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IMPACT ON NEBRASKA’S ECONOMY A report released Wednesday shows the Nebraska economy has lost more than $1.5 billion from the coronavirus pandemic. The report, "The Economic Impact of COVID-19 on Nebraska's Economy: Third Cut," was prepared by economists Ernie Goss and Scott Strain and released in conjunction with The Platte Institute. Nebraska's unemployment rate of 8.3% in April, the highest in the state's history, resulted in more than 92,000 job losses, according to the report, and more than $497 million in lost wages, salaries and self-employment income. On an annualized basis, that would result in a loss of more than $10 billion. The report also said state and local tax receipts are estimated to have declined by nearly $80 million through May 9. If this figure were annualized, state and local governments would experience a loss of $521 million. Despite the large hit to the state's economy, Nebraska has fared better than most other states. Its April unemployment rate was the third-lowest in the country. A separate report released Wednesday by payroll company ADP showed that 2.76 million jobs were lost in the U.S. in May, down sharply from 9.3 million lost in April.

CHILD CARE RELIEF FUND Money from a coronavirus relief bill will help families and child care centers that have been affected by COVID-19. "The impact on child care providers has really been tremendous," said Stephanie Beasley, director of children and family services within the state Department of Health and Human Services. Beasley said $20 million in child care devel-opment block grant funds will help mitigate the effects COVID-19 has had on children, families, licensed child care centers and family home providers. In April, about 16% of licensed child care programs had tem-porarily closed because of the pandemic, and Gov. Pete Ricketts issued an order allowing licensed child care providers to bill for absent days. The order also allowed families getting child care subsidies to use child care exempt from licensing if their regular provider was closed. Beasley said this week those programs that were impacted have decreased only slightly since April. The coronavirus grant will be focused on helping child care centers and home providers stay in business, Beasley said. The de-partment will fund the remaining applications to the Child Care Relief Fund, made available in early April and led by the Nebraska Children and Families Foundation, the department and other private entities.

RESEARCHERS ARE STILL SEARCHING With the novel coronavirus case counts still rising globally, researchers

are searching high and low for treatments sometimes in their own labo-ratories. Officials with a University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Engi-neering facility, in fact, were working with a company to develop a re-combinant protein for another use when the coronavirus struck. The com-pany, which is involved in drug discovery, determined the protein could be used to treat the effects of the coronavirus, said Dennis Hensen, pro-

ject manager with the Biological Process Development Facility. The pro-tein would not be a cure but could provide an option for people with advanced cases of COVID-19 to either prevent the need for or reduce time on a ventilator, said Scott Johnson, the facility’s production man-ager. Hensen and Johnson said they could not identify the protein or

explain how it functions because they have a nondisclosure agreement with the unnamed drug firm. However, the hope is that the protein could reduce some of the inflammation that can cause serious effects in some patients.

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THURSDAY JUNE 4, 2020

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SPORTS The Kansas City Royals will not be releasing any Minor Leaguers and will

continue to pay them through the end of the Minor League season, gen-

eral manager Dayton Moore. While some MLB teams have authored sev-

eral releases of Minor Leaguers during the baseball shutdown due to the

COVID-19 outbreak, the Royals decided on Friday to continue to commit to

paying their Minor Leaguers. Moore confirmed that his conversations with

owner John Sherman, who took over ownership from David Glass last fall,

were entirely about preserving what Moore has often referred to as the

“Royal Way” doing what is right for the Royals and their employees. “The

Minor League players,” Moore said, “the players you never know about,

the players that never get out of Rookie ball, those players have as much

to do about the growth of the game than as any 10-year or 15-year vet-

eran players.” Moore also confirmed several reports, including from

MLB.com, that the Royals will not engage in layoffs or furloughs through

the rest of the 2020 pandemic. While some of the high-salaried employees

with Kansas City will take some pay cuts, those cuts will be restored once

baseball’s revenue reaches normal levels again.

Will Bolt never had much time to think about big-picture issues in college

baseball. And certainly not in the spring. One silver lining of the shut-

down, the Nebraska coach said, has been an opportunity for he and his

peers to explore ways to grow the sport. Bolt has been on multiple Zoom

calls with fellow Big Ten coaches and others about the proposed “New

College Baseball Model,” an idea spearheaded by Michigan coach Erik

Bakich that has gained traction nationally. The plan calls for seasons to

start in mid-March, with the CWS played in mid-July. Unlike previous calls

from cold-weather schools seeking a level playing field with southern

teams, this version lays out in part how pushing the season back roughly

six weeks could spark the sport financially. That includes boosting atten-

dance with more games in warmer weather, eliminating cross-country

February flights and establishing a television viewing window that would

not conflict with college basketball.

ACROSS 1 Island 5 Swiss mountains 9 Hovercraft 12 Gets older 13 Chinese precious stone 14 "To the right!" 15 Front paw 17 Ross ___, philanthropist 19 France & Germany river 20 Hatchet 21 Stinks 23 Wavers 27 Women's magazine 28 Quickness 29 Santa's laugh 30 Chancy 31 Picnic visitor 32 Lunge with sword 34 Nickel (abbr.) 35 Murder 36 Gas burner 37 Underwater breather 40 Restrain 41 Demise 42 Knife 43 Present 45 Controversial argument 48 Sun's name 49 Leered 51 Bust 52 Sample 53 Cart for hauling heavy things 54 Annoyance

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