Last week the State Liquor Authority sent undercover agents to 212 bodegas and found that it's pretty sweet being underage in NYC, as plenty of stores don't card for alcohol. 123 bodegas, or 58 percent of those tested in the sting, had no problem slinging suds to whoever. But now, the busted bodega owners are crying foul, alleging that the SLA hasn't contacted them as required by law. "They are supposed to tell us right away," said one bodega owner in Bed-Stuy tells the Daily News, "I am going to fight this. I am going to court. I don't believe this." Believe it, buddy. But blame the media! more ›

In a town where you can pretty much buy whatever the hell you want, is it shocking that one can still pick up the zesty alco-caffeinated version of our fallen friend Four Loko? The Local East Village reports that you can still find the banned version in neighborhood bodegas. Also still available in the East Village: heroin. But only one of those substances turns your poop blue! more ›

Just in case that Bodega Diet hasn't been working out for you, nonprofit GrowNYC, which runs the city's Greenmarkets, announced the launch of their new "Fresh Bodegas Project," which hopes to replace those canned hotdogs and dusty 40s you're used to seeing with locally-grown vegetables and fresh juices instead. more ›

Since 2005, the Department of Health has been developing an initiative to provide fresh produce and low fat milk to neighborhoods that rely on the nutrition-devoid wares of their local bodega. Progress has been slow, and while the low fat milk initiative was deemed a success in 2008, the produce side of things has been anything but. Finally, the Healthy Bodegas Initiative [pdf here] is gaining some real momentum, thanks to the NY state farmers that have begun to revitalise the project. more ›

Yesterday a group comprised of community leaders and elected officials got together to discuss small business owners going green. NY1 reports that the meeting took place in front of Camilo Grocery store in Washington Heights—one of the many businesses that could benefit in the long run from becoming more energy efficient. Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer said, "We need to make sure that people who fed our city for generations get to have the economic benefit of turning green." Congressman Steve Isreal has introduced legislation that would provide funding to help businesses like bodegas reach a greener goal—this would help with their own skyrocketing electricity costs, as well as be beneficial to the environment. Now, how about getting rid of those plastic bags? more ›

It's been over a day since news first broke that a man had been fatally shot outside his mother's Clinton Hill home by an undercover cop and there are still many more questions than answers. We know that 49-year-old Shem Walker stepped outside his mother's brownstone on Lafayette Avenue for a cigarette and discovered a plain clothes cop sitting on her steps. A witness says that he heard Walker shout, "Get out of here or I'll move you myself!" and that the two then tumbled down the steps. Walker is said to have had a reputation of shooing people off the family's steps with success. more ›

Cats in delis: they are ubiquitous, loved, objected to, necessary, and illegal. City inspectors are constantly on the prowl to ferret out deli felines, but deli owners say they are necessary fixtures to keep their businesses free of pests like mice, rats, and roaches. The New York Times has a story today on the ongoing battle between the city and the cats that are the sentinels of its delis--feline samurai who serve their masters in return for food, shelter, and the occasional scratch behind the ears.

To store owners, the services of cats are indispensable in a city where the rodent problem is serious enough to be documented in a still popular two-minute video clip on YouTube from late February (youtube.com/watch?v=su0U37w2tws) of rats running amok in a KFC/Taco Bell in Greenwich Village. Store-dwelling cats are so common that there is a Web site, workingclasscats.com, dedicated to telling their tales.