* Star Courier on November 25th…

The food permits of several Henry County restaurants have been suspended, the Henry County Health Department confirmed Tuesday. The suspensions were handed down after several area restaurant and bar owners defied the governor’s most recent mitigation measures and continued to serve patrons indoors. […]

As of Tuesday, the Broken Chimney remained closed, but at noontime, Cerno’s Bar and Grill continued to serve food without a food permit, even as the attorney for the restaurant’s owners, Thomas DeVore, appeared in Henry County Court at a preliminary hearing.

On Monday, a complaint for a preliminary injunction was filed against the restaurant owners and a motion for a restraining order barring the restaurant from opening. The hearing was scheduled for Tuesday at 11:30 a.m.

On Tuesday afternoon, the bar and grill owners announced the restaurant’s closing on their Facebook page.

“Today our lawyer went to court for us and battled for our doors to stay open, unfortunately the judge did not rule in our favor. That ruling unfortunately means a temporarily full shut down. The health department is working to decipher the rules on reestablishing our food license,” the post read.

* December 3rd on this here blog…

A lawsuit filed by a Thayer bar against the Sangamon County Department of Public Health on November 25th was thrown out Wednesday afternoon. Represented by Attorney Thomas DeVore, Brewzrz Pub claimed that the Public Health Department violated Illinois law by suspending its food license on November 19, 2020 as a result of the bar’s failure to comply with Sangamon County’s Covid-19 mitigation restrictions prohibiting indoor dining and bar service.

* FOX 2 St. Louis on December 8th…

Seven restaurants in St. Clair County have faced recent aggressive actions from the local health department and more actions are coming soon. It’s a new approach to shutting down indoor dining.

Restaurants defying indoor dining orders did not think Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s order was enforceable. Then the St. Clair County Health Department started stripping businesses of their food licenses.

Why on Earth would they think the order was unenforceable? You guessed it…

“You have a very small segment of county health departments, and it’s 6 or 7 out of the 102 at this point, St. Clair County being one of them, that’s saying, ‘Well, we’re not closing or making your business off limits to the public, we’re just gonna suspend your food license,’” said attorney Tom DeVore. […]

“The suggestion is they can still use their bar or restaurant to teach typewriter maintenance I guess, but you’re not closed and off limits to the public to where we have to follow the law,” he said. “‘We’re just telling you, you don’t have a food license.’ It’s a big work around.”

*** UPDATE *** Gee, I wonder where he got this false information?…

The Champaign-Urbana Public Health District removed the food permit of Apple Dumplin’, 2014 N. High Cross Road, for continuing to serve indoors, but the restaurant continued to operate without the permit, according to health district Administrator Julie Pryde. […]

Earlier Wednesday, Flanigan contended it’s not illegal to serve indoors, and that he believes Gov. J.B. Pritzker would have had to turn to the state Legislature to pass a law banning indoor restaurant and bar service beyond 30 days of the original order back in March.

He said the health district told him last Thursday that his food permit would be removed, but he passed his health inspection without issues Nov. 24.

“To me, it doesn’t matter,” he said about his food permit being removed. “Even if they did, they did it wrongly.”

Selling snake oil to people to ease their headaches is one thing. Marketing it as a cure for desperate people with terminal cancer is quite another. The ARDC, the Supreme Court, the IBA or somebody needs to step in here. Now.