U.S. Small Business Administration
Ahmande Grimes, owner of Spartan Financial, a financial services broker, poses for a portrait Monday, May 24, 2021, in Nashville, Tenn. When Grimes applied for a relief loan through his two traditional banks during COVID-19, the process seemed as complicated as applying for a mortgage. When he turned to an online lender, his application was quickly accepted and sent to the SBA. As a result, Grimes is considering a complete move to online banking, not just for borrowing. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)
Saved by online lenders, businesses say they'll borrow again

By Joyce M. Rosenberg May. 25, 2021 12:12 PM EDT

FILE - In this Sept. 2, 2020 file photo, a passer-by walks past a business storefront with a space for rent sign in a window in Boston. Business applications were the highest on record in 2020, up 24% from the previous year. You may be considering joining that trend if you don’t want to return to an office or were laid off during the pandemic. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)
Millennial Money: Should you become your own boss?

By Amrita Jayakumar Of Nerdwallet May. 18, 2021 06:52 AM EDT

FILE - In this March 30, 2021 file photo, President Joe Biden speaks after signing the PPP Extension Act of 2021, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington. The government's key COVID-19 relief program for small businesses has run out of money. The Small Business Administration said Wednesday, May 5, that the Paycheck Protection Program has been exhausted. As of Sunday, the PPP had given out nearly 10.8 million loans worth more than $780 billion since April of last year. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
Small business COVID-19 relief program runs out of money

By Joyce M. Rosenberg May. 05, 2021 01:08 PM EDT

FILE - In this Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2021, file photo, Isabella Casillas Guzman attends a Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship hearing to consider her nomination to be Administrator of the Small Business Administration on Capitol Hill, in Washington. The new head of the Small Business Administration expects to make changes at the agency that she says will enable it to further help small companies devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic. (Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post via AP, Pool, File)
New SBA head plans changes at agency; focus now is COVID-19

By Joyce M. Rosenberg Mar. 22, 2021 03:01 AM EDT

An inner perimeter anti-scaling fence is around the U.S. Capitol, Tuesday, March 16, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Senate confirms Isabel Guzman to lead small biz agency

By Kevin Freking Mar. 16, 2021 03:46 PM EDT

FILE - In this Jan. 6, 2021, file photo, diners sit at the Carver Hangar, a family-owned restaurant and sports bar in Boring, Ore. Restaurants devastated by the coronavirus outbreak are getting a lifeline from the pandemic relief package awaiting final approval in the House. (AP Photo/Gillian Flaccus, File)
Restaurants are big beneficiaries of COVID-19 relief bill

By Joyce M. Rosenberg Mar. 10, 2021 12:01 AM EST

Victor Flores, 66, a third-generation owner of a gift shop, sweeps the steps of his store on Olvera Street in downtown Los Angeles, Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2020. Millions of business owners are about to get additional help as they weather the coronavirus outbreak. The Small Business Administration and the Treasury Department are reviving the Paycheck Protection Program five months after its first two rounds of funding ended. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, file)
More coronavirus relief on the way for small businesses

By Joyce M. Rosenberg Jan. 08, 2021 03:01 AM EST

FILE - In this June 5, 2020 file photo, President Donald Trump poses for a photo after signing the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act during a news conference in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington. Thousands of minority-owned small businesses were at the end of the line in the government’s coronavirus relief program as many struggled to find banks to accept their applications. Or, they were disadvantaged by the program's terms. Data from the Paycheck Protection Program analyzed by The Associated Press show many minority owners desperate for a loan didn’t receive one until the PPP's last weeks. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
Minority-owned companies waited months for loans, data shows

By Joyce M. Rosenberg And Justin Myers Jan. 03, 2021 09:00 AM EST

FILE - In this Dec. 13, 2012 file photo, Thomas Stith, transition team executive director for then Gov.-elect Pat McCrory, speaks during McCrory's first news conference since the week he was elected North Carolina's next chief executive in Raleigh, N.C. Stith, the head of the U.S. Small Business Administration in North Carolina, was hired Monday, Dec. 14, 2020, to lead the state's community college system. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome, File)
Stith named to lead North Carolina community college system

By Gary D. Robertson Dec. 14, 2020 12:04 PM EST

Pedestrians walk along the downtown mall area in the Old Town Wednesday Oct. 7, 2020, in Winchester, Va. The viral pandemic has hammered small businesses across the United States, an alarming trend for an economy that’s trying to rebound from the deepest, fastest recession in U.S. history. Small companies are struggling in Winchester, a city of 28,000 that works hard to promote and preserve local enterprises. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
A small Virginia city struggles to save its local businesses

