Last week, Councilman Michael Wolfensohn turned himself into the enemy of entrepreneurial kids everywhere after he called the cops on two adorable little boys just trying to sell cupcakes in Gedney Park. At first he seemed unrepentant, but now he's issued a mea culpa on the whole situation, sort of. It turns out it's all his supervisor's fault, and the boy's for opening up the park to sales of all sorts of nefarious things: more ›

Andrew DeMarchis and Kevin Graff, two 13-year-olds from Chappaqua, have a dream of opening up a restaurant. To raise seed money, they decided to spend the next few years selling baked goods and other foodstuffs in a local park. Well, that sort of thing may fly over in Rockland County, but not on local Councilman Michael Wolfensohn's turf. After spotting the two scofflaws vending in a New Castle park, he called the cops to shut the boys down for vending without a license. Naturally, Andrew and Kevin's parents want Wolfensohn's head on a stick. more ›

A former Bronx principal was fired from his new gig in Pleasantville after a state audit found he couldn't account for $90,000 in bake sale proceeds and other funds at John F. Kennedy High School, which was allegedly given to staffers. Anthony Rotunno resigned from Kennedy after findings surfaced, and had until August 1st to voluntarily resign his new position in Pleasantville. He didn't, and was fired. However, as per state Education Law, Pleasantville still has to pay him until his termination becomes effective on September 7th. Where are those government inefficiency reports when you need them? more ›

The city won't allow cupcakes to be sold at school bake sales, but peddling them outside of the Metropolitan Museum of Art is okay. To compete with unauthorized vendors who've invaded the spot, they're going to start selling the tasty organic desserts, via Queens-based Culinary Engineers, Inc., reports the Post. The bakery will pay $108,000 in the first year of a five-year contract, and has also been awarded a permit to sell in Washington Square Park. But what about tourist obesity?! more ›

Recently parents and kids gathered at City Hall to protest the DOE's ban on homemade treats at school bake sales and a New Yorker reporter bore witness to "the noise made by wooden spoons being banged against saucepans." Doing away with brownies from scratch, the regulations limit sales to packaged foods like whole grain Pop-Tarts and reduced fat Doritos, so at the rally kids in foot-tall paper chef's hats chanted “N.Y.C. D.O.E. Read our lips. No more chips,” and “Yay, apple! Boo, Snapple!” Their hand-lettered picket signs read “Joel Klein Get Out of the Pantry” and “Our Schools Are Not Supermarkets.” But the opposition was present too—not the schools chancellor and his cronies but a row of pre-teen boys shouting “We want junk food! We want Doritos!” more ›

As the debate over bake sales rages on—with a City Hall "bake-in" scheduled for tomorrow—the Times takes a close look at both sides of the bitter butter battle. In one camp there's the Education Department, which has banned homemade treats in favor of fresh fruit and vegetables and a prescribed list of low-cal packaged chips and cookies. Then there are the parents who say schools are cutting out an important income source, while encouraging the harmful consumption of processed food. Laura Shapiro, a food writer and historian, says the debate is an historical one, dating back to the rise of big food companies during WII: "That was the start of the war between the food industry and American home cooks, which this bake-sale flap shows is not over,” more ›

Parents are planning a city hall “bake-in” in protest of new regulations that ban homemade treats from their kids' school bake sales. The city's rationale is that brownies and cookies made from scratch carry an uncountable calorie load, whereas Doritos, packaged cookies and other food items on a list of permissible items, disclose their nutritional content. "We don't really want to be told what to buy, especially when it's junk food from Kellogg's," one mom told the Daily News. more ›

Months after it barred schools from holding most food fundraisers, the city says bake sales can go on—as long as no homemade treats with undisclosed calorie counts grace the fold-out tables. The new regulation, designed to combat ever-increasing childhood obesity, limits bake sales to "fresh fruits and vegetables, or one of 27 specific packaged items" that include low-fat Doritos, Nutri-Grain Cereal Bars (blackberry only) and Linden’s Cookies (butter crunch, chocolate chip or fudge chip cookies in two cookie packs) among other things. The city has also recently slapped health regulations on school vending machines and is considering a "Meatless Monday" school lunch program. more ›

There’s one thing you don’t mess with while on the grounds of school that’s struggling financially: a parent and their homemade brownies and cookies. But it seems as though the city Department of Education doesn’t know the deal. Parents in School District 21 in Brooklyn are heated over the DOE’s new regulation that allows only one bake sale a month and desserts to be sold after 6 p.m. on weekdays. more ›