restaurants Archives - The Michigan Star

More Restaurants, Bars Stock Up on Fentanyl, Opioid Overdose Reversal Drug as Deaths Soar

August 16, 2023August 15, 2023 Michigan Star Staff

An increasing number of restaurants and bars across the country are keeping a stock of Naloxone, an antidote to fentanyl and opioid overdoses, according to The New York Times.

Local officials and nonprofit organizations are ramping up efforts to more bars and restaurants as overdoses become all too common in public spaces, according to the NYT. Between February 2022 and February 2023, there were more than 105,000 reported drug overdoses in the U.S., according to provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Expert Says Restaurants and Barber Shops Are the Real IRS Targets

August 18, 2022August 17, 2022 Michigan Star Staff

Grover Norquist, founder of Americans for Tax Reform, said on Fox News Tuesday that the expanded Internal Revenue Service wouldn’t just go after billionaires and large corporations.

“They are targeting people that they keep telling us they think are – restaurants and barber shops and so on,” Norquist told “America Reports” guest host Gillian Turner. “That’s their target, and we know this because every single Democrat in the Senate voted against, to defeat an amendment which said this law will not allow any increase in audits on people making less than $400,000 a year.”

Businesses Fail to Find Workers, and Experts Say Federal Policies Have Made It Worse

May 14, 2022May 13, 2022 The Center Square

A new labor market survey found that a majority of employers, particularly restaurants, still cannot find enough workers.

The new report from Alignable said that 83% of restaurants can’t find enough workers. Overall, the report found that “63% of all small business employers can’t find the help they need, after a year of an ongoing labor shortage.”

It’s Not Just Inflation: Consumers Are Paying More Through Shrinkflation

March 15, 2022March 15, 2022 The Center Square

inside of grocery store; close up of products in the aisle

Americans are seeing the real costs of inflation in their daily lives as they pay record high gas prices, significantly increased grocery costs, and suffer sticker shock at restaurants, hair salons and other places.

Restaurants are charging more, with some posting notices on their doors. Increased prices, they say, are necessary to stay open simply to cover their increased costs for cooking oil and other goods. Some restaurants post signs accompanying empty containers to show that while they’re not increasing prices, their portion sizes are smaller.

University Fires 100 Professors Due to COVID

January 18, 2022January 17, 2022 Michigan Star Staff

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues into its third year, William Paterson University is now laying off 100 full-time faculty over the next three years.

The university, located in Wayne, New Jersey, originally planned to let 150 professors go before union negotiations revised the number to 100, or 29% of the institution’s 340 faculty, reports Inside Higher Ed.

Thirteen tenured professors lost their job at the end of 2021, according to the outlet.

Vast Majority of Michigan Restaurants and Hotels Operating Without Full Staffs, Study Says

August 13, 2021August 12, 2021 Bradley Vasoli

According to the Michigan Restaurant and Lodging Association (MRLA), about nine out of 10 restaurants and hotels are operating with too few employees.

On June 22, state officials lifted COVID-related restrictions on restaurant capacity.

McDonald’s Will Require Workers and Customers to Wear Masks, Vaccinated or Not

August 4, 2021August 3, 2021 Michigan Star Staff

Fast food chain McDonald’s is requiring all its staff and customers, vaccinated and unvaccinated, to resume wearing masks in its restaurants in areas deemed high risk by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The company first announced its new rules in an internal memo to franchisees and workers, CNBC reported. The rules, which went into effect Monday, follow updated guidance last week from the CDC, which recommended fully-vaccinated Americans wear masks indoors to prevent the spread of the delta variant of coronavirus.

McDonald’s told the Daily Caller News Foundation the change in policy was due to the CDC’s updated guidance, and said the company was following the science in making its decision.

A Majority of Americans Support ‘Vaccine Passports’ for Some Activities, Poll Finds

May 9, 2021May 8, 2021 Michigan Star Staff

A majority of Americans support requiring proof of vaccinations when traveling on planes and attending events with large crowds, a Gallup poll released Friday shows.

The survey found that 57% of Americans supported requiring proof of vaccination on airplanes and that 55% supported requiring proof for events like concerts, shows and live sports. Just 43% and 45% of Americans said they were opposed, respectively.

