PPP loan aided state Senate president's business

A more than century-old scrap metal business owned by the Minnesota Senate president was among hundreds of thousands of businesses nationwide to get a boost from the Treasury Department's Payroll Protection Program.

Miller Scrap, co-owned by GOP state Sen. Jeremy Miller of Winona, got a $200,000 loan that helped the business through the worst of the pandemic downturn without laying off a single employee or cutting benefits, said Miller, the company's chief financial officer.

SportsHub Games Network, whose owners include Vikings owner Zygi Wilf, is listed in the Treasury data as receiving between $350,000 to $1 million.

A pair of companies with ties to Minnesota House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler were listed in the Treasury data as receiving loans. JobDig, a job-search website that employs Winkler, was listed as getting a $350,000 loan. Biothera, a biotech company where Winkler once worked and where he still retains what he called a small number of shares, was listed as receiving between $350,000 to $1 million. Winkler said he was unaware of either loan.

Miller said the loan program came at a time when his company's business had plunged more than 60%.

ASSOCIATED PRESS