MILWAUKEE (AP) — In mid-July, Rodney Ferguson, CEO and general manager of Potawatomi Hotel & Casino, was faced with the unenviable task of informing 1,600 employees that he didn't have work for them anymore.

"It was extremely difficult because it's a family here," Ferguson said. "It hits close to heart and close to home because many of them have been here since the opening."

The casino is the business hardest hit by the fallout from COVID-19 in the Menomonee River industrial valley. A few firms, such as Palermo's Pizza, have actually added employees, though others, such as the Harley-Davidson...