Majorities of Americans, however, rejected “vaccine passports” for dining at restaurants, going to work and staying in a hotel. Just 40%, 45% and 44% of Americans supported requiring proof of vaccination for each activity.

Judge Denies Temporary Restraining Order in Michigan Restaurant’s Lawsuit Over Three-Week Dine-in Ban

November 22, 2020November 21, 2020 The Center Square

U.S. District Judge Paul Maloney on Friday denied a request for a temporary restraining order to block Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) Robert Gordon’s orders that is shuttering indoor dining service for three weeks.

State Backs Down on Requirement Restaurants Deny Entry to Customers Who Don’t Give Contact Tracing Info

November 8, 2020November 7, 2020 Michigan Star Staff

The state of Michigan eased a requirement that restaurants deny entry to customers who don’t give their contact information for contact tracing after a civil liberties group stepped in.

The new Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) FAQ page only recommends facilities deny entry to customers who refuse to provide contact information to the restaurant.

Another Restaurant Chain, Friendly’s, Hits Wall in Pandemic

November 3, 2020November 2, 2020 The Associated Press

Friendly’s Restaurants, the 85-year-old East Coast dining chain known for its Fribble milkshakes and ice cream sundaes, is filing for bankruptcy protection.

It joins a growing list of well-established restaurant chains that are failing due to an unchecked pandemic in the United States.

George Michel, CEO of FIC Restaurants Inc., Friendly’s parent company, said COVID-19 has had a “catastrophic impact” on operations. FIC will sell essentially all of its assets to the restaurant company Amici Partners Group.

State Requires Restaurants to Get Customer Contact Information for Dine-in Starting Monday

October 31, 2020October 30, 2020 The Center Square

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) is imposing more restrictions on indoor areas beginning Monday.

“The only way to beat COVID is to act on what we’ve learned since March,” MDHHS Director Robert Gordon said in a statement. “Wear masks. Keep six feet of distance. Wash hands. And avoid the indoor get-togethers where we have seen COVID explode.”

New York City Could Lose Half of All Bars, Restaurants

October 4, 2020October 3, 2020 Michigan Star Staff

The Daily Caller reports, New York City could see up to half its restaurants and bars close permanently in the next six months because of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new audit released Thursday from the New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli.

“New York City’s bars and restaurants are the lifeblood of our neighborhoods. The industry is challenging under the best of circumstances and many eateries operate on tight margins. Now they face an unprecedented upheaval that may cause many establishments to close forever,” DiNapoli said, according to an official statement.

New York City Says Outdoor Dining Will Become ‘Permanent and Year-Round’

September 27, 2020September 27, 2020 Michigan Star Staff

New York City plans to make its flourishing outdoor dining economy a permanent fixture of the city’s landscape going forward, municipal officials said in a press release on Friday.

The city’s “Open Restaurants” program, which has enrolled thousands of establishments since it debuted in June, “will be extended year-round and made permanent,” the city announced in the press release.

Michigan Restaurants Seek Help to Prevent 4,000 Closures

September 23, 2020September 22, 2020 Michigan Star Staff

The coming cold weather will hurt restaurants operating at reduced indoor capacity.

The Michigan Restaurant & Lodging Association (MRLA) estimates 4,000 restaurants, or 22% of those in the state, likely won’t survive past February.

No Credible Evidence to Support Nashville Mayor John Cooper’s July Shutdown of Bars and Reduction of Restaurant Capacity, Despite Bullying Tactics by His Administration

September 21, 2020September 20, 2020 Jason M. Reynolds

When Nashville Mayor John Cooper announced at a July 2 press conference that he was shutting down all the city’s bars for 14 days, reducing restaurant capacity from 75 percent to 50 percent, and temporarily closing event venues and entertainment venues, all due to “record” cases of COVID-19 traceable to restaurants and bars, he apparently knew that his own Metro Health Department said less than two dozen cases of COVID-19 could be traced to those establishments. But he failed to disclose that the “record” of bar and restaurant traceable cases to which he referred to was about one tenth of one percent of Davidson County’s 20,000 cases of COVID-19.