We’ve known for months that the FCC and the Justice Department are hard at work combing through the proposed Comcast/Time Warner Cable merger, but they aren’t the only ones. Although the deal will need approval from both federal agencies in order to move forward, it also has to get the states where Comcast, TWC, and Charter operate on board. And some states, New York in particular, aren’t making it easy for the cable giants to get their way. [More]
NEW YORK
Online Retailer Will Fine You $250 If You Even Threaten To Complain About Purchase
By 8.27.14
If you were put off by KlearGear.com’s ridiculous “Non-Disparagement” fee, which penalizes customers for sharing their bad shopping experiences with the public, another online retailer is apparently trying to go one further, by not only banning customers from saying bad things online, but by also forbidding them from even bringing up the threat of a complaint or a credit card chargeback. [More]
New York State Will Officially Ban Tiger Selfies
By 8.12.14
Hurry up, people who aspire to take photos of themselves with tigers: today, the governor of New York State signed a bill banning the practice of paying to have your photo taken with a large cat. Yes, this will be commonly referred to as the “tiger selfie” ban. [More]
“Payday Syndicate” Accused Of Charging Illegal Triple-Digit Interest Rates In NY
By 8.12.14
States have usury laws to limit illegal lending from loan sharks and organized crime. Some states’ laws limit interest rates on loans so much that payday lending and other predatory financial products are effectively banned. New York is one such state, and prosecutors there have filed charges against the operators of a “payday syndicate” that allegedly issued loans with illegally high, triple-digit interest rates. [More]
Barneys To Pay $525K Penalty For Racial Profiling, Pinky-Swears To Not Do It Anymore
By 8.11.14
Overpriced retailer Barneys isn’t just guilty of lacking a much-needed apostrophe in its name. The swanky store has also agreed to pay the state of New York $525,000 to close the leather-bound, gilt-edged book on an investigation into allegations that customers with non-Ivory complexions were treated like shoplifters by store employees. [More]
New York State Attorney General Tries To Shut Down Lyft Before Tonight’s NYC Launch
By 7.11.14
Seven hours from now, people in the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens were supposed to be able to dial up a vehicle from ride-sharing service Lyft and coast through traffic in a cloud of peer-to-peer vehicular bliss. “Not so fast!” the New York state government said to the service, its drivers, and their pink-mustachioed cars. [More]
Barnes & Noble To Train Employees To Not Be Jerks To Breastfeeding Moms
By 7.9.14
In spite of the fact that every state in the U.S. has laws that allow nursing moms to feed their babies in public, there are still frequent reports (some possibly fictional) of breastfeeding mothers being told to cover up or leave stores, restaurants, and airplanes. In the wake of one such incident at one of its stores in New York state earlier this year, Barnes & Noble has agreed to train its employees that it’s not illegal for a mother to give sustenance to her young child. [More]
Uber Agrees To Not Gouge Riders During Emergencies & Natural Disasters
By 7.8.14
One of the nice things about ride-sharing services like Uber is that the company can compete against taxi cabs by charging decent rates. But the fact that Uber rates are dynamic and can go up in times of high demand means the door could be open to gouging in situations where other transportation options are not available. [More]
Court Rules NY Towns Can Use Zoning Laws To Ban Fracking
By 6.30.14
The battle over the highly controversial topic of fracking — a mining technique that has gained popular use as a method of extracting natural gas from the earth — continues as New York state’s highest court has ruled that towns can use zoning laws to effectively ban the practice. [More]
Bank Of America Agrees To Scan For Illegal Payday Lenders In NY
By 6.16.14
Payday lending is illegal in more than a dozen states, including New York, but some lenders manage to fly under the radar by operating online or hiding their loans as part of another business. In an effort to crackdown on loans that violate state laws, New York has created a database for banks to use to help identify sketchy lenders, and Bank of America — no stranger to the issue of questionable loans — is the first to sign on. [More]
Comcast One Step Closer To Slapping Its Logo On Top Of 30 Rock
By 6.13.14
Comcast may have its global HQ inside the world’s tallest thumb drive here in Philadelphia — and it’s even building a huge middle finger right next door to reaffirm that Philly is Kabletown USA — but the real real-estate cherry in its portfolio has yet to be adorned with the Comcast logo: 30 Rockefeller Plaza in NYC. [More]
New York A.G.: Never-Ending Sales At Hobby Lobby Stores Broke The Law
By 6.12.14
When a store runs the same promotion for 52 consecutive weeks, it’s really not a sale. It’s actually a type of deceptive advertising and that’s something the New York Attorney Generals’ office just isn’t going to stand for. [More]
Airbnb Agrees To Hand Over Some User Info To NY Attorney General
By 5.21.14
There’s been yet another development in the ongoing battle between Airbnb and the state of New York, with the online home rental service agreeing to turn over some data about its customers to the state’s Attorney General, but not to the extent that a subpoena from the AG’s office had originally sought. [More]
Researchers Estimate 19 Tons Of Microbeads Washed Down The Drain In New York Each Year
By 5.15.14
You wouldn’t dream of eating the tiny beads found in your face wash, right? Well, even if that’s the case, if you like seafood there’s a possibility you’ll be digesting that microbead at some point. [More]
Dirty Hot Dog Vendors Avoid Cleaning Up By Changing Their Names
By 4.28.14
Look, we all know that there is a certain level of self-delusion involved every time we buy a hot dog from a street vendor, but we’d like to believe that any street-meat seller whose lack of cleanliness merits multiple Dept. of Health violations would be put out of business. Which is sort of true, in that the sketchy hot dog dealer merely can merely resurrect his business under a new name with a new license. [More]
Airbnb To Start Collecting Taxes In Portland, San Francisco, Maybe New York City
By 4.2.14
Airbnb is a site that lets people rent rooms or entire apartments or houses, directly from the homeowner or renter. It has proven popular with travelers, but less popular with landlords, the hotel industry, and local governments. Why do local governments care? Airbnb rentals aren’t subject to sales and hotel changes. In some cities, that’s about to change. [More]
Report: Telemarketers Pocket Nearly 2/3 Of Charity Donations
By 2.27.14
While the person who calls you to ask for a charitable donation is probably representing a non-profit organization, that telemarketer may be employed by a for-profit fundraising company hired by the charity. But just how much of what you’re giving ends up going to the charity, and how much goes to line the telemarketer’s pockets? [More]
McDonald’s Manager Says She Was Fired After Paying For Firefighters’ Meal
By 2.18.14
It’s a classic case of she-said/franchisee-said at a McDonald’s eatery in New York state, where a 23-year-old single mom claims she lost her job as a manager at the fast food joint after paying for breakfast for a group of firefighters. [More]
