Bistro Owner Who Defied ‘Tyrannical Government’ Freed From Jail

DETROIT, MI — Marlena Pavlos-Hackney, the west Michigan bistro and pizzeria owner who practically dared authorities to arrest her for keeping her business open after losing her food license over state coronavirus restrictions, has been freed from jail.

A judge in Ingham County, where Pavlos-Hackney had been held since Friday, ordered her released after she paid a $15,000 fine and agreed to close her Holland, Michigan, restaurant, Marlena’s Bistro & Pizzeria, the Grand Rapids Press reported.

The restaurateur had vowed to keep her restaurant open, telling the Grand Rapids Press when the warrant was issued that “if they want to arrest me, they can arrest me.” She had claimed in interviews with conservative talk show hosts that she had been targeted by “tyrannical government.”

Pavlos-Hackney could be locked up again if she reopens her restaurant in violation of state orders. » Read the full story on MLive.com

Michigan Opera Theatre’s Latest Big Get

Christine Goerke, one of the world’s most sought-after dramatic sopranos, has joined the Michigan Opera Theatre as its associate artistic director. She will be second in command to artistic director Yuval Sharon, whose hiring “shocked the classical music world last summer,” according to a report in the Detroit Free Press.

Goerke will perform at least once each season, take the lead in casting and will “complement Sharon’s experimental streak with a sensibility forged within the core of operatic tradition,” the report said. » Read the full story on the Detroit Free Press

Metro Detroit Headlines

• Clinton Twp. Police Chief Dies: Longtime Clinton Township Police Chief Fred Posavetz, 64, has lost his battle with COVID-19, via Clinton Township Patch.
• 400 Macomb County Students Quarantined: Shelby Township’s Eisenhower High School is sending students home to learn after more than 400 students were quarantined because contact tracing found they had been in contact with 40 students who tested positive for the COVID-19 virus, via MLive.com.
• Grocer Must Pay $95K In Back Overtime: The owner of the Carnival Market grocery store in Pontiac was ordered to pay $95,618 in overtime pay after a federal investigation showed cashiers, bakers and dishwashers weren’t properly paid, via WXYZ.
• How Mother Waddles Helped Detroit: The grandson of the Rev. Charleszetta Waddles wants the city to honor her for a life dedicated to helping some of Detroit’s poorest citizens, via WDIV.

“You would think she’s the only person in the city who has renovated a house. We’ve had 8,000 people renovate abandoned houses in this city in the last eight years. … In this case, though, and I feel bad for Nicole, it appears she was scammed.”

— Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, addressing HGTV star Nicole Curtis’ lawsuit against the Detroit Land Bank Authority, via The Detroit News

SPORTS TALK: If the Red Wings are in the NHL Lottery — and it looks as if they will be, Ted Kulfan wrote for The Detroit News — they face lower odds of landing the No. 1 pick overall. That’s because new NHL draft rules reduce from three to two the number of top draft spots that will be determined by lottery.

WEATHER IN A WORD: Humid.

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