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A year ago, Brownsville master barber Herman James was embarking on an experiment that would change his life. Barbershops had been closed since March 20 as the city went into pandemic lockdown, including the one James worked at on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. So, in mid-May, the barber decided to head to Central Park, lay out his tools, offer free cuts, and see what might happen. The people started coming. “Every single person was extremely grateful at first,” he laughed. “All the barbershops were closed in March, I didn’t start until May, and the barbershops still didn’t open until two...

KINGSTON, N.Y. — Citing his “untrustworthiness and incompetence,” a New York administrative law judge has revoked the license of a Kingston barber who cut hair last year in violation of the state's COVID 19 restrictions and then tested positive for the illness. The 25-page ruling, issued May 24 by Judge Aiesha L. Hudson, says Joseph LaLima can no longer operate LaLima’s Barber Shop at 678 Broadway in Midtown Kingston or cut hair anywhere in New York state. The ruling says LaLima’s privileges were revoked for “practicing barbering while having an infectious or communicable disease” and for “failing to comply with Governor Andrew...

An ex-employee of a Riverside barbershop stabbed two former co-workers before being shot to death by one of his victims on Friday evening, May 21, the Riverside Police Department said. The victims suffered injuries that were not considered life-threatening, Officer Ryan Railsback, a department spokesman, said Saturday. “Our barbers are okay and safe, just healing today,” read a sign posted Saturday on the front of Carlos Barber Shop at 3470 La Sierra Ave. The Riverside County Coroner’s Office and Railsback identified the assailant as Joseph Anthony Jimenez, 33, of Riverside. Railsback said Saturday that Jimenez is a former barbershop employee....

A barber the Kansas City Chiefs brought in to get players fresh for Super Bowl week tested positive for COVID-19 on Sunday, jeopardizing the statuses of wide receiver Demarcus Robinson and center Daniel Kilgore’s for the big game.   The barber went through strict testing protocols. He tested negative for five consecutive days before he was allowed to enter the facility, but his Sunday morning rapid test result was “delayed briefly because of a line of friends and family also getting tested.” So the barber was allowed to enter Kansas City’s facility to cut hair before the test result came...

  A barber in Vacaville, California who defied a state order to close up shop to help slow the spread of the coronavirus, is now fighting for his business and may lose his license for his defiance. Juan Desmarais, owner of Primo's Barbershop, reopened despite the shutdown order at the beginning of May. Him and his team were very transparent and never hid their decision to keep working. Many Barber shop owners across the world, were stuck between a rock and a hard place. Do you cooperate with the state order or do you continue to keep your doors open to...