You all over again. Nightline starts right now with juju chang. Good evening. Thanks for joining us. The government spent 2 trillion to shore up our economy by helping struggling businesses hit by covid. Tonight, where did the money go . Critics say millions were squandered on companies who didnt need it or wasted on lavish spending. Why many Small Businesses say the promised government relief is nowhere to be found. Heres abcs rebecca jarvis. Reporter 14 years ago, rosie flores opened her shop in fresno. An American Dream rooted in a mothers dying wish. I promised her that i would do it on my own, since i worked for so many people for so many years. So i decided to open it. And my mom passed a couple of weeks after we opened the shop. Reporter but now her flower shop is on the brink of permanent closure. The pandemic cutting sales by 80 , and the federal aid that was promised to Small Businesses like hers doesnt seem to be coming. Theres billions of dollars that are there. Im hoping and praying that with our determination each one of us, that we will be able to receive something. Some type of funding to help us. Reporter shes just one of many Small Businesses who desperately need the money and are running into one roadblock after another as they try to navigate the Government Program meant to be their lifeline. With some so frustrated that theyre taking their grievances to court. It was just a brick wall. Every time you went in, it was a brick wall. Reporter now signs of incompetence and big business influence are starting to surface. Critics decrying the millions handed to wellestablished corporations. One man accused of spending his loans on luxury items like jewelry and cars, like people like torres are running out of time. When everything falls, like its a domino effect. Reporter its all tied to the cares act, an allencompassing 2 trillion aid package meant to help the millions of americans impacted by covid19. A portion has gone into the Paycheck Protection Program meant to provide relief for Small Businesses and their employees. About 100,000 Small Businesses have permanently closed since the pandemic hilt in march. And 45. 7 million americans have filed new claims for Unemployment Benefits in just the last 13 weeks. In this Small Community here that im aware of, only one has received the grants. All the others that i know of have not received anything yet. Reporter rosie torres is one of those minority female Business Owners the president said would benefit from the program. But with no federal aid and business declining, shes had to lay off three employees. When did it start to really hit you how concerning this would be financially for your business . Maybe the first month that we were closed, having to, you know, pull from our savings to make sure even for the people that work here was a big concern. How are they going to feed their families . Reporter torres says she spent months caught in a ppp run around, trying to get responses from banks who were put in charge of processing the loans. First, i used our bank that we use for our business, and they referred me to a different source, never got a reply. So i decided to go through a different bank, and they referred me, id have to have a Business Loan through their bank, which we didnt. So i called the sba here, but i got a returned email saying that they werent accepting them anymore. Reporter you basically tried to apply for these loans through it sounds like four different banks. Yes. Reporter meantime, large corporations like shake shack, ruths chris steakhouse and the l. A. Lakers initially received 35 million in loans, due to loose guidelines that qualified them as Small Businesses. And after facing public backlash and outrage, all three returned the money. But even the businesses who managed to receive the money are realizing that ppp may not be a failsafe solution. For most of our employees, this was their first job ever. Reporter a Coffee Franchise that employs people with intellectual and physical disabilities has been amy wrights pride and joy. After a covid shutdown, their reopening day was one full of hope. Can you tell im smiling at you . Yes. Im happy to see you. Reporter after receiving ppp funding in early april, they were singled out as a prime example for the programs success, earning a trip to the white house. We will continue to take up the charge and help everyone, especially with people disabilities pursue the American Dream. Reporter but the loan money which was intended to carry her business during the shutdown has been spent, and now sales are down 90 . Wright says she used the loans to keep her 120 employees on payroll and pay off rent and utilities for eight weeks of the national shutdown. Shes now had to lay off half of her employees. Theres a sliver of me that was hoping we would prove everybody wrong, and this would be the one place that people would just pour back into, but the reality is, its still a scary time. Reporter while people like wright use the money to keep her business afloat, there are fears that others may have been using the money fraudulently. Love and hiphop reality star maurice fame, aka arkansas mo,m, received more than 2 million for his transportation company. Federal authorities allege he spent most of those funds, more than 1. 