Graphic via Post. The New York State Restaurant Association [NYSRA] is still fighting a law requiring chain restaurants operating in New York City to prominently display calorie information on all food and beverages, but the new rules go into effect today anyway, and some establishments – such as Starbucks, Subway, Chipotle, Auntie Anne’s, Jamba Juice and Chevys – are already complying. Not playing ball are places like McDonald’s, Burger King, KFC, Domino’s, Pizza Hut and......

Mayor Bloomberg may have failed with his plan to ease New York City congestion, but at least he can claim victory when it comes to New Yorkers’ digestion. (Sorry.) U.S. District Judge Richard Holwell has ruled that the city can require restaurants with more than 15 locations nationwide to prominently display their calorie information in “the same font and format used to display the name or price of the menu item.” The New York State......

A law that would require city restaurants with more than 15 locations nationwide to prominently display calorie information was supposed to go into effect last week, but a lawsuit brought by the restaurant industry has it choked up in court. Restaurateurs say the rules would violate their First Amendment right to say whatever they want on their menus, while the city points to a Health Department study suggesting diners choose healthier food when forced to......

Thick black smoke hovering above Washington Heights is apparently a common occurrence, but it is legal? The Gay Recluse has some photos of the area and says it's the result of "improperly maintained or outdated boiler systems," with one building in particular being a main culprit (671 West 162nd Street). Has anyone seen something similar, or worse? This certainly can't be helping with the rising asthma problem.......

Howard, Tyler, and Trip begin the final puzzle, by activitystory at flickrToday on the Gothamist Newsmap: a person trapped under an automobile at 9th Ave. and 55th St. in Brooklyn, a missing delivery man at De Kruif Pl. and Dreiser Loop in the Bronx, and a scaffolding incident on 7th Ave. and 25th St. in Manhattan. NYC's Dept. of Health wants pharmacists to be allowed to administer flu shots, citing the death toll of......

Earlier this week, Mayor Bloomberg announced a new plan to put health information of millions of New Yorkers online. He touted the initiative, "By bringing this health technology to New Yorkers, we are building a national model for a health care system that works... In Washington, they talk about how our health care system should be reformed; here in New York City, we are actually doing it." Using $60 million of city, state, and federal......

This past week things got stirred up at celebrity hotspot Socialista with a bit of a a Hepatitis A scare. Amongst the hundreds urged to get vaccinated were celebrities who attended actor Ashton Kutcher’s 30th birthday party at the bar; those on the Hepatitis A-list included Madonna and Gwyneth Paltrow. When health officials checked out the joint, they found no traces of soap, meaning the infected bartender was handling garnishes and glasses to the patrons......

It used to be one only had to worry about "the morning after" if they took another bar patron home with them, but the NYC Health Department is asking at least 800 imbibers of a West Village bar to get a hepatitis A vaccination! The precautionary measure is being taken because a bartender at Socialista has the disease. Now everyone who was at the bar on February 7th or 8th after 8pm or February 11th......

Considering that most smokers pick up the nasty habit during their impressionable adolescent years, it makes sense to put off exposing the tykes to the temptation until they're old enough to poison themselves. Riding that puff of thought, the State Health Commissioner Richard F. Daines wrote an open letter earlier this month to film makers this week asking them to refrain from including smoking scenes in G, PG, and PG-13 rated movies. The (Health) Commish......

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration proposed $464,600 in fines over two contractors' safety lapses at the Deutsche Bank building. Contractor Bovis Lend Lease, which had been retained by the state government, and its former subcontractor John Galt Corporation had been dismantling the building when a seven-alarm fire, caused by a worker's smoking, broke out last August. Two firefighters died during the blaze, it was revealed pieces of the standpipe (which lets water for firefighters......

It's the reproductive version of the subprime mortgage crisis! According to the NY Post, New York City's sperm banks are holding a lot of junk. State regulators haven't inspected four of the city's six sperm banks since 2004, leading to lax screening of donors. Many samples aren't checked for diseases and donations are accepted from men admitting to high-risk sexual behavior. From the Post:Idant Laboratories...failed to pass along information about "high-risk social and sexual behavior"......

Well, this explains a lot: The Center for Disease Control and Protection says this year's flu shot is only good for 40% of the flu bugs going around. Thanks a lot, new strains of flu viruses that are kicking people's butts! Every year, health departments around the country recommend people get flu shots, starting in the fall and continuing to remind people who haven't for many months. Usually, the flu vaccine tends to be good......

Here's some good news for all you offal lovers out there, specifically those with, ahem, a foot fetish. Hakata Tonton plans to reopen tomorrow. The West Village Japanese spot specializing in all things pig feet has been closed for a little over a week after recently failing a Department of Health inspection. The gal who picked up the phone at the restaurant today said the temple of trotters plans to open tomorrow. DOH gave them......

The new NYC Condom campaign carries a secret Canadian tourism message: One of the ads features Toronto's Flatiron Building. Darn those confusing stock image searches using "Flatiron Building"! Toronto’s Gooderham Building (photo at right) makes an appearance in the ad entitled “The Village” (image below, highlighted on the right). This landmark Toronto building, often called the “Flatiron Building” by those in the Greater Toronto Area, predates Manhattan’s (properly known as the Fuller Building) by ten......

Last year, the Health Department unveiled its free NYC Condoms on Valentine's Day. For this year's Valentine's Day, not only will volunteers from the Health Department be distributing condoms again, there's a new packaging and a new ad campaign with the tag "Get Some." Don't worry - the condom is the same lubricated Lifestyles latex condom as before. The Health Department gave out 36 million NYC Condoms last year and Assistant Commissioner for HIV......

