(Radio Iowa) — The latest gauge of the economies in Iowa and across the Midwest shows the critical impact of the pandemic. Creighton University economist Ernie Goss says the nine-state region is “solidly in recession” as the Business Conditions Index plummeted to its lowest level in more than a decade. Goss says the effort to stop the spread of COVID-19 by temporarily closing businesses is doing much more financial harm than good. Goss says, “Right now, the economy is suffering more for the lockdown and the economic downturn than it’s suffering from the coronavirus.”

The survey of business leaders and supply managers in Iowa and the eight other states indicates abysmal results and does not take into account efforts to jump-start businesses and consumer spending through the federal CARES Act. “This was, the April reading, was the lowest since the recession of February 2009,” Goss says. “I think when the dust settles, we’re going to see the decline in Quarter Two is probably going to be larger than what we experienced in 1932.”

Vast numbers of people across the region lost their jobs in recent weeks, with 170-thousand now collecting unemployment benefits in Iowa. It was a double-whammy for businesses as Goss says the employment reading for the region slumped to its lowest level since the survey began in 1993.”Six of ten employers in our survey reduced employment due to the COVID-19,” Goss says. “Sixty-three percent of the firms reported worker absences, so, not only did they reduce employment but there were worker absences because of the virus.”

On a scale of one to one-hundred, where 50 is considered “growth neutral,” Goss says the Business Conditions Index reading specifically for Iowa fell from a 46 in March to a 34 in April.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Former Iowa Gov. Chet Culver is urging Gov. Kim Reynolds to back off policies that he says will force employees to be in unsafe workplaces that have had coronavirus outbreaks. Culver says in a letter to Reynolds that workers should not have to risk serious illness or death or face the loss of their unemployment benefits. He warned that her policy choices “will affect Iowans’ quality of life for generations to come.”

Culver, a Democrat who served from 2007 to 2011, said the Republican governor’s policies have created an appearance “that the state’s most powerful business owners have exerted undue influence.”

Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds’ Friday press conference regarding COVID-19. We will have live audio available on KJAN as well with the presser set to begin at approximately 11:00 a.m.

(Radio Iowa) — Congressman Dave Loebsack, of Iowa City, is among a dozen members of the U.S. House touting a plan that would expand broadband service in America. Loebsack says it is unacceptable that in 2020, many rural Americans do not have access to high-speed internet. As the spread of COVID-19 continues, Loebsack says it shines an even brighter light on the “broadband gap” that exists between urban and rural communities. Loebsack and the other Democratic lawmakers plan to include investment broadband in the next coronavirus response package in congress.

Loebsack was a founding member of the House Rural Broadband Caucus in 2016 and is the bipartisan group’s co-chair. According to the Federal Communications Commission, 24 million Americans lack access to high-speed broadband service and nearly one-third of rural Americans lack access to mobile broadband.

(Radio Iowa) — The presidents of the three state universities say they have lost millions of dollars as campuses shut down for the coronavirus pandemic. University of Northern Iowa president, Mark Nook, spoke first during an on-line Board of Regents meeting. “Our current estimate of the financial impact of the novel coronavirus from March through the end of the summer session is 28-million dollars,” Nook says. “This includes both lost revenue and additional expenses.” Some of the lost revenue was money refunded to students when the Cedar Falls campus shut down. “Academic Affairs refunded 178-thousand dollars in lab and course fees and study abroad costs, and will forgo two-point-four million in summer tuition,” Nook says. “Students received credits and refunds for their room and board contracts and certain student fees. Room and board refunds amounted to nearly seven million dollars and recreation health center fees combined for more than 546-thousand dollars.”

Iowa State University president, Wendy Wintersteen, detail the projected losses from March through August. “In early April, we conservatively estimated the impact of the COVID-19 crisis would total more than 88 million in refunds and lost revenue. And close to one million in additional expenses,” according to Wintersteen. She says lost revenue from canceled events continues to add up.”Our usually bustling campus has gone quiet as conferences, seminars, athletic events and other performances have been called off. As the number of event cancellations increase — the amount of lost revenue will multiply.”

University of Iowa president Bruce Harreld faces the same type of loses. “Since March and projected through August — the university not including U-H-I-C, not including the health services, just the academic portion of the institution — will loose a little more than 76 million dollars,” Harreld says. The three schools will get more than 45 million dollars in federal pandemic relief. Harreld says the federal money coming to Iowa City is small compared to the loses. He says they expect to get eight million for students and another eight million for the university. “And while we deeply appreciate these, I’d just like to remind you that they represent only ten-point-four-nine percent — less than 11 percent of the total losses we’ve incurred in this period,” Harreld says.

The Iowa Board of Regents is creating an advisory board to recommend ways to cut costs across the university system in the wake of the coronavirus loses.