5 million worth on himself, buying fancy jewelry and leasing a 2019 rollsroyce. He was arrested on federal Bank Fraud Charges in may, but his lawyer, tonya miller, says mo should be the least of everyones concerns. Is he prepared to give that money back . I certainly am not commenting on his defense, because that is the subject of a criminal investigation. We really need to be looking into why it was that some individuals in connection with larger corporations were able to pay back money and continue on with their life, and other individuals are on the opposite end of the federal indictment. Reporter he denied using any of the ppp loan proceeds to pay his personal debts and expenses. Critics say thats part of the problem, that we dont know how the money is being used and who received the funds [ we don. We dont have the data. Reporter katie porter helped sponsor the care act. Do you think they passed it too quickly . We were having to face the reality that the coronavirus pandemic was unfolding quickly. Cases were skyrocketing, and i think even at that time i dont think we fully understood. So we acted quickly to try to get those resources out there, because we were hearing from Small Businesses, we cant make end of the month payroll in march. Reporter porter thinks transparency is necessary. Its not enough to have a portion of the data, we need to have a look at the entirety of the program. Reporter rosie torres has yet to receive any ppp money. Instead, last week she noticed a random 3,000 deposit in her bank account, federal money from a separate Disaster Loan Fund she had applied for earlier this year. At the time, she was told it couldnt be fulfilled, because funds had run out. Theres a gap somewhere that its not being filled in to be able to help people. Reporter while shes grateful for the money, she says its only enough for one month and could disqualify her from receiving more money through ppp or other grants. We would be hoping for the best, to have something that would help us from the government to not be able to pay it back, but just say okay, youre going to work for this. Its a grant. Were going to ep hhelp you. Were going to pick you up. But, if not, well just start all over. And start from the beginning. Which is notar just keep doing it. 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The best really did get better magnificent. Switch to xfinity internet and get a flex 4k streaming device with peacock premium included for no additional cost. When we closed our wynn committed instantly to keeping all 15,000 team members onboard. We then focused our fivestar level of service to all who needed it. We made improvements to peoples lives. We strove to be better and we made people happy. This closure may have temporarily taken us out of wynn and encore, but it couldnt take the wynn and encore out of us. And now, we are proud to welcome you back. Tonight, the u. S. Is seeing its highest number of covid19 infections in months. Surging to nearly 35,000 cases in just one day. And, if numbers continue to climb, the cdc forecasting the country could soon see 150,000 deaths by mid july. Also concerning doctors, a growing mystery surrounding patients suffering from symptoms for months or weeks. Socalled long haulers. I spoke with an actor who starred in frozen on broadway. Healthy and active before his first diagnosis in march. This marks 100 days of symptoms on and off. How are you feeling today . Todays pretty good. Its a little bit of tightness in my chest, but its a better day, i could say. But you say youve had these relapses that essentially have never stopped. Tell me how it waxes and wanes. Well, i would say that is the worst of it, honestly, what happens is you feel as if youre better, and youve shaken it, youve kicked the virus. But then what happens is it creeps in, and i start getting this tightness in my chest, and i start coughing, and im clearing my throat constantly. And then it gets to a point where i have to think to breathe, so its extremely uncomfortable, and its scary, and, you know, its kind of a nightmare psychologically, because you think youve beat it, and then you have these kind of episodes that come in and scare you all over again. And while much of the country is getting back to business and reopening and, in some ways, letting their guard down, youre feeling very passionate about this. This week you posted on facebook. Can you read us that post . Sure, yeah. I wrote, i cried watching the news tonight. Cases are spiking. The president makes jokes about coronavirus. People shame others for wearing masks. The country is making it a partisan issue. Im on a support group with literal thousands of people called covid long haulers who have an infinite list of Health Problems from having covid, sorry, not sorry, for scaring you, but i wouldnt wish it on my worst enemy. . What inspired you to publish that. Do you think people arent taking it seriously enough . Thats exactly right. I watch the news, and i see people getting this virus, and what i went through was so s e scarey for me and anxiety ridden. And i dont want people to go through that. I want to take a minute and bring in dr. Sutton, a contributor working on the front lines. Dr. Sutton, the World Health Organization says 80 of Covid Patients recover within two weeks. What is the medical Community Learning about these socalled long haulers like adam who are now weeks or months into symptoms . Yeah, so i have to thank adam first off for telling his story, because i think it validates the story of many who dont see a physician. We simply dont know enough. This virus is only six months old, and speaking to that 80 , we have over 2 million cases in the united states, and that equates to 1. 