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Governor bans indoor service at downstate bars

MLive.com

ANN ARBOR, MI (MPRN)--   Governor Gretchen Whitmer is shutting down indoor bar service in Lower Michigan to slow the spread of coronavirus. 

For some bar owners it could be “last call.”

Scott Ellis is the executive director of the Michigan Licensed Beverage Association.  He says the governor’s order is “devastating,” and could force 50 percent of bars in Lower Michigan to close permanently.

“My phone is blowing up with members from all over state already and I guarantee they’re panicking. They can’t survive. I had one tell me last week here in Mason, Michigan, ‘If she shuts us down again, I’ll never reopen. I can’t do it.’”

The governor’s order exempts bars in the Upper Peninsula and northern Lower Michigan, as well as taverns where food sales make up more than 30 percent of receipts.

Steve Carmody has been a reporter for Michigan Radio since 2005. Steve previously worked at public radio and television stations in Florida, Oklahoma and Kentucky, and also has extensive experience in commercial broadcasting. During his two and a half decades in broadcasting, Steve has won numerous awards, including accolades from the Associated Press and Radio and Television News Directors Association. Away from the broadcast booth, Steve is an avid reader and movie fanatic. Q&A