family’s American dream.
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With dream weddings on hold, industry faces business nightmare
When couples tie the knot, they contribute to thousands of jobs and spill-over revenue at hotels, restaurants, shops and bars. But the industry has been upended by the coronavirus pandemic and wedding vendors and venues are scrambling to make it through what promises to be a very difficult season.
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Risk of reopening US economy too fast: A W-shaped recovery
When the coronavirus erupted in the United States, it triggered quarantines, travel curbs and business shutdowns. Many economists predicted a V-shaped journey for the economy: A sharp drop, then a quick bounce-back as the virus faded and the economy regained health. Others envisioned a slower, U-shaped course. Now, as President Donald Trump and many Republicans press to reopen the economy, some experts see an ominous risk: That a too-hasty relaxation of social distancing could ignite a resurgence of COVID-19 cases by fall, sending the economy back into lockdown. The result: a W-shaped disaster in which a tentative recovery would sink back into a “double-dip” recession before rebounding eventually.