Judge rules NC bars to remain closed as shutdown tops 100 days

A North Carolina judge ruled Friday the state’s private bars will remain closed. Judge James Gale denied the North Carolina Bar & Tavern Association’s request for a temporary or preliminary relief against Gov. Roy Cooper’s Executive Order 141.  That order has kept private bars and clubs shuttered, despite allowing all other types of ABC mixed beverage permit holders to reopen as part of North Carolina’s multiphase reopening.  Nearly 200 bars joined the lawsuit against  Cooper in an…