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Tag: liquor store

  • Australia liquor store gets surprise guest as iconic animal walks in. See moment

    An iconic Australian animal took a stroll through a liquor store, much to the shock of the staff and customers.

    An iconic Australian animal took a stroll through a liquor store, much to the shock of the staff and customers.

    Street View Image from Oct. 2024 © 2025 Google

    The staff and patrons of a liquor store attached to The Queenscliffe Family Hotel on Kangaroo Island in Australia were in for a shock when a furry customer made its way through the front door.

    A koala wandered in from the street on Oct. 7, making its way deep into the store and showing no urgency to escape, according to a video posted on Facebook by the hotel.

    “Different sort of customer visited today. As you can see everyone’s welcome at The Queenscliffe Family Hotel Kangaroo Island,” according to the post.

    In additional videos shared in the comments, the koala is seen walking slowly around the store, stopping to investigate corners or items on koala eye-level.

    “It’s not unusual to see koalas wandering sort of around the streets in Kingscote,” assistant manager Nicole Arthur told 9News. “He just wandered down the road and then just walked into the front of the bottle shop that’s attached to the pub.”

    The staff speculated the koala may be trying to get out of the sun as summer begins in Australia, and they offered the animal water while calling both a wildlife rescue group and a veterinarian to check on the koala, according to 9News and comments made on the post.

    The koala was inside the store for about 10 minutes, pausing for an extended period of time by the fridges, Arthur told 9News.

    The wildlife group checked on the koala, but seeing no signs of distress, left it to its own devices, according to the outlet.

    “We just monitored him, made sure they weren’t harassing him,” Arthur told the outlet. “And then he wandered back out.”

    Commenters joked that the koala may have been “looking for some gin to mix with his gum leaves,” while another wondered, “Did he bring his ID with him?”

    The koala was entirely gray with a slightly lighter back end and some nearly white spots on its rump, the video showed.

    Koalas are most commonly found along the eastern coast of Australia where eucalyptus forests provide both habitat and food, according to WWF Australia.

    The iconic species is listed as endangered in Queensland, New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, the organization said.

    The video was taken on Kangaroo Island, a large island off the city of Adelaide on Australia’s southern coast.

    Irene Wright

    McClatchy DC

    Irene Wright is a McClatchy Real-Time reporter. She earned a B.A. in ecology and an M.A. in health and medical journalism from the University of Georgia and is now based in Atlanta. Irene previously worked as a business reporter at The Dallas Morning News.

    Irene Wright

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  • Australia liquor store gets surprise guest as iconic animal walks in. See moment

    An iconic Australian animal took a stroll through a liquor store, much to the shock of the staff and customers.

    An iconic Australian animal took a stroll through a liquor store, much to the shock of the staff and customers.

    Street View Image from Oct. 2024 © 2025 Google

    The staff and patrons of a liquor store attached to The Queenscliffe Family Hotel on Kangaroo Island in Australia were in for a shock when a furry customer made its way through the front door.

    A koala wandered in from the street on Oct. 7, making its way deep into the store and showing no urgency to escape, according to a video posted on Facebook by the hotel.

    “Different sort of customer visited today. As you can see everyone’s welcome at The Queenscliffe Family Hotel Kangaroo Island,” according to the post.

    In additional videos shared in the comments, the koala is seen walking slowly around the store, stopping to investigate corners or items on koala eye-level.

    “It’s not unusual to see koalas wandering sort of around the streets in Kingscote,” assistant manager Nicole Arthur told 9News. “He just wandered down the road and then just walked into the front of the bottle shop that’s attached to the pub.”

    The staff speculated the koala may be trying to get out of the sun as summer begins in Australia, and they offered the animal water while calling both a wildlife rescue group and a veterinarian to check on the koala, according to 9News and comments made on the post.

    The koala was inside the store for about 10 minutes, pausing for an extended period of time by the fridges, Arthur told 9News.

    The wildlife group checked on the koala, but seeing no signs of distress, left it to its own devices, according to the outlet.

    “We just monitored him, made sure they weren’t harassing him,” Arthur told the outlet. “And then he wandered back out.”

    Commenters joked that the koala may have been “looking for some gin to mix with his gum leaves,” while another wondered, “Did he bring his ID with him?”

    The koala was entirely gray with a slightly lighter back end and some nearly white spots on its rump, the video showed.

    Koalas are most commonly found along the eastern coast of Australia where eucalyptus forests provide both habitat and food, according to WWF Australia.

    The iconic species is listed as endangered in Queensland, New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, the organization said.

    The video was taken on Kangaroo Island, a large island off the city of Adelaide on Australia’s southern coast.

    Irene Wright

    McClatchy DC

    Irene Wright is a McClatchy Real-Time reporter. She earned a B.A. in ecology and an M.A. in health and medical journalism from the University of Georgia and is now based in Atlanta. Irene previously worked as a business reporter at The Dallas Morning News.

    Irene Wright

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  • Packies urge Healey to tighten wine shipment rules

    Packies urge Healey to tighten wine shipment rules

    BOSTON — Package store owners are urging Gov. Maura Healey to close a “loophole” in a 2015 law authorizing direct shipments of wine, which critics say is allowing “ghost” retailers to engage in “modern-day bootlegging.”

    In a letter to Healey, Massachusetts Package Store Association Executive Director Rob Mellion called on her to sign into a law a bill that limits licenses for direct wine shipments only to companies that sell under a brand name owned or exclusively licensed to the winery.

    The measure was approved by the state Legislature last week before lawmakers recessed after formal sessions ended.

    Third-party retailers are engaging in “modern day bootlegging” by exploiting a loophole in the law that allows them to get licenses to ship directly to consumers, Mellion said.