Ignorance will no longer be bliss for drinkers at some of New York’s fine franchise restaurants. Starting next month, whether you like it or not, you’re going to find out calorie information on every drink you order at Olive Garden, Applebees, T.G.I. Friday’s or Pizzeria Uno. The new Health Department law requiring chain restaurants with more than 15 locations nationwide to print calorie counts on menus also requires them to display their beverage stats. The......

The Lost Beach, by vanshnookenraggen at fark Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: Falling debris at East 11th St. and Ave. C in Manhattan, a propane truck explosion in the area of 172nd St. and Townsend Ave. in the Bronx, and a water rescue at 96th St. and the FDR Drive off Manhattan (brrr!). The Javits Center is only 21 years old, but it leaks like a sieve. So in addition to the expansion of......

After looking at the nitrogen tanks that live on city sidewalks, a reader asked us to look into another city mystery. She wanted to know "Why is the expiration date on milk different for New York City? Does it really take that many more days for the milk to get here?" The NY Times looked into this in another shelf-life (1982), and reported:New York City is the only place in the state and one of......

The League of American Bicyclists has awarded New York City a bronze medal for bicycle friendliness. League representatives met with Mayor Bloomberg and DOT commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan, who sometimes cycles to work, at City Hall yesterday to present the award. Though bronze is the lowest rung on the friendliness ladder, New York City is the only community in the region to be designated a Bike Friendly Community (BFC). While the total number of cycling fatalities......

Photograph of President Bush, with Vice President Dick Cheney and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi in the background, delivering the State of the Union by Ron Edmonds/AP President George Bush gave his final State of the Union address, sounding positive about his leadership but also noting that there's still more to do: "From expanding opportunity to protecting our country, we have made good progress. Yet we have unfinished business before us, and the......

A 17-year-old student at Massapequa High School died of bacterial meningitis yesterday. Michael Gruber had gone to bed with flu-like symptoms on Wednesday and on Thursday morning his parents were unable to wake him up. He died at New Island Hospital. Gruber was also in the St. Rose of Lima Catholic Youth basketball league and worked part-time at a King Kullen in Massapequa Park. The Nassau County Health Department is notifying people who had close......

Today the Board of Health is expected to pass regulations requiring 10% of the city's 23,000 restaurants to prominently display calorie counts on their menus. A previous push to require calorie disclosure was blocked by a federal judge in September; the new rules will be mostly limited to fast food restaurants that have 15 or more locations nationwide. And the restaurant industry is expected to take the city to court again. In a statement to......

Above right image from WNBC, below photograph of 58 Remsen Street from the Daily News Yesterday we mentioned that a cache of weapons - including a number of pipe bombs - were found in a Remsen Street apartment in Brooklyn Heights. Now it turns out the apartment was shared by an ex-con and a professor at Columbia University! Ivaylo Ivanov got the attention of police around 1AM yesterday morning, claiming he was shot in......

One of the Stuyvesant High School students seriously injured in last Saturday's Vermont van crash has returned home to New York. Junior Lucia Hsiao, a member of the girls' junior varsity track team, had suffered serious neck injuries but was able to "gingerly walk" to her room on her own. The Staten Island resident is wearing a halo around her head and will require a lot of rehab, but her dad said, "It could have......

The American Kennel Club annually releases a list of the most popular dog breeds in the country and in the biggest cities. No beating around the fire hydrant, this year's favorites in NYC: 1. Labrador Retriever 2. Yorkshire Terrier 3. Dachshund 4. Havanese** 5. Poodle** 6. Cavalier King Charles Spaniel 7. French Bulldog 8. Golden Retriever 9. Bulldog 10. Pug **Tied for 3rd American Kennel Club officials noted that NYC residents are among the cutting......

The Health Department revealed that cases of the flu have increased 19% since November. Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Frieden said urged New Yorkers who haven't gotten a flu shot yet to do so. In November, there was an average of 4,900 flu-related hospital visits; last week, there were 5,832. It's most critical that adults 50 and over (especially those over 65), children between 6 months and 5 years, people with chronic medical conditions, health care......

The tragic death of a construction worker at the Trump Soho building has put the spotlight on the spotty history of a contractor on the project. On Monday afternoon, a worker, Yuriy Vanchytskyy (pictured below), fell 42 stories to his death when the molds he and other workers were pouring concrete into broke, causing a collapse into lower floors. The NY Times notes that another worker, also working for subcontractor DiFama Concrete, died when he......

Exactly what every other driver wants: A truck carrying asbestos to overturn, spill its contents, and its driver running away from the scene. That's what happened yesterday afternoon with an asbestos truck on the Clearview Expressway hit a divided and flipped over. The truck was not a closed truck - it was an 18-wheeler covered with a tarp. Naturally, traffic was delayed for hours (12) as the Department of Environment Protection's cleanup crews worked to......

With many people trying to keep up that perennial New Year's resolution to lose weight/work out/get in shape, they're hitting their computers (or CDs!) to create the perfect soundtracks for their workouts. The other day, the NY Times chatted with a number of experts - physicians, life coaches, workout music producers - to figure out what makes a good work out song. Of course, different music rhythms work better for different levels of activity.......

Well, most of them. According to a reported issued by the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene yesterday, the city's overall death rate fell to an all-time low in 2006 mostly owing to decreases in smoking and HIV-related deaths. But although deaths from these causes were on the decline, those caused by substance abuse were up by 8 percent and lives lost from cancer and heart disease held steady for the year. 55,391 New Yorkers......