The VLW Blog

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine has appointed William J. Pantele, a three-term member of Richmond City Council, to the Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission.
Pantele served as president of council from 2006-2008 but lost last year in a three-way race for mayor won by Dwight C. Jones.
He was a partner in the law firm of Butler, Williams, Pantele [...]

[Read more →]

Del. Franklin P. Hall, D-Richmond, announced his retirement today after 34 years in the General Assembly, and Gov. Timothy M. Kaine promptly appointed him to the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission.
Hall, 70, served as House minority leader from 2002-2008, and is the senior member of the Rules, Joint House and Senate Rules and Counties, cities [...]

[Read more →]

One win, one loss this week for Tidewater area nightclubs struggling to stay open in the face of enforcement action.
In Virginia Beach, where the city took the Encore Lounge to court over a pattern of violence, Circuit Judge Patricia West today ordered the bar’s license suspended pending further ABC hearings.   As The Virginian-Pilot reports, it [...]

[Read more →]

Attorney General Robert F. McDonnell has noticed an appeal of a decision striking down two Virginia Alcohol advertising regulations.
U.S. Magistrate Judge M. Hannah Lauck in June ruled unconstitutional a regulation that barred the use of the term “Happy Hour” and similar advertising language and a regulation that prohibited all alcohol ads in college student publications.  [...]

[Read more →]

They take their cocktails seriously, those folks in Alexandria. And because the folks at the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control take the rules seriously, it look legislation from the 2008 General Assembly to make it legal for Northern Virginians (and the rest of us) to get such treats as sangria wine and frozen [...]

[Read more →]

When a liquor license is granted, the bar or restaurant agrees to let ABC agents come on the premises to inspect for violations.
But apparently something else was going on June 2, 2004, when a police narcotics task force in Manassas Park invaded the Rack ‘N’ Roll Billiard Club with over 50 officers.
According to the [...]

[Read more →]

It seemed like a good idea at the time.
After all, Ernestine Combs really needed a liquor license for her lounge, Uroma.
And Virginia Beach really wanted to keep Virginia Beach’s notorious “Block,” the area near 17th Street and Pacific Avenue, as orderly as possible.
So the city agreed not to object to the liquor license so long [...]

[Read more →]