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The federal eviction ban, along with a mix of state and federal moratoriums, is credited with keeping millions of Americans in their homes during the pandemic and preventing the spread of the coronavirus. There was a brief lull in evictions after the ban ended in September. But housing advocates say that they’re on the rise in many parts of the country — though numbers remain below pre-pandemic levels due to the infusion of federal rental assistance and other pandemic-related assistance like expanded child tax credit payments that are also set to end, the Associated Press reported. Part of the increase is due to courts catching up on the backlog of eviction cases. But advocates say the upsurge also shows the limits of federal emergency rental assistance in places where distribution remains slow and tenant protections are weak. Rising housing prices in many markets also are playing a role. According to the latest data from the Eviction Lab at Princeton University, evictions have been rising in most of the 31 cities and six states where it collects data. Evictions in September increased 10.4% from August. October numbers were 38% above August levels and 25% higher than in September. Filings fell around 7% from October to November and now remain about 48% below pre-pandemic levels.

A federal bankruptcy judge issued a $250-a-day fine to former operators of the Queen Mary who are accused of stealing $2.4 million from a COVID-19 relief loan meant to pay their employees during the pandemic, the Los Angeles Times reported. The judge’s order on Tuesday arrives amid a bankruptcy proceeding over how a real estate firm maintained the aging ship as part of a lease agreement with the city of Long Beach, which owns the ship and a parcel of land around the port. Urban Commons set its sights on revamping the retired British ocean liner as a tourist destination, but within five years of the company taking over the lease, a real estate investment trust it had created filed for bankruptcy, leaving behind a trail of debt. Beginning in 2016, Urban Commons held a 66-year lease to operate the Queen Mary and develop the surrounding land. It created Eagle Hospitality Real Estate Trust as an investment entity to generate revenue from the Queen Mary’s role as a hotel and from other hospitality ventures, but in January of this year, the trust filed for bankruptcy protection with roughly $500 million in debt. The Queen Mary is in poor shape. This year the city of Long Beach took back control of the ship after Eagle Hospitality Trust filed for bankruptcy. A recent report estimated it could cost the city $175 million to preserve the ship and $190 million to scrap it or sink it. A 2017 report estimated $289 million worth of renovations and upgrades were required to keep the ship afloat.

A Canadian court ordered Cineworld Group PLC to pay 1.29 billion Canadian dollars, equivalent to about $1 billion, in damages for walking away from a merger agreement with Cineplex Inc. after the COVID-19 pandemic rocked the movie-theater industry world-wide, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. An Ontario judge rejected arguments by U.K.-based Cineworld that Canada-based Cineplex violated the terms of a planned merger between the two companies when it took steps to conserve cash by deferring payments to landlords, vendors and film studios after box offices shut down in the early days of COVID-19’s global spread. “Cineplex cannot be held in default…when it was prevented from conducting its normal day-to-day operations by government mandate,” said Justice Barbara Conway of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in her ruling on Tuesday. Cineworld, which operates the Regal cinema chain in the U.S., said it would appeal the decision and “does not expect damages to be payable whilst any appeal is ongoing.” It reported about $450 million in cash holdings as of June and previously said it expected “no material liability” to arise from the Cineplex lawsuit. The U.K.-based company warned earlier this year there was doubt about its viability as a business after it posted a $3 billion loss for 2020 because of the pandemic’s impact. Cineplex had sought US$2.2 billion in damages from Cineworld for backing out of the acquisition.

Retail sales rose slower than economists had expected in November following three straight months of sharp increases, according to data released yesterday by the Census Bureau, The Hill reported. U.S. retailers and restaurants made $639.8 billion in sales last month, up just 0.3 percent from October and well below the 0.8 percent increase projected by analysts. October’s retail sales gain was revised up to 1.8 percent, a 0.1 percentage point increase from the initially reported figure. Retail sales have risen steadily throughout the second half of the year despite deep supply chain disruptions and the highest annual inflation rate in more than 30 years. While growth continued through November, the pace of consumer spending slowed considerably in key sectors. Sales at department stores sank 5.4 percent last month and purchases at electronics stores fell by 4.6 percent, the Census Bureau reported. Sales by online retailers were flat, though sporting goods, hobby, music and book stores saw sales rise by 1.3 percent.

The bailout of U.S. airlines under Presidents Donald Trump and Biden was meant to stave off economic calamity and keep the nation’s aviation system alive through the coronavirus pandemic. It included provisions, inspired by investing giant Warren Buffett, that supporters said could give Uncle Sam a piece of the upside when the ailing stocks of airline companies rebounded, the Washington Post reported. Buoyed by federal aid, planes kept flying as air travel plummeted by more than 90 percent. But after handing airlines tens of billions of dollars in grants, the value of stock deals struck on taxpayers’ behalf is not in Buffett’s league. Those stock agreements, similar to options, this week are worth about $260 million, or less than 1 percent of the $37 billion the U.S. government gave 10 major passenger airlines last year to help pay their workers, according to a Washington Post analysis of Treasury Department data. Subsequent agreements taxpayers received as airlines got another $13 billion this year are, as of now, useless, although their value would rise if stock prices climb. There are several ways to calculate what the federal government bought with its billions in pandemic-era aid to airlines. The nation’s aviation system remains intact, supporting jobs in the sector and outside it, while enabling economic growth and freedom of movement across the country. But nearly two years after the pandemic was declared, questions have emerged about what worked well, and what did not, after one of Washington’s most powerful industries was propped up by a vast U.S. bailout. “It wasn’t the most carefully crafted deal out there, but in a time-is-of-the-essence sense, it was the deal that could get done,” said aviation analyst Robert Mann. Without the federal money, “there surely would have been bankruptcies, because there simply would have been no revenue coming in."

