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Massachusetts General Hospital plans to begin questioning all patients about their use of alcohol and illegal drugs starting this fall, even if they are at MGH for a totally unrelated issue. Four questions will be posed, including “how often have you had six or more drinks on one occasion,” and “how often have you used an illegal drug in the past year?” Enough “yes” answers could prompt a special team to conduct what’s being called a “bedside intervention” and possible treatment. The mandatory treatment plan comes amid soaring numbers of opiate addiction across Massachusetts and the region, with many hospitals...

The thing with Obama is that he can’t be bothered, and there is no hand on the tiller half the time,” Mrs. Clinton reportedly said. “That’s the story of the Obama presidency. No hand on the [expletive] tiller. Obama has turned into a joke.” Mrs. Clinton reportedly ranted about the IRS targeting of the tea party and the Justice Department’s tapping of phone records ... “All these scandals .. Obama’s allowed his hatred for his enemies to screw him the way Nixon did. … [He’s] incompetent and feckless.”

A 19-year-old University of Maryland lacrosse player was arrested at an outdoor concert in Virginia Sunday night after allegedly groping a 49-year-old mother passed out on the lawn. Prince William County Police say the woman fell asleep on the Jiffy Lube Live lawn during a Zac Brown Band concert, when she woke up to find teen Benjamin Chisolm touching her inappropriately. Chisolm walked away after the attack but was later arrested for public intoxication and now faces additional charges of aggravated sexual assault. The victim, identified as 'Donna', has come forward to dispute details of the police report and reveal...

by Jason DeWitt | Top Right NewsOne thing we love about Mike Rowe, the former “Dirty Jobs” TV host and current head of Mike Rowe Works, is that he always speaks his mind. Monday, he did so once again — and took on a lawyer in doing so.Mike hit his local liquor store last week and noticed a picture near the front of the shop: a man in a white shirt that the store was identifying as a shoplifter. “Good for you,” Rowe says he told the owner, as he retold the story on a Facebook post: “I wish every store in the country did...

NEW YORK — The King of Beers is bowing down to a food blogger. Anheuser-Busch unveiled the ingredients of Budweiser and Bud Light for the first time Thursday, a day after a popular food blogger started an online petition to get major brewers to list what’s in their beverages. Anheuser-Busch, which also makes Beck’s, Busch and Michelob beers, said it will list the ingredients for all of its other brands online “in the coming days.” On its website, tapintoyourbeer.com, Anheuser-Busch lists the same ingredients for Budweiser and Bud Light: Water, barley malt, rice, yeast and hops. The company said it...

A drug abuse counselor who drove drunk and struck a pedestrian — then drove around with the dying man on her windshield — bawled her eyes out in court as she was sentenced to 55 years to life in prison on Thursday. A teary-eyed Sherri Lynn Wilkins, 53, was convicted of second-degree murder, drunken driving and a hit-and-run — after killing Phillip Moreno in an LA suburb in 2012. After plowing into him, Wilkins drove for two miles with Moreno on her windshield, until other motorists swarmed her car at a traffic light and called the cops, prosecutors said. Her...

A woman charged in November's deadly head-on collision on the Sawgrass Expressway was served two large fish bowl-sized margaritas earlier that evening and tweeted "2 Drunk 2 Care" just minutes before the crash, according to a report by authorities released this week. The Florida Highway Patrol’s investigative report says that Kayla Mendoza, 20 at the time, was driving a white Hyundai the wrong way on the highway last November when she slammed into a red car being driven by Kaitlyn Ferrante and her best friend Marisa Catronio, who both died. According to the report, before the crash, Mendoza had gone...

HOLMES BEACH, FL — With the help of new technology and federal grant money, police are preparing to warrantlessly search people’s refreshments as they visit the beaches of Florida. New passive alcohol detectors can simply be hovered above a person’s beverage to detect whether it contains alcohol. Similar devices can detect alcohol on someone’s breath. “We can go up to anybody we want, OK? If we see something that looks like alcohol.” On Holmes Beach, even the mere possession of sealed alcohol containers is illegal. Police are using that as an excuse to inspect anyone’s beverage they choose. “We can...

SNIP As you've probably realized by now, we have a weakness for extremely quirky food combinations -- hello, Cronut and Ramenburger -- and extraordinarily large things, like the 4,000-pound chocolate cake Guittard made for Beverly Hills' centennial. So how could we not tell you about the Screamin' Pizza Burger? According to Nick, the blogger behind DudeFoods -- and the man who brought the concept of bacon-lattice into the public consciousness -- all you need to make one is two full-size frozen pizzas, one four-pound beef patty and a spatula of mind-blowing proportions. Find instructions and photos -- and details on...

