Topic
12 stories. All topics ·Search within this topic
Retailers must hold a Virginia ABC tobacco permit to sell cigarettes, vapes and nicotine products starting Oct. 1. Applications take 20 to 30 days, and comment on the rules governing the program does not close until Oct. 24.
VHN Staff · · Statewide
The country's largest wine and spirits distributor entered a 24-month non-prosecution agreement covering improper payments, gift cards, trips and false invoicing. The conduct described is centered in California, and federal documents do not identify Virginia.
VHN Staff · · Statewide
The Commonwealth is paying more to inspect a Northern Virginia restaurant than three out of four Washington-area restaurants pay the manager running it. The General Assembly funded 17 new special agents this year, and the reason is the permit that takes effect October 1.
VHN Staff · · Northern Virginia
Virginia ABC's FY2026 final Board orders record 589 disciplinary matters, $1,143,700 in civil penalties and 12 revocations. Selling to someone under 21 accounted for more than half the caseload and roughly two thirds of the money.
VHN Staff · · Statewide
Since July 1 the expanded polystyrene ban reaches every food vendor, not just 20-location chains. Styrofoam is a DuPont trademark for building insulation and has never been used for a food container, so a supplier can truthfully say that a banned cup is not Styrofoam.
VHN Staff · · Statewide
Since July 2025 every supplier advertising a price must show a total including mandatory fees. Restaurants and hotels get a safe harbor: disclose the percentage of any automatic gratuity. The federal junk fee rule covers hotels too, and does not cover restaurants at all.
VHN Staff · · Statewide
Congress passed a one-month delay on September 1 and sent it to the President. The federal limit is 0.4mg of total THC per container. Virginia's cap, in force since August 15, is 2mg per package.
VHN Staff · · Statewide
A downtown music venue lost its license for 30 days. The shows moved into a warehouse and two houses. The fire department closed all three, because none of them was legally allowed to hold a crowd.
VHN Staff · · Shenandoah Valley
Not the interesting numbers. The ones that decide whether you keep your license. Each one is a threshold somebody crosses without noticing.
VHN Staff · · Statewide
The 25-to-1 ratio allowance is gone, replaced by a hard two-milligram total THC cap per package as of August 15. Regulation moved from VDACS to the Cannabis Control Authority, which now has cease-and-desist power.
VHN Staff · · Statewide
Virginia's local meals tax is climbing, and the referendum that used to stand in a county's way has been gone since 2020. In Roanoke, unpaid meals tax has produced criminal charges against restaurant owners.
VHN Staff · · Statewide
Virginia's retail tobacco permit takes effect October 1, 2026. It covers restaurants and bars, not just smoke shops, and ABC says applications take 20 to 30 days. The window to be legal on day one is closing now.
VHN Staff · · Statewide