Delta Air Lines Inc. will invest $1.2 billion in partner carriers Virgin Atlantic, Aeromexico and Latam Airlines as the U.S. airline positions itself to capitalize on a rebound in international travel, Bloomberg News reported. Delta aims to build a 20% equity stake in Grupo Aeromexico SAB and a 10% position in Latam Airlines Group SA, according to a statement Monday. The U.S. company will provide fresh financing to Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd. and maintain its 49% equity stake. "As international travel demand returns, the connectivity, relevance and breadth of Delta’s global network with its partners remains critical,” the carrier said in the statement. “With new widebody aircraft on the way, record hiring, and significant investments in international readiness, Delta is positioned to lead the industry through the ongoing recovery.” The investment underscores the importance of international travel after the industry struggled through a sharp slowdown during the pandemic. Delta recently expanded its marketing partnership with Latam and has supported the bankruptcy reorganization of Aeromexico following a cooperation agreement signed in 2017. Atlanta-based Delta said its investments in Air France-KLM, Korean Air and China Eastern won’t change. Shares of the carrier fell as much as 4.3% in New York.

The assets for Old Country Buffet’s former owner have been sold to the parent company of Famous Dave’s and the company is winding down its bankruptcy. But that doesn’t mean an end to the controversy over the operation of the company, which had been known as Buffets LLC and then Fresh Acquisition, RestaurantBusinessOnline.com reported. Last week, a federal bankruptcy judge signed off on Fresh Acquisitions’ bankruptcy plan, which gives a trustee the go-ahead to sue its former owners for nearly $20 million in misused funds. Creditors for some $75 million in unsecured debt have accused the former owners of a variety of improper transfers and misused funds totaling $19.75 million. They include $4 million in misused Paycheck Protection Plan funds, along with $5.25 million in “excessive management fees” and $3.85 million in unexplained transfers to affiliates and other insiders. Creditors also say there are $8.6 million worth of additional transfers of funds or real estate, unexplained credit card debt as well as a $2 million insurance policy to protect the personal assets of directors and officers. According to court filings, the people who owned or controlled Fresh Acquisitions have a combined net worth of $62.7 million, including $31.6 million in cash.

Consumer prices surged 6.8 percent in the year leading into November and 0.8 percent last month alone as a roaring economy overwhelmed struggling supply chains and fueled inflation, according to data released on Friday by the Labor Department, The Hill reported. The consumer price index (CPI), a closely watched gauge of inflation, rose sharply in November as retailers, warehouses, suppliers and shipping companies scrambled to meet intense demand. Economists expected the CPI to rise 0.7 percent in November and 6.7 percent annually after year-over-year inflation rose to 6.2 percent in October, the highest rate in 30 years. Prices rose broadly across the economy, the Labor Department said, with prices for gasoline, shelter, food and vehicles driving much of the increases. Inflation earlier in the year was driven almost entirely by vehicles, electronics and other goods constrained by a global computer chip shortage but has now spread through many sectors.

Companies knew to expect pandemic surprises heading into winter, and they keep coming to fruition, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Biden administration’s vaccine mandate is in limbo. The threat of the Omicron variant is still being studied. International travel is getting more restrictive again. The muddled picture is causing a broad reassessment across the corporate sphere. Some companies are rethinking vaccine policies and pushing off return-to-office plans, while others are working to maintain existing timelines to bring people together. The varied responses reflect the difficulties many companies face in sizing up the state of the pandemic now and its trajectory in the months ahead, more than a dozen executives said. Meanwhile, the longer that delays persist, the more some employees get set in their at-home routines and gain conviction they can do their jobs from anywhere, for the long term. In recent days, companies as varied as Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc., Ford Motor Co. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google have delayed return-to-office dates or given employees the option to stay home longer. Ride-hailing company Lyft Inc. told its corporate employees last week they wouldn’t be required back in its offices until 2023. Read more. (Subscription required.) 

In related news, some of the largest U.S. hospital systems have dropped COVID-19 vaccine mandates for staff after a federal judge temporarily halted a Biden administration mandate that healthcare workers get the shots, the Wall Street Journal reported. Hospital operators including HCA Healthcare Inc. and Tenet Healthcare Corp. as well as nonprofits AdventHealth and the Cleveland Clinic are dropping the mandates. Labor costs in the industry have soared, and hospitals struggled to retain enough nurses, technicians and even janitors to handle higher hospitalizations in recent months as the Delta variant raged. Vaccine mandates have been a factor constraining the supply of healthcare workers, according to hospital executives, public-health authorities and nursing groups. Many hospitals already struggled to find workers, including nurses, before the pandemic. The shortages were compounded by burnout among many medical workers and the lure of high pay rates offered to nurses who travel to hot spots on short-term contracts. Read more. (Subscription required.)