Benefit Checks Go Out Despite Storms

Gov Edwards said the $300 enhanced unemployment benefit checks should go out this week as scheduled, despite the two storms that have disrupted operations in the state. The payments are going out to about 400,000 people left unemployed during the coronavirus pandemic. Edwards says jobless workers will get the weekly payments retroactive to Aug. 1. He didn’t provide a specific day that people will start receiving the payments. But the governor says the labor department is working on changes to its computer systems to process them. The $300 supplement comes through an executive order issued by President Donald Trump. The money is in addition to state benefits that max out at $247 weekly.