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State needs to hurry up with restaurant aid The state ignored a Springfield strip clubâs history of violations to grant it state COVID-19 aid ahead of law-abiding businesses. What gives? By The Editorial BoardUpdated March 13, 2021, 4:00 a.m. Email to a Friend The Mardi Gras Gentlemen s Club in Springfield was awarded a $75,000 state COVID relief grant despite having had its license suspended for eight days by the ABCC when inspectors saw two unmasked dancers giving lap dances and no evidence of food being served.Erin Clark/Globe Staff Thereâs a whole lot of hurt out there these days, especially among restaurants and small businesses, and not nearly enough aid to ease the pain for the thousands of business owners and their employees who have spent the last year living on the edge. ....
These businesses violated Massachusetts COVID-19 rules. Then the state gave them $1.4 million By Matt Stout Globe Staff,Updated March 11, 2021, 8:51 a.m. Email to a Friend Inside a Springfield strip club raided a year earlier by the FBI, state inspectors found maskless strippers giving lap dances. Over in Gardner, a hotel was slapped with an estimated 420 people for a pair of August weddings. A Weymouth bar owner, confronted by licensing officials about various COVID-19 violations, retorted that âno government is going to tell me how to run my business.â Since the summer, these and other businessesâ violations of Governor Charlie Bakerâs coronavirus orders were so egregious, regulators said, they temporarily lost their liquor licenses. But the Baker administration also determined they deserved something else: coveted COVID relief grants, even as thousands of other businesses have yet to see their applications fulfilled. ....