When Necco Wafers, the dry-as-chalk candies beloved by many a septuagenarian, decided to change their original recipe to include "natural" flavors and colors, they thought they were just staying hip to the know. But the plan totally backfired, as thousands of angry customers hounded the company to go back to their original, artificial ways. more ›

Remember a few weeks back, when damn near everyone on the planet was seething, in a very vocal way, about the Netflix price hike? Well, it turns that the suits at the company weren't so offended by the countless "F*CK YOU!!!"s hurled their way, after all—they think it could have been worse. more ›

It's not just the L train that has been getting you down: the MTA has reduced the number of trains on the 1 and 6 lines during both rush and off peak periods. Billed as a "seasonal adjustment" because there are fewer riders in the summer, starting July 1 the agency dropped the number of rush-hour trains on the 6 train from 23 an hour to 21, and off peak trains from 15 to 13. The 1 train now has 16 trains an hour down from 18 during rush hour, and 10 trains instead of 12 at all other times. One rider tells the Daily News that a train operator told riders not to board the 6 at Grand Central because, "There's no way they could all fit on this one." more ›

"Having the streaming only plan would not be so bad if ALL the movies were available but they are not! So your forced to get the DVD... This was my only luxury I COULD afford being on unemployment... no cable, just reg TV and wireless where I could find it. So I would watch movies at McDonald's or something or at the library. I can't afford $16 a month not on unemployment... Thank You netflix for taking the one little piece of entertainment I had!" more ›

No wonder people seem to be paying their way into an MTA job: according to a study [pdf] released yesterday, average salaries at the transit agency increased by 3 percent, to $71,237 from 2010, and payroll itself swelled by $71 million, or 1.4 percent, despite the fact that the MTA shed 852 employees last year. According to the Empire Center (i.e. the Manhattan Institute), "For the third consecutive year, more than 10 percent of the MTA's workforce—7,993 individuals—took home $100,000 or more in total pay." Perhaps MTA employees have been working both smarter and harder to make up for the loss of their peers. more ›

One parent who was present for Cathie Black's latest screw-up is defending the new Chancellor's bad jokes (video below) about Sophie's Choice and using birth control to solve school crowding...sort of. Tricia Joyce said the quotes are "out of context. You know if she was nervous it’s not an unusual thing to have said." However, she continued, "Was it in good taste? In my opinion, no." The Department of Education agrees, and has now released a statement: “Chancellor Black takes the issue of overcrowding very seriously. She regrets if she left a different impression by making an off-handed joke in the course of that conversation." more ›

Greenwich Village's financially ailing hospital has a potential buyer, but West Side politicians are calling the proposed deal "unacceptable." A takeover by Continuum Health Partners would mean a significant scaling down of St. Vincent's facilities, especially its ER, and would turn the city's last Catholic general hospital into a meager outpatient facility. Depending on how Continuum was able to re-structure St. Vincent's giant debt—estimated at $700 million—it might even opt to sell the valuable property instead of taking on its thousands of patients. more ›

Bedford's Libyan leader camping problem is over: Donald Trump—well, his company, the Trump Organization—said, "We have requested that the tenant occupying the property in Bedford, New York, remove the tent that was erected. They have complied with this request." Which meant that Moammer Gadhafi, heading to to the 'burbs after his wild United Nations speech had to turn back to NYC. more ›

Oh, it's on: After Mayor Bloomberg complained about the State Senators stalling on the bill that would give him control of the public school system, the Senators sounded off right back. On Friday, Bloomberg said, "The only thing I can think of is they want to ruin the schools," suggested the state troopers "drag them back" to Albany and saying the Senators' summer off was "Meshughena." This prompted State Senator Hiram Monserrate to say, "We believe it would be meshuganah not to include parents in the education of our children. As opposed to loosely using the word meshuganah, we would also say we don't need a yenta on the other side of this argument and this debate. Raising the issues that he has raised in the manner he has raised them is unfortunate." more ›

Everyone is mad as hell at AIG and they're not going to take it anymore! From President Obama and NY Attorney General Andrew Cuomo railing against AIG and its executive compensation to the House passing a bill to tax 90% of all bonuses from financial firms receiving bailout funds, the anger has also spread to the Connecticut suburbs where many AIG executives live. more ›

As AIG weathers the bad PR storm from issuing over $165 million in bonuses to executives that helped bring the company down, the insurer has released the names of the companies and municipalities it paid out. The NY Times reports that AIG repaid "Goldman Sachs ($12.9 billion), Merrill Lynch ($6.8 billion), Bank of America ($5.2 billion), Citigroup ($2.3 billion) and Wachovia ($1.5 billion)" as well as foreign banks "Société Générale of France and Deutsche Bank of Germany, which each received nearly $12 billion; Barclays of Britain ($8.5 billion); and UBS of Switzerland ($5 billion)." California and Virginia each received about $1 billion each (NY is getting $210 million). You can see read AIG's statement (PDF)—the company used about two-thirds of its rescue funds for these payments. As for the bonus outrage, Rep. Barney Frank said these execs "may have a right to their bonuses. They don't have a right to their jobs forever," adding "it does appear to be that we're rewarding incompetence." more ›

Insurer AIG, whose business has been shored up by $170 billion in federal funds, says it is proceeding with $165 million in bonuses to, as the NY Times puts it, "executives in the same business unit that brought the company to the brink of collapse last year." Last week, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told AIG it had to scale back its compensation, but, in a letter yesterday to Geithner, AIG CEO Edward Libby cited legal obligations saying its "hands are tied" and said the government's involvement would make it difficult for the company to retain its best employees. Um, wouldn't most people would understand not getting bonuses for crappy performance? Also, the Wall Street Journal says that bonuses total...$450 million. Naturally, this hits the sweet spot of the government (and public) railing against crazy bonuses—Rep. Barney Frank wants to find out if the bonuses are recoverable. Related: AIG reported a 4th quarter loss of $61 billion. more ›