Single mom denied OH unemployment for 8 months over penalty for 'mistake' made four years ago - News 5 Cleveland

Single mom denied OH unemployment for 8 months over penalty for 'mistake' made four years ago - News 5 Cleveland
‘The Eddy’: Netflix Releases First Single From Damien Chazelle’s Upcoming Miniseries - IndieWire
In Boston area, more single women buy homes than single men - Boston.com
Texas’ Virus Deaths Hit Single-Day High on Eve of Reopening - NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth
In First, DoD Awards Massive $7.2 Billion Contract to Single Company for PCS Moves - Military.com

Posted: 30 Apr 2020 03:57 PM PDT

PARMA, OH —
A single mother said Ohio has put unemployment payments she desperately needs on hold because of a mistake she made four years ago.

"I'm just a mom trying to take care of my daughter... and we're falling through the cracks," said Jacqueline Lyons.

The Parma resident said she has to wait eight months to receive unemployment benefits because she incorrectly dates for her wages four year ago.

"It wasn't an intentional an misrepresentation," she said. "It was me not understanding the correct way to report."

As a result, the state imposed 32 penalty weeks on her account. Lyons said she never appealed the ruling because she returned to work and had paid back the overpayments and fines.

"I owe nothing," she said. "Many of us, we owe nothing. We are just being punished for an overpayment for a number of years ago."

Like so many others, Lyon became unemployed in March when the state shut down to stop the spread of the coronavirus.

Lyons said she worked in the service industry for the Indians, Rocket Mortgage Field House, and the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame.

She said she immediately applied for unemployment and qualified for assistance, but has received no money because of the 32 week penalty for the 2016 overpayment.

Deerfield resident Danielle Stutzman told News 5 she still owes money for an overpayment.

Like Lyons, she is also a single mom who has gone nearly two months with out receiving a paycheck.

A server, she lost her job when the state shut down in March.

"I don't mind if they have to take some kind of percentage (to pay back overpayments), but to take it all is very devastating," she said.

"It's a little nerve-wracking when you just want an answer into how this is possibly being done," she said.

A Change.org penalty week petition was started to ask Ohio lawmakers to waive penalty weeks during the pandemic after similar concerns led California to make workers serving penalty weeks eligible for Federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance.

New York and Illinois lawmakers have introduced similar legislation.

"I would say that it's not that we haven't considered it," said Kimberly Hall, Director, Ohio Jobs and Family Services. "There are a number of legislative priorities right now. And so this would be among the list of items that the general assembly would need to move forward."

Hall also said she will look into whether workers with penalty weeks can file new appeals during the pandemic.

During Thursday's daily briefing, OH Gov. DeWine was asked if he would allow workers receiving unemployment to receive assistance. Gov. DeWine said, "Let me check into it."

In the meantime, workers like Jacqueline have no choice, but to wait.
"We are just hardworking people trying to make ends meet, trying to take care of our families. and now we're left with nothing," she said.

Director Hall said she did not know how many people who have applied for unemployment will have to wait out penalty weeks.

She will said she look into and provide us that information.

More than one million Ohioans have filed for unemployment over the last six weeks, according to ODJFS.

‘The Eddy’: Netflix Releases First Single From Damien Chazelle’s Upcoming Miniseries - IndieWire

Posted: 30 Apr 2020 06:43 PM PDT

Netflix has unveiled "Kiss Me in the Morning," a new track from its upcoming Damien Chazelle-directed Netflix series "The Eddy."

"Kiss Me in the Morning" is one of many jazzy tracks that is featured in the streaming service's upcoming eight-episode miniseries, which marks Chazelle's television directorial debut. The track is available on most major music distribution platforms and Netflix also released a clip from the series featuring the song which can be viewed below. The rest of the upcoming series' music, which features contributions from artists including St. Vincent, Andre Holland, and Julia Harriman, will be available at a later date. The album will consist of 20 songs that run for 68 minutes.

Per Netflix's synopsis, "The Eddy" takes place in the vibrant multicultural neighborhoods of modern-day Paris. Once a celebrated jazz pianist in New York, Elliot Udo (series star André Holland) is now the co-owner of the struggling club The Eddy, where he manages the house band fronted by lead singer and on-again-off-again girlfriend Maja (Joanna Kulig).

As Elliot learns that his business partner Farid (Tahar Rahim) may be involved in some questionable practices at the club, secrets begin to come to light that have also been concealed from Farid's wife Amira (Leïla Bekhti). And when Elliot's troubled teenage daughter Julie (Amandla Stenberg) suddenly arrives in Paris to live with him, his personal and professional worlds quickly start to unravel as he confronts his past, fighting to save the club and protect those closest to him.

Popular on IndieWire

Netflix also released a featurette on the series' music to coincide with the release of "Kiss Me in the Morning," which can also be watched below.

"The Eddy" hits Netflix on May 8 and is shaping up to be as enjoyable a series as its talented cast and crew would have one expect. IndieWire's Ben Travers praised the series' blending of genres in his B+ review and noted it has "considerable emotional heft."

