'Ridiculous double standard': LA residents condemn maze of Covid restrictions

With restaurants forced to close while malls stay open, frustrations grow among business owners and other citizens

Jeffrey Merrihue had just finished installing $80,000 worth of dining booths on the street outside his informal Italian eatery blocks away from the Pacific Ocean when word came down that Los Angeles county was instituting a three-week ban on outdoor dining.

Not only was he not amused - he thought the decision was misguided and desperately unfair.