Not exactly a good beer news item but a good item in the news with a beer angle: a child porn ring was located due to a can of Yuengling Black and Tan appearing in one photo:

"There were clues in those images... The image-enhancement software showed that one of the adults involved had been drinking Black & Tan - a brand of beer produced by Yuengling, a 175-year-old Pennsylvania brewing company. Bulmer did some research on the firm and discovered that Yuengling's distribution area was "very tight'' - only about 12 states in the northeastern corner of the United States. "And there were only six where Black & Tan was even distributed,'' said Bulmer.

Another unexpected benefit of regional and local beer, I suppose. The criminals got 36 and 45 years as a result of this good piece of detective work.