"The Eddy" marks the latest installment in Chazelle's jazzy filmography; he also directed the acclaimed features "La La Land" and "Whiplash."

Links to "Kiss Me in the Morning" are available here and the clip featuring the song can be viewed below:

[embedded content]

…and here is the link to the series' new featurette:

[embedded content]

Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.

In Boston area, more single women buy homes than single men - Boston.com

Posted: 30 Apr 2020 02:00 PM PDT

When it started getting cramped in the $2,400-a-month, one-bedroom Brookline apartment Marina Melnikova shared with her pre-school-aged son last year, she had to make a decision — pay an extra $500 a month for a two-bedroom unit or take the plunge into homeownership.

For the amount she was going to pay in rent, Melnikova, a 33-year-old single mother and small-business owner, decided it was time to buy. The prospect of buying as a single woman in what so far has been an extremely competitive housing market in Greater Boston, seemed daunting at first.

"It felt like a mountain to climb," said Melnikova, who eventually purchased a two-bedroom town house in Andover. "I don't know if I would've done it if I hadn't had my son. The misconception out there is that you can't get anything affordable and you have to wait for a partner" in order to afford it.

More single women nationwide have been chipping away at the idea that home buying is more feasible for couples. A recent analysis by online lending marketplace LendingTree found that single women in the United States own 1.5 million-plus more homes than single men in the 50 largest metro areas. Single men do not own more homes than single women in any of the 50 metros, including Boston.

In Boston, 12.3 percent of single women own homes, while just under 8 percent of single men do.

Kevin Byrne, a senior loan officer at Bridgewater Savings Bank, said he overwhelmingly sees more single women buy homes than single men, and started noticing the trend after the last recession.

"Somehow, someway they're more prepared," Byrne said. "You see divorced women coming back buying in their 40s and 50s. A lot of early 30s single women have decided to go it alone."

His female clients are also more likely to buy condominiums and to purchase near public transportation, such as at Union Point in Weymouth near the South Weymouth commuter rail station.

Michael Kemple, senior vice president and senior retail lending officer at Bridgewater Savings, said one reason more women have been able to jump into the highly competitive Greater Boston housing market alone can be traced to the region's job and economic growth over the past five years. Whether that will continue post-pandemic remains to be seen.

"Everything kind of centers on what happens in Greater Boston and radiates out from there," Kemple said. "There's also the idea that home prices have been rising very, very consistently over the past 10 years, and there may be a little bit of urgency of, 'I got to get on this now before prices rise even further.' "

For most buyers, however, the biggest challenge is saving enough for a down payment. Bridgewater Savings, along with MassHousing, offers a number of mortgage programs for low- to moderate-income first-time buyers that help with down payment and closing costs. The majority of applicants for these programs who managed to close on their first-time purchases over the past year were single women, Kemple said.

"Whether that's because women are doing more research than males, I don't know," he said.

Women "are very good planners," said Marie Presti, broker/owner of The Presti Group in Newton. Presti said she has consistently worked with three times as many single-female buyers as male ones. Many take the time to attend her first-time home buyer classes.

"My clients who are single females, the majority of them are educated, definitely have college degrees, many have graduate degrees, and are financially independent," Presti said. "In prior generations, females would wait until they were married to get a home, but this generation says, 'I have my own goals, and I don't want to wait to move on with my financial goals.' Sometimes they're dating somebody but buy on their own."

The spread of the novel coronavirus has slowed down real estate activity, but Katya Malakhova, a realtor with Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in Cambridge, said she would still encourage buyers, especially single women, to approach this as a window of opportunity. Buyers who anticipate job and financial stability throughout the outbreak should continue their search because they will probably encounter the least amount of competition the local market has seen in years, Malakhova said.

New research from real estate website Zillow on the effects past pandemics had on home sales activity appear to support Malakhova's take. During the 2003 SARS outbreak, transaction volume in Hong Kong fell as people avoided human contact, but prices were barely affected. After the epidemic was over, real estate transactions returned to normal, Zillow found. Early reports out of China indicate that because of COVID-19, transactions have nearly ceased, but home prices have not fallen so far, according to the research.

Malakhova, who helped Melnikova find the two-bedroom Andover home with her son, said she has a female client who was going to wait until summer to buy a property, but was so enticed by the record-low mortgage rates that she decided to go ahead now. On the flip side, she said she has a client who was ready to buy, but who had to take a step back because the bulk of his money was tied up in stocks, which have taken a beating amid the outbreak.

"For people who feel comfortable financially and their jobs are not on the line, it's a good time to buy," Malakhova said. "It won't be 25 offers … Now we can have five offers, and people will feel they can compete."

For Melnikova, buying a home as a single woman has taken on a deeper significance.

"I always wanted to own; for me, it was inevitable and just a matter of time," she said. "We're coming into a time where women are making the same amount of money [as men], and we're not afraid to make decisions for ourselves and not follow the patterns of our mothers."

Texas’ Virus Deaths Hit Single-Day High on Eve of Reopening - NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

Posted: 30 Apr 2020 05:08 PM PDT

The Texas coronavirus death toll hit a single-day high of 50 Thursday.

