All over Manhattan today, there are hotel guests who were supposed to have checked out but who are forced to stay at least one more night because their flights are canceled — and they couldn’t get to the airport anyway. Making matters worse, a lot of these people are paying higher room rates then they have been. [More]
NEW YORK
Court Rules Lap Dances Aren’t Art; Ruin Plans For My MFA Thesis
By 10.23.12
In a story we’ve been following with great interest for quite some time, the top court of the state of New York has ruled that lap dances are not a form of performance art and are therefore not exempt from sales taxes. [More]
NY Attorney General Calls On Breast Cancer Charities To Be Transparent About Where The Money Is Going
By 10.18.12
It seems like every October, there are more pink items for sale to promote National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, which has led to growing concern that the focus is on selling merchandise without being clear about how much money is actually going to cancer research. In an effort to keep these charities honest, the Attorney General for New York state has issued a set of best practices. [More]
Lawsuit Seeks To Block New York City Ban On Big Sodas
By 10.15.12
Earlier this year, the New York City Board of Health announced that full-calorie sodas (and other sugary drinks) larger than 16 oz. would be unwelcome in restaurants, delis and other businesses regulated by the Board. On Friday, the groups that would likely feel the sting of such a ban — soda companies, restaurant owners and the like — sued to try to ban the ban. [More]
Man Sues Hooters Over Racial Slur On Receipt
By 9.12.12
Advice to people at restaurants and stores who have a problem with a customer: Keep it to yourself; wait until you get home and then complain about it to your spouse/roommate/pet canary. But for the love of god, please stop writing those insults down on receipts. [More]
Dollar Stores Existed In 1870, And They Were Pretty Classy
By 9.6.12
The late 19th century gave us the five-and-dime store, where everything cost five or ten cents. Those are the ancestors of what we think of as a “dollar store” today. What you might not know is that dollar stores have been around for more than 140 years. It’s just that back then, a dollar could buy you a lot more, so they were rather swanky. [More]
SEC Investigates Sprint Over Allegations It Failed To Properly Collect Sales Tax
By 8.2.12
Back in April, the New York Attorney General’s office filed a lawsuit against Sprint, alleging the wireless provider deliberately under-collected sales tax in an effort to remain competitive. Now, Sprint has revealed that it is under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission over these same allegations. [More]
NYC Movie Theaters Fight Back Against Mayor’s Big Soda Ban
By 7.6.12
While hit new movies might make millionaires out of actors, directors and key grips, movie theaters often make little to no money on the actual ticket sales of high-profile, first-run movies. Instead, they depend on those movies to bring in customers to pay big bucks for huge drinks and buckets of popcorn. Thus, you can imagine why theater owners in New York City aren’t exactly doing somersaults in celebration of Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s proposed ban of large sodas. [More]
Woman Spends Night In Jail Over 10-Year-Old Traffic Ticket
By 6.19.12
Back in 2002, a 17-year-old New Jersey driver received a ticket in New York for not having her insurance card on her. And even though she apparently didn’t pay the fine, she was able to renew her license and commute by car to New York City ever day for the last six years. That is, until she was arrested last week. [More]
Coke: No Link Between Sugary Drinks & Obesity
By 6.8.12
While there is little doubt that the obesity rate in the U.S. has risen in recent decades, there is a lot of finger-pointing and “not me”-ing when it comes to placing blame. And with NYC Mayor Michael “I’ll just have water” Bloomberg trying to put the smackdown on high-calorie sodas, Coca-Cola is letting it be known it won’t fold without a fight. [More]
NY Lawmakers Want To Do Away With Anonymous Online Comments
By 5.23.12
Anonymous hate-mongering,name-calling and venom-spitting has been around the Internet since before many of the people reading this post even had an e-mail address. While most of us have just come to accept that this is part of the cost of having an online community, state lawmakers in New York have drafted legislation that intends to do away with anonymous commenting. [More]
Average Foreclosure In NYC Area Now Takes Longer Than 3 Years
By 4.27.12
Aside from being the title of a totally rad Olsen Twins movie, the phrase “New York minute” implies that things move rapidly in the Big Apple. One exception is the home foreclosure process, which can drag out to more than 1,100 days in the NYC metro area. [More]
Hero Or Scoundrel? 92-Year-Old Pirates DVDs To Send To Troops Stationed Overseas
By 4.27.12
Making a copy of a new DVD to send to a loved one stationed overseas with the armed forces is something many people would consider just fine. Making thousands of copies of that same DVD for sale on street corners would likely earn some frowns from the public. But what about someone — especially an adorable nonagenarian World War II vet — who makes thousands of copies for the sole purpose of entertaining the troops? [More]
Supreme Court Decides At Least Some NYC Apartments Will Remain Affordable
By 4.23.12
For more than 40 years, finding a rent-stabilized apartment in New York City has been like winning the lottery. Earlier this morning, the U.S. Supreme Court shot down a challenge to the rent-stabilization regulations, meaning at least a million city residents will continue to pay rent that is only a fraction of what their neighbors pay [More]
Water Bill Jumps From $62 To $1,400. Will Cost $180 To Have Meter Inspected
By 4.19.12
When your quarterly water bill goes up a few thousand percent after the city installs a new meter at your house, you’d think the utilities folks would want to take a look at that meter because it’s either broken or your house is about to float away. But not in New York City, where it will cost you $180 just for the privilege of having that meter inspected by a human being. [More]
NY Attorney General Files $300 Million Lawsuit Against Sprint
By 4.19.12
Earlier today, the Attorney General for the state of New York accused the folks at Sprint-Nextel Corp of deliberately failing to collect more than $100 million in sales tax from customers — and now he wants the nation’s third-largest wireless provider to pay up. [More]
Culinary Bill Shock: Beware The Secret $275 Truffle Pasta Special!
By 4.9.12
There’s a small, innocuous-looking cafe on Madison Ave that you may find yourself considering on your next meander through New York City. Watch out, says BoingBoing, whose Rob Beschizza wandered into the place on a lark, you’re about to get socked with hidden charges. How bad could it be? Behold: [More]
Report: More Than 200 Items A Day Stolen From Passengers At JFK Airport
By 3.27.12
JFK International in NYC isn’t just one of the busier airports in the country, it’s also reportedly the place in the Big Apple for passengers to have stuff stolen out of their bags. [More]
