August 24, 2020 — The losses for U.S restaurant and foodservice industry continue to mount as COVID-19-mandated closures persist and the travel market remains depressed.
Airport foodservice operator HMSHost is laying off at least 3,000 employees by mid-October in response to its coronavirus-related struggles, Restaurant Business reported.
January 18, 2019 — On the Outer Cape there are 23 U.S. Coast Guard members, at least eight Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employees and around 60 Cape Cod National Seashore workers not receiving paychecks due to the partial shutdown of the federal government.
And it’s not just federal employees who are missing their paychecks. Contract workers, like those who are rebuilding Herring Cove’s north parking lot in Provincetown, are also affected.
“It’s wrong,” said Arthur “Butch” Lisenby, the Provincetown Municipal Airport manager, of the TSA employees who, because they are deemed “essential,” are now working without compensation. “They are trying to do their jobs and not getting paid. That’s not fair. They have a nice attitude. I’m kind of surprised. I don’t know if I could do the same thing. They are doing their job and dealing with it the best they can.”
The TSA employees themselves were not allowed to speak to the press, according to an employee at the Provincetown airport.
Read the full story at Wicked Local Wellfleet
March 14, 2017 — The news last week that the Trump administration was considering cuts to the U.S. Coast Guard budget to pay for the Mexican border wall was about as welcome as the late-winter blizzard bearing down on Cape Ann.
From national security experts to local harbormasters, there seemed to be profound disbelief in the logic of undermining the Coast Guard’s mission of public safety on the nation’s waters — not to mention its responsibilities for the interdiction of illegal drugs and undocumented immigrants — by funneling any of its operational funds into the construction of the wall.
“It shouldn’t even be a consideration,” said Mark Ring, chairman of the Gloucester Fisheries Commission. “It’s a far cry from people lost at sea to somebody climbing a wall.”
News reports and congressional sources reported the White House’s Office of Management Budget plans to reduce Coast Guard spending by $1.3 billion during the next fiscal year to reinforce the nation’s southern border with a wall and additional border agents.
The Coast Guard now operates with a $9.1 billion annual budget. Reportedly, one area of spending under scrutiny is the $43 million allotted to the agency’s drug interdiction teams.
Major cuts are also planned to the Transportation Security Administration and the Federal Emergency Management Administration to free money for border security.