ROSEMOUNT, Minn. (KMSP) - It's yet another instance of a neighbor puling a gun on a neighbor. This time, it happened in Rosemount, Minn. while a father was teaching his 7-year-old daughter how to ride a bicycle. Gary Drake, 61, is facing second-degree assault and terroristic threat charges after he was accused of brandishing a shotgun on Daytona Way last week. It's an idyllic street, but neighbors there like to talk. When Jeanne Helgeson heard rumors that a well-known neighbor had threatened someone with a gun, she didn't believe it -- until her next-door neighbor confirmed the details, that is....

<p>One of the oldest distilleries in the country is warning of what some observers are calling a “whiskey apocalypse.”</p> <p>“Despite the increase in distillation over the past few years,” says Buffalo Trace, “bourbon demand still outpaces supply.”</p> <p>The apocalypse is looming, explains Esquire, because whiskey has become trendy overnight.</p>

Is Hillary Clinton’s health an issue for 2016? You bet it is, and well it should be. -snip- On Dec. 7, 2012, she disappeared from view — without a word. Three days passed before the State Department said the secretary of state was “under the weather” as it announced she would cancel a planned trip to the Middle East. -snip- And this wasn’t her first episode. In 1998, she was treated for a blood clot in her leg. She fainted during a 2005 speech in Buffalo, N.Y., broke her elbow in an unexplained 2009 fall in the State Department garage,...

For LGBT teenagers, burgeoning sexual identity and alcohol mix in powerful and unhealthy ways, a U.S. study suggests. Presenting the study at the Pediatric Academic Societies annual meeting in Vancouver, early in May, researchers say they’ve found binge drinking among gay and lesbian youth may be caused by chronic stress associated with societal stigmas. The U.S. study, by the a team at the Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles in conjunction with the University of Southern California’s School of Social Work, looked at the responses of more than 1,000 gay- and lesbian-identified youth in an online survey. The survey of gay...

The back story: Is vermouth the next “it” sip? Certainly, that’s what a number of wine and spirits enthusiasts are suggesting. Though the category has basically been flat sales-wise since 2011 — at about 1.5 million cases per year, according to the Beverage Information Group — a number of boutique vermouths have come onto the market, playing up the sip’s unique flavor and heritage. (Vermouth is typically a wine that’s been enhanced with botanicals, sugar and a stronger spirit.) Indeed, even though vermouth is primarily associated with European producers, there’s now a quality one being made right in New York....

The liquor store union in Pennsylvania is on the ropes. Right now if one wants to buy beer or liquor in the Keystone State one must buy it from the state owned liquor stores. Run by state employees. But soon Pennsylvania will likely join the civilized world in allowing its residents to buy beer the way God intended. From a gas station. This is curtains for the liquor store employee union and it is not giving up without a fight. The spin guys for the union put together this ad to warn us that if booze was taken out of...

A study recently came out analyzing the damage to the brain caused by pot smoking. Unfortunately, it came out during the week of the Triduum, and a Catholic blog like this had another focus at that time. But it’s time to circle back and have a look.I wrote some time ago of my anecdotal observation that the pot smokers I knew all developed serious problems with motivation, and that the effects of being “high” lingered long after toking a joint and went on to become semi-permanent. It involved a glazed look, a shuffling gait, and a lethargic attitude largely exemplified...

What is the alcohol content of beer? Well that depends on what you’re drinking. Locate your favorite brand below to find out.

According to USA Today, the U.S. federal government has approved a new brand of powdered alcohol, "Palcohol." The alcohol comes in a powdered form that can be stirred into beverages or sprinkled over food. The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) approved seven new versions of Palcohol, including Margarita, Lemon Drop, Mojito, and Cosmopolitan flavors. Palcohol, which already exists in countries like Germany and Japan, will reportedly hit shelves this fall. According to the company's website, each pouch of powder is equivalent to one shot of alcohol. The powder is mixed in with five ounces of water, or...

Powdered. Alcohol. Putting aside whether you think it sounds like a good idea, does it not seem like an intriguing concept? Well, Palcohol has officially been approved by the U.S. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, so expect this alcoholic version of the Kool-Aid powder to be in liquor stores soon enough!Here’s the pitch for Palcohol on its website: “Wouldn’t it be great to have alcohol in powder form so all one had to do is add water? Since powder is light and compact, it wouldn’t be a burden to carry.”They expect to be selling it starting this fall,...

This is a product where absolutely nothing will go wrong, we're sure. Trying to sneak booze is an American past time. Well, not THE American past time -- but now there's a way for you to sneak alcohol easily into your favorite sporting event! Heck, you don't even need to use a syrup bottle. Meet "Palcohol"