Bad news has piled up in Muskegon County along Lake Michigan’s eastern shore in recent months, from canceled summer festivals and tour boat visits to layoffs at manufacturers such as Northern Machine Tool Co.
Steve Olsen, that company’s co-owner and president, said he has had to lay off the majority of his 33 employees since the start of the coronavirus pandemic that has driven the county’s unemployment rate to 29.3% from 3.8% before the crisis hit in March. He figures it will be at least a year until the family-owned business…