HUDSON, Wis. (AP) - Increasingly large weekend crowds and a fatal stabbing in the Wisconsin border city of Hudson has led to new restrictions for bars and restaurants.
Authorities have tied the influx of visitors to Minnesota’s ban on indoor restaurant and bar service because of the coronavirus pandemic. Wisconsin has no such restriction.
The Hudson Common Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to impose a 10 p.m. curfew for bars and restaurants on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
Any violation of the ordinance could result in the suspension or revocation of the business’s alcohol license.
“The past three weekends have been busier and busier since the Minnesota lockdown went on,” Police Chief Geoff Willems told the council and Mayor Rich O’Connor, who initially proposed a curfew on every night of the week. Willems said his officers are overwhelmed by increases in reported robberies, assaults and EMS responses to “unconscious people lying in the street,” the Star Tribune reported.
The ordinance applies to all establishments that sell liquor for on-site consumption and will be in effect beginning Dec. 11 through Jan. 3, 2021.
Early Sunday morning, a 26-year-old man, later identified as Cain Solheim from New Brighton, was killed and two others were injured in a stabbing outside a bar in downtown Hudson.
Police say two people have been arrested in connection to the stabbing.
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