    “They operate outside of the regulatory framework by means of an unintended loophole that has inadvertently allowed for a technical mechanism to obtain a license when they masquerade as a winery,” he wrote. “This misrepresentation is costing Massachusetts millions of dollars annually in unreported sales and lost excise taxes. It also substantially increases the risk of underage access to alcohol beverages.”

    Mellion cited data from the state Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission showing compliance checks conducted in 2022 by state regulators found 96% of out-of-state shippers of alcohol beverages didn’t verify the age of consumers buying the booze.

    In 2014, Massachusetts joined 40 other states in legalizing winery direct-to-consumer shipping after then-Gov. Deval Patrick signed a budget package that included language legalizing direct shipping in the state. The law went into effect on Jan. 1, 2015.

    That law was prompted in part by a 2008 federal court ruling that struck down a previous limit on direct-to-consumer sales. Out-of-state wineries — led by former Patriot quarterback star Drew Bledsoe, who owns a vineyard in Washington — argued that the restriction gave wine-sellers in Massachusetts an unfair competitive advantage.

    Out-of-state wineries and alcohol distributors are required to get permits for $300, allowing them to ship up to 12 cases a year to each customer in Massachusetts. They must label packages as containing alcohol and indicate that they must be delivered to someone of legal drinking age. Massachusetts taxes must be applied to the sale, as well.

    But Mellion said the new law would ensure that wine shipments to Massachusetts residents would come direct from the licensed winery. He said retailers have lobbied to defeat the measure.

    “It has been very hard to stop these large and extremely well-financed corporate interests who use their influence to undermine three-tier regulations,” he wrote. “That is why it has taken three consecutive legislative sessions to stop the bootlegging.”

    Christian M. Wade covers the Massachusetts Statehouse for North of Boston Media Group’s newspapers and websites. Email him at cwade@cnhinews.com

    By Christian M. Wade | Statehouse Reporter

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  • Prince George’s Co. passed new restrictions on cannabis dispensaries — but how long will it last? – WTOP News

    Prince George’s Co. passed new restrictions on cannabis dispensaries — but how long will it last? – WTOP News

    The Prince George’s County Council passed new restrictions aimed at limiting where cannabis dispensaries can operate. But one state lawmakers from a neighboring jurisdiction is ripping the new ordinance, and the council that passed it. And the county law might not stand for very long anyway.

    The Prince George’s County Council passed new restrictions aimed at limiting where cannabis dispensaries can operate. But one state lawmaker from a neighboring jurisdiction is unhappy with the new ordinance and the council that passed it. The county law might not stand for very long anyway.

    The bill that passed in Largo this week is somewhat of a middle ground between a faction that sees the economic intent of the legalization of cannabis — empowering minority business owners who stand to get rich off the licenses to sell those products — and one that is wary of dispensaries and wanted to banish them to industrial areas in the county. In the end, the council didn’t go that far.

    Technically, dispensaries can be permitted in industrial and commercial areas, though restrictions, including one that prohibits dispensaries within 2,000 feet of a liquor store, add hurdles to a n already difficult process.

    As it is, many commercial shopping centers won’t lease to dispensaries because their financing prohibits them, since at the federal level, this is still considered an illegal drug. But ahead of the vote earlier this week, Eddie Pounds, an Annapolis-based lobbyist who represents a handful of cannabis licensees, explained some of the additional difficulties his clients have been dealing with in the county.

    “It’s a local cannabis dispensary operator that has been looking for a site to locate its dispensary in Prince George’s County for more than two years now. In fact, they’ve looked at over 200 sites and have struck out each time for various reasons, primarily due to zoning restrictions,” said Pounds at a council meeting on Tuesday, who nevertheless applauded the approval of the new law after seeing previous proposals.

    However, he said several other, newer license holders, all of them minorities, will soon face the same struggle.

    That has Charles County Delegate and House Economic Matters Committee Chair C.T. Wilson emboldened that his proposed legislation could fix this.

    Wilson shepherded a bill through Annapolis that would override local control of cannabis zoning if the governor signs it into law.

    “These are multimillion-dollar minority businesses. They’re going to be coming into the county and not only attracting decent paying jobs, but also a tax base,” Wilson said. “And to have the county that’s going to be one of the most benefiting counties, when it comes to the taxes and the money coming back to the community, be the one pushing back is a problem.”

    Wilson also noted legalized cannabis passed overwhelmingly in Prince George’s County. But concern about the number of smoke shops and liquor stores already operating in the county had some members of the council wary about the impact dispensaries would have on their neighborhoods. Wilson blames the council for that.

    “The locals messed up on these liquor store placements. The local elected officials messed up on all the smoke shops, and now they’re trying to punish these minority business owners, these Black business owners, by saying you have to be that far (2,000 feet) from a liquor store,” Wilson told WTOP.

    “There’s nowhere in Prince George’s County that’s that far from a liquor store and still not in a residential area. So they have basically done what I was worried that some of the white-majority counties were going to do and zone it out of their entire county. It’s intellectually dishonest,” he added.

    Throughout the legislative process at the county level, the council referred to the state bill Wilson was pushing and acknowledged what they were doing might end up being fruitless. And it will be if the governor signs it into law.

    A statement from Gov. Wes Moore’s office said a decision about the statewide zoning ordinance for cannabis dispensaries has not been made yet, and that Moore was still reviewing things. But Wilson is optimistic his bill, which passed in the state House and Senate with overwhelming support, will become law.

    “We’re creating Black millionaires who are going to try and create Black jobs,” Wilson said.

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    John Domen

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