Michigan Barber Who Flouted Whitmer’s Lockdown Can Remain Open, Judge Rules

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer listens to Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) in Clawson, Mich., on March 18, 2019. Paul Sancya/AP

A Michigan barbershop owner who had his license suspended after he cut hair during Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s “non-essential” business shutdown will not have to close shop, a judge ruled on May 21.

Shiawassee County Judge Matthew Stewart said Thursday that the state health department had failed to show that Karl Manke’s shop—Karl Manke Main Street, Barber & Beauty Shop—in Owosso, a small town between Lansing and Flint, “has the potential to spread COVID-19 around the state.”