The Mystique restaurant at the Encore Boston Harbor casino in Everett has closed at least through the end of the calendar year after an incident there on Dec. 6 caught the attention of the Mass. Gaming Commission's Investigations and Enforcement Bureau.

On Sunday, Dec. 6, the restaurant operated by Big Night Entertainment had more guests than usual due to an "industry night" for people who work in the hospitality industry, Interim Director of the IEB Loretta Lillios said.

The restaurant was not over capacity, but guests seated at the bar and those seated at a long, narrow high-top table near the bar ended up mingling and making COVID-19 safety restrictions unhelpful. Lillios said that the area "looked less like a typical dining sit-down restaurant setting and more like an informal gathering.

Up to 35% of retail alcoholic beverage licensees and 20% of state licensees may not renew in the new year due to the COVID-19 pandemic's "major economic toll" on bars and restaurants, according to Massachusetts Treasurer Deb Goldberg.

"The outlook for fiscal year 2022 is not strong," Goldberg told lawmakers Tuesday during a hearing on state revenue expectations for the next budget cycle.

While her assessment was limited to alcohol license holders, rather than the state's revenue picture at large, the treasurer's comments underscore troubles in an industry scrambling to survive. About 250,000 of the industry's 300,000 jobs evaporated when COVID-19 arrived here in March.

The Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission, which regulates about 9,000 licensees, will in early January know more about how many bars and restaurants opt not to renew licenses. But if industry non-renewal estimates hold up, Goldberg, who oversees the ABCC, said the state could see licensing revenues fall by $200,000 to $350,000.

Almost 31,000 Massachusetts residents applied for first-time unemployment benefits last week, down by almost 4,000 from the week prior, according to the latest federal data.

The data includes both traditional filings as well as those made by self-employed workers and so-called gig workers, under the federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program.

That comes among national unemployment numbers rising during the same period.

The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits last week was 885,000, the highest weekly total since September, as a resurgence of coronavirus cases threatens the economy's recovery from its springtime collapse.

A total of almost 600 members of the Professional Fire Fighters of Massachusetts were in quarantine as of Tuesday, according to an update the union posted to Twitter based on reports from 11,148 members.

"78 more firefighters have tested positive for COVID-19 over the past week and we are approaching 600 firefighters that are currently in quarantine," the union wrote Tuesday morning. "Stay vigilant."

The coronavirus that has killed more than 11,000 people in Massachusetts this year thrived as people gathered against state and medical recommendations for Thanksgiving, Gov. Charlie Baker said Tuesday as he urged people to take COVID-19 safety precautions more seriously during the December holiday season.

The Department of Public Health will issue new guidance later Tuesday to offer tips on how to safely celebrate Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa and New Year's in the midst of a global pandemic.

"It's pretty simple," Baker said of the new DPH guidance. "The safest way to celebrate this year is with members of your own household and to postpone or cancel any travel plans and to avoid gatherings with people you don't live with. Any type of celebration beyond that has real potential, as we saw with Thanksgiving, to spread the virus and hurt the ones we love the most."

More than 100 local teachers unions have taken a vote of no confidence in Elementary and Secondary Education Commissioner Jeffrey Riley over concerns about his leadership during the pandemic, union representatives told the state education board on Tuesday.

Haverhill Education Association President Anthony Parolisi, a civics teacher, read a declaration he said was signed by more than 50,000 members of the Massachusetts Teachers Association. He described the votes and declaration as a grassroots effort that originated from several union locals, not the MTA.

Parolisi said the signatories want to see Riley changes his practices, listen more to educators, and "stop trying to overrule local decisions and strong-arm them into reopening schools."

Low interest rates and the work from home shift are contributing to a continuing "frenzy" of home-buying in Massachusetts and sales activity and prices both set new records in November.

Sales rose nearly 25% last month and the median sale price of a single-family home increased 17.6% compared to last November, to $460,000, The Warren Group reported Tuesday morning.

After a pause when the COVID-19 crisis hit in March, the market roared back in the summer and the sales pace has held up through the fall as buyers, sellers and the industry have adjusted to conditions in the pandemic.

Sales in November exceeded sales in June, reversing the traditional pattern in which home-buying picks up in the spring and slows down in the fourth quarter, said Tim Warren, CEO of The Warren Group.