Alcoholic beverages

A hand holding out a plastic cup filled with beer and marked in a special zone. A downtown city scene is visible in the background.

‘I felt so naughty’: New open carry alcohol laws boost downtowns

BY: - November 6, 2023

This story originally appeared on Stateline. Holly Smith Mount wanted to be first. Smith Mount, chair of the city council in Huntington, West Virginia, was determined to see her community launch the state’s initial outdoor drinking zone — an idea made possible only after the legislature changed the state’s alcohol law earlier this year. “I […]

It’s hazing season on college campuses. State safeguards are uneven

BY: - September 27, 2023

Max Gruver spent the early morning hours of Sept. 14, 2017, heavily intoxicated and passed out on a couch inside the Phi Delta Theta chapter house at Louisiana State University. He had been forced to repeatedly chug 190-proof Diesel liquor in a hazing ritual called “Bible Study,” during which pledges are quizzed on fraternity facts. […]

Four glasses of beer at a bar, one being grasped. Three of the beer glasses are full; one is about a quarter full of beer.

States seek to let teens as young as 14 serve booze in restaurants

BY: - August 7, 2023

WASHINGTON — As a former bartender and current tipped worker, Trupti Patel knows that customers tend to get grabby when there is alcohol involved. After working in the food service industry for more than a decade, she is accustomed to dealing with drunk customers who get out of hand, especially if they become belligerent or […]