By Paul Wiseman Oct. 15, 2020 12:01 AM EDT

Morningside Church's property, home to televangelist Jim Bakker, is seen Monday, Aug. 17, 2020, in Blue Eye, Mo. Bakker, wife Lori and daughter Maricela Bakker Woodall, who serves as chief operating officer of Morningside Church, appealed for donations during a segment of “The Jim Bakker Show” which aired April 2020. They referenced financial difficulties, and Bakker singled out “enemies” who were behind their problems.
Jim Bakker gets PPP loans during legal fight on fraud claims

By Sally Stapleton Aug. 24, 2020 12:35 PM EDT

FILE - In this Sept. 30, 2019 file photo, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, archbishop of New York, speaks during a news conference in New York. Dolan established a victim compensation fund in 2016, as a successful battle to lift the statute of limitations on the filing of child sexual abuse lawsuits gathered steam. In 2020, the Archdiocese of New York received 15 loans worth at least $28 million just for its top executive offices. Its iconic St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Fifth Avenue was approved for at least $1 million. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)
AP: Catholic Church lobbied for taxpayer funds, got $1.4B

By Reese Dunklin And Michael Rezendes Jul. 10, 2020 02:08 AM EDT

Some legislative leaders benefited from pandemic loans

By David Sharp Jul. 06, 2020 03:51 PM EDT
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — A federal program criticized by Democratic House Speaker Sara Gideon for helping special interests provided a forgivable loan of between...

FILE - In this June 25, 2020 file photo, a price sign is displayed at a retail store as a store employee wears a mask while working in Niles, Ill. Small businesses can still get help from the government’s coronavirus relief plan after Congress extended the Paycheck Protection Program until Aug. 8. The program that had been set to expire last week still has more than $130 billion left after giving out more than 4.8 million loans since its April 3 start. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)
Q&A: The nuts and bolts of the Paycheck Protection Program

By Joyce M. Rosenberg Jul. 06, 2020 12:08 PM EDT

PawSox, strip club among recipients of coronavirus loans

By Philip Marcelo Jul. 06, 2020 09:27 AM EDT
The minor league affiliate for MLB’s Boston Red Sox and an infamous Providence strip club are among nearly 2,500 companies in Rhode Island that were awarded...

FILE - In this June 8, 2020 file photo, Danice clothing store manager Alexander Nee checks invoices as the Bronx business reopens, in New York. Restaurants, retailers and salons are desperately trying to stay afloat as the U.S. economy reopens in fits and starts after months in a coronavirus lockdown. But billions of dollars allocated by Congress as a lifeline to those very businesses are about to be left on the table when the government's Paycheck Protection Program stops accepting applications for loans Tuesday, June 29. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)
Billions of dollars in aid for small businesses go unclaimed

By Joyce M. Rosenberg Jun. 29, 2020 03:12 PM EDT

FILE - In this April 21, 2020, file photo Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin speaks about the coronavirus in the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington. The Trump administration has abruptly dropped on Friday, June 19, its insistence on secrecy for a $600 billion-plus coronavirus aid program for small businesses. Mnuchin refused to do so at a Senate hearing last week, saying the data was “proprietary information.” (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
Trump administration to give Congress full virus loan data

By Marcy Gordon Jun. 26, 2020 04:35 PM EDT

FILE - In this April 21, 2020, file photo Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin speaks about the coronavirus in the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington. The Trump administration has abruptly dropped on Friday, June 19, its insistence on secrecy for a $600 billion-plus coronavirus aid program for small businesses. Mnuchin refused to do so at a Senate hearing last week, saying the data was “proprietary information.” (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
Watchdogs: Treasury too secretive on small business loans

By Anne D'innocenzio Jun. 21, 2020 11:49 AM EDT

FILE - In this April 21, 2020, file photo Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin speaks about the coronavirus in the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington. The Trump administration has abruptly dropped on Friday, June 19, its insistence on secrecy for a $600 billion-plus coronavirus aid program for small businesses. Mnuchin refused to do so at a Senate hearing last week, saying the data was “proprietary information.” (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
Administration drops secrecy posture on small business aid

By Marcy Gordon Jun. 19, 2020 06:46 PM EDT

Civil rights groups challenge loan rules on criminal records

By Michael Kunzelman Jun. 16, 2020 04:09 PM EDT
SILVER SPRING, Md. (AP) — The Trump administration says a recent rule change allows small business owners convicted of felonies to apply for government loans...