The new figures come just as the state prepares for a slow reboot of one of the world's largest economies by re-opening retail, restaurants, malls and movies to limited amounts of customers.

Gov. Greg Abbott's "stay-at-home" order expires Friday.

The death toll of 119 over the past three days mark the deadliest stretch since the state's first fatality in the pandemic was recorded March 17.

Thursday's 1,033 new cases is the first time the state has been over 1,000 since April 8.

To see more data from the state, explore the dashboard below. The fatality statistics can be found on the "Trends" tab. To see it full screen, click here.

Coronavirus Cases in Texas

Locations on the map are approximate county locations and are not intended to identify where any infected people live.

Case data pulled from a variety of sources including county health departments, Texas Department of State Health Services, KXAN-TV in Austin and KPRC-TV in Houston.

In First, DoD Awards Massive $7.2 Billion Contract to Single Company for PCS Moves - Military.com

Posted: 30 Apr 2020 05:00 AM PDT

After extended debate and some controversy, U.S. Transportation Command has inked a massive $7.2 billion, three-year contract with a single company for the relocation of household goods in military permanent change of station moves. The contract is a major step forward in the Pentagon's effort to outsource the military moves process -- an effort that gained steam during a 2018 summer moving season that saw a surge in reports of broken goods and delays.

American Roll-On Roll-Off Carrier Group, Inc., based in Parsippany, New Jersey, confirmed Thursday it had received the contract, which covers moves for the Defense Department and the U.S. Coast Guard. In a statement provided to Military.com, the company said it planned to lead a "full-service, worldwide relocation effort with a team of subcontracting partners" with the intent of improving military moves and offering better service.

"Throughout my career, I've been disappointed with what the Defense Personal Property Program does to families," Chief Master Sgt. Jason France, command senior enlisted leader for TRANSCOM, said in a statement. "Today, I'm confident that the Defense Personal Property Program will deliver the care and service they deserve in the coming years."

ARC CEO Eric Ebeling said in a statement that the company was eager to get to work on behalf of the military.

"Moving not only can cause significant stress for an individual, but can also challenge the mettle of an entire family," he said. "This is especially true for our nation's Service Members, who are routinely challenged to relocate every two or three years. Team ARC brings superior quality, deep experience, increased capacity, and enhancements for the customer experience. We have been looking forward to this announcement and cannot wait to get started."

The contract begins in May, assuming no protests, and could run for nine years including the initial three-year base period, if all options are exercised. It requires a nine-month IT and system hand-off, with the first moves under the contract slated for February, according to a TRANSCOM release. Officials plan to hand off all continental U.S. moves to ARC by next summer, with the goal of shifting both CONUS and OCONUS moves to the contractor by May 2022, they said.

"Under [the global household goods contract], a single commercial move manager was appointed to oversee activities that relate to the domestic and international movement and storage-in-transit of household goods," ARC said in its statement. "ARC will provide all personnel, equipment, facilities, tools, materials, supervision, and other items and services necessary to provide global Household Goods (HHG) relocation services."

The contract award is the first time the Pentagon has outsourced management of the military household goods shipment and delivery system. Personal vehicle shipments are already outsourced to a private contractor, International Auto Logistics (IAL).

That contract, awarded in May, 2014, came under intense scrutiny after hundreds of service members complained that their cars went undelivered far past their arrival due dates, could not be located in IAL's shipment tracking system or arrived at their final destination damaged. About 70% of the vehicles IAL tasked with shipping over 2014's peak moving system were considered late.

Despite those headaches, TRANSCOM officials said in late 2014 that annual costing savings brought by the contract, about $50 million, were worth the hassle.

After the 2018 summer moving season, in which 10% of military families reported loss, breakage or other problems with their moves, a Change.org petition begun by a military spouse got more than 100,000 signatures, prompting TRANSCOM to put a series of new measures in place to ensure the quality of PCS moves. But when news emerged in February 2019 that the Pentagon was moving forward with a plan to outsource the moving process, some expressed alarm that the process was happening too fast.

Megan Harless, who authored the Change.org petition and later was invited to be part of a new TRANSCOM advisory board, said thorough research was important.

"On paper, this briefs well -- the idea that a single move manager would be able to levy financial penalties on the [subcontracting] companies is a great thing," Harless said at the time. "But the biggest problem is the lack of research supporting the idea. One 2012 study on the concept showed it would increase the overall cost of PCS. There's been no more recent study or research to show potential benefits nor has there been a new cost analysis of what this large-scale shift would mean for taxpayers."

Later in 2019, moving industry members also cited concern that the Pentagon was moving too fast to outsource the PCS process and award a single company oversight of all military moves.

"This is untested. The plan hasn't undergone any kind of scrutiny. I believe it's U.S. TRANSCOM's wish to move to this type of procurement and they don't understand the ramifications," Charles White, president of the International Association of Movers, told Military.com in May of last year.

-- Hope Hodge Seck can be reached at hope.seck@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @HopeSeck.

Show Full Article

Search This Blog

Cupid Dating