%1

President Joe Biden's administration yesterday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to leave in place a COVID-19 pandemic-related federal ban on residential evictions while the justices consider a challenge by landlord groups to the ban's legality, Reuters reported. In a court filing, U.S. Justice Department lawyers said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) acted within its lawful authority this month when it renewed the moratorium through Oct. 3 after it had lapsed at the end of July. Groups representing landlords have sought to lift the moratorium, pointing out that even Biden administration officials have conceded it may not be lawful. The CDC first issued an eviction moratorium in September 2020, with agency officials saying the policy was needed to combat the spread of COVID-19 and prevent homelessness during the pandemic. Realtor groups in Alabama and Georgia were among those challenging the moratorium. Under heavy political pressure from Biden's fellow Democrats, his administration on Aug. 3 issued a slightly narrower eviction moratorium three days after the prior one expired. Biden initially had said that congressional action was needed to renew the moratorium, but his administration reversed course. The current moratorium, due to expire in October, covers nearly 92% of U.S. counties, but that could change based on COVID-19 conditions.

Almost 60 days of in-store closures in spring 2020 caused significant challenges for the Goodwill of Southern Nevada, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported. Retail operations accounted for about $28.2 million of the $32.4 million revenue in 2020, financial statements show. “At Goodwill, we rely primarily on those thrift stores,” CEO Rick Neal said. “Retail — shut that down, we feel it immediately and it’s like shutting off air.” Early closures caused Goodwill to lay off 322 employees, the majority of whom worked in retail, the nonprofit said. Those employees were offered right of first refusal upon the stores’ reopening, and about 86 percent returned. The organization received a $3.28 million loan through the Paycheck Protection Program, records show. But the shutdown forced Goodwill to turn its attention to things it had wanted to do for a long time, Neal said. It put more emphasis on its e-commerce auction site, with sales on Amazon and eBay, and moved career services that didn’t require face-to-face contact to the digital space. E-commerce revenue increased, from about $1.5 million in 2019 to nearly $2 million in 2020, last year’s financial statement shows.

Federal authorities announced yesterday that men from Massachusetts and New Hampshire have been charged in connection with their alleged roles in a scheme that used stolen identities to fraudulently obtain more than $450,000 in disaster loans from the Small Business Administration, the Associated Press reported. About $250,000 of that money was used to purchase iPhones that were then resold, according to a statement from the U.S. attorney’s office in Boston. Edwin Acevedo of Acton, Mass., and Hector Garcia of Manchester, N.H. were arrested last week and charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Garcia was also charged with aggravated identity theft. Acevedo is being held pending a detention hearing. Garcia is scheduled to make an initial court appearance on Sept. 3. Garcia used the stolen identity of a U.S. citizen to open a fraudulent bank account, which was linked to other fraudulent bank accounts set up to receive the loans, prosecutors alleged. Acevedo then distributed debit cards associated with those accounts to other alleged accomplices, which were used to launder the loans through the purchase of iPhones for resale, prosecutors said. Garcia also wired a portion of the funds to the Dominican Republic, according to authorities.