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Updated December 29, 2020 9:22 a.m. EST By Cullen Browder, WRAL anchor/reporter Raleigh, N.C. From the kitchen to athletics fields to larger corporations, North Carolina businesses faced pandemic-related shutdowns in March. But Congress provided businesses with a lifeline through the Paycheck Protection Program. The PPP, which was part of the massive CARES Act relief package, offered small businesses the chance to get loans that wouldn’t have to be paid back if businesses met certain benchmarks, including keeping employees on the payroll. More than 127,000 North Carolina businesses obtained more than $12 billion in PPP loans. It paid our rent. It paid our power bills. It paid the staff we had until we could kind of get our feet back under us, said Robert Royster, owner of Ruckus Pizza in Raleigh, which got a PPP loan. ....