Free Republic

A former Minnesota bar owner who now commutes two hours a day to sling suds in neighboring Wisconsin said Gov. Tim Walz’s restrictive pandemic-era lockdowns in the state “decimated” local businesses — and caused financial ruin for those who stood up for their livelihoods. “I think he’s an evil man who overstepped his role as the governor. He took small businesses and ripped them up. He destroyed us,” Lisa Zarza. ... She said when shelter-in-place and business closures first went into effect in March, 2020, “I did everything I was supposed to do. I wore my mask, I social distanced....

Owner Bruce Hill says slinging pizza in an oversized downtown San Francisco space isn’t working anymoreIt’s the end of a leopard-spotted pizza era in San Francisco. Zero Zero, chef and owner Bruce Hill’s SoMa Neapolitan-style pizzeria, will serve its final pies on Saturday, November 12. Hill says the decision has been a long time coming, noting that coming out of the pandemic has been “just too tough” for the restaurant. There are a number of reasons behind the decision, but in a nutshell, Zero Zero’s large, bi-level downtown space has become untenable in a post-COVID landscape. “I would definitely categorize...

If “Saturday Night Live” can perform to a live audience, why can’t theaters? That’s one of the arguments in a lawsuit filed by a coalition of eight Off-Broadway theaters and comedy clubs against New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio. The city’s live venues have been officially closed since March, and have not been allowed to reopen. The lead plaintiffs in the lawsuit, filed in the Federal District Court in Manhattan, are Catherine Russell, the general manager of the Theater Center in Times Square, and Michael Sgouros of Greenwich Village’s the Players Theatre. Other...