6 Million People who probably have covid or dont need the Immediate Care of a medical provider. And those people suffer chronic fatigue, muscle pain, mental fog and confusion. Ive been seeing these more and more of patients coming in six, eight and nine weeks after their initial diagnosis. And you mention so much is unknown. What are some of the leading theories as to why this is happening, and are some of these patients retesting positive . Some theories involve that it is persistent and the exist. Another is that our own immune response is what is causing us to have these chronic symptoms. Many people may not realize, during the height of the pandemic we had many people who had this viral pneumonia, and that viral pneumonia was attributable to a lot of cells battling the lungs and causing difficulty breathing. Were seeing that now with people coming in with confusion, body ache, continued shortness of break. And it could be assimilated to this chronic response. The mental strain and anxiety is almost more challenging than the physical challenges. This is clearly not a straightline recovery for everyone. I can understand how it might feel if you are a person Walking Around fit and ablebodied. And all of a sudden your faculties are gone and you dont have that ability. Anytime that happens, whether over a short period or long period, the question everyone asks me and they ask themselves is, is this permanent. And i think thats very Much Associated with the ideation that its very difficult to understand what will the knox d next day look like . How do i rearrange my life to accommodate it. Adam, i saw you nodding your head. As a broadway actor and dancer, it requires stamina and lung capacity to do your job. Are you worried about getting back into shape and being 100 . Yeah, absolutely. Everything the doctor said ive kind of experienced where i would wake up one day and think i was completely back to normal and the next day im just, you know, three steps back again. In terms of my lung capacity. And ive been trying to build my endurance every day and work my lungs and get them going, but its scary, ive been dancing and singing on broadway for the past 20 years, and all of a sudden i dont have the capacity that i had anymore. So im just trying to stay hopeful for the future that they will get back to normal. Well, adam, dr. Sutton, thank you both for sharing your wisdom and insights with us. Be well. Thank you so much, appreciate it, guys. Up next, mary w. Jackson, nasas hidden figure hidden no more. Rco. polo marco. polo marco. polo si . Marco. polo scusa . Marco. polo ma io sono marco polo, ma playing marco polo with marco polo . Surprising. Ragazzini, io sono marco polo. Si, sono qui whats not surprising . Geico helping you save even more on car and motorcycle insurance. Ahhh. Polo. Marco. polo now get an extra 15 credit when you switch before october 7th. So we collaborate ocean spray works with nature every day arfrto baking fails. Inters. To sweat sessions. Even life inside can bring on things like sweat and oil. But its nothing a deep clean cant fix. Love, neutrogena®. If yoyoull get 2 vyears or 20,000 miles of scheduled carefree maintenance. 3 years or 36,000 miles of 24 7 roadside assistance. 4 years or 50,000 miles bumpertobumper limited warranty. 5 years of connected services. And for 6 years you wont have paid any interest. Down the road, youll be grateful you bought a volkswagen today. And fly tonight, a hidden figure no longer. Mary w. Jackson, the pioneering first black female engineer at nasa, paving the way for women of color in math and science. Now her legacy enshrined. The agency announcing its headquarters will be named in her honor. Jackson part of a small but overlooked group of black women hired by nasa to help america win the space race. Her scientific contributions highlighted in the film hidden figures. Would you wish to be an engineer . I wouldnt have to, id already be one. Recognition long overdue. Well see you right back here tomorrow at the same time. Thanks for staying up with us, good night, america. Ba, da, ba, ba, da, ba, da, ba, da, ba, da, bra, da, bra, da, Jimmy Kimmel Live this is ridiculous from his house jimmy hi there. Im getting word that my name is jimmy kimmel and im the host of what they say is some kind of a talk show, so thats exciting. Thank you for joining me. Today is actually, i have no idea what day today is. Guillermo, what day is it . Guillermo oh, i dont know, im very drunk. Jimmy at least you have an excuse. Hey tony, grammy, and Emmy Awardwinner andre de shields, what day is today . Its thursday, thursday, thursday night yeah jimmy oh, okay. Its thursday. Thats good. That means the cosby show was on, right . I dont even know what decade it is. County officials here in los angeles, just released guidelines for re opening our schools. There are a lot of them, theyre going to have Students Walk single file in the hallways. There will be strict seating on buses, staggered recreation time in the schoolyard. Basically, it sounds like a prison where you have to learn geometry. Classrooms will be limited to 16 seats, spaced 6 feet apart
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