The state's ban on placing paid alcohol advertising in college newspapers appears dead.

The state attorney general's office said yesterday it will not challenge a ruling from the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that said the law, intended to curb underage drinking, was unconstitutional. The court last month questioned the law's effectiveness, and said it placed undue financial pressure on these student publications and interfered with free speech.

"While we agree with this statute's intended purpose of reducing underage drinking, we do not feel that we could appeal this decision successfully," said Sean Connolly, spokesman for Attorney General Jerry Pappert. "The [U.S.] Supreme court has been very reluctant to allow prohibitions on one segment of the press."

"I think it's wonderful news. I think it's long overdue," said Witold Walczak, litigation director for the Pennsylvania ACLU, which brought the case on behalf of the student newspaper at the University of Pittsburgh, The Pitt News. "There are many ways for the state to fight the problem of underage drinking. Censorship is not one of them."