An Allegheny County judge today denied a request from restaurants to block a new tax on poured alcoholic drinks.

Judge Terrence O'Brien rejected the request from Friends Against Counterproductive Taxation to prevent the 10 percent tax from taking effect on Tuesday.

Alan Shuckrow, an attorney for the the group, said the judge indicated that while the changes required for the tax could be inconvenient, they were not impossible to achieve. Mr. Shuckrow also said the judge indicated he did not believe the restaurant owners could win a challenge to the tax's constitutionality.

More details in tomorrow's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.