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 ›

Fervently clutch your tear-soaked Irish cotton hanky and strike up the band of microscopic violins: Wall Street may have to let a few people go. Fears of what regulation might do to the market coupled with the reverberations of the financial crisis of 2008 are forcing firms to trim the fat. "It's a tense environment right now," an analyst told DealBook, describing the climate that has existed in the rest of the country for many years now. Most notably, Goldman Sachs is cutting "10 percent, or $1 billion, of noncompensation expenses over the next 12 months," which would be the first time the company had wide-scale layoffs since 2009. Bank of America, Credit Suisse, and Morgan Stanley are also tightening their belts. Where will these people find work? Wall Street, probably. Unless Wal-Mart can get their signing bonuses for greeters up to par. more ›

Goldman Sachs, which repaid a $10 billion TARP loan to the U.S. government, announced second quarter profits of $3.44 billion, which beat analysts' expectations. The NY Times says, "The results continue a robust turnaround for the firm since it rode out the final tumultuous months of last year with the aid of a federal rescue... [The bank] said in the first six months of 2009 it had set aside $11.4 billion for compensation and benefits. Analysts said this was up 33 percent from a year earlier and was enough to pay each employee $386,429 for the first half of this year." Bloomberg News notes that the firm is "reverting to a business model analysts deemed irretrievably broken after a crisis of confidence in Wall Street raised borrowing costs and led to the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. While rivals have pared risks, Goldman Sachs has increased them." more ›

As expected, actor Jeremy Piven's abrupt departure from the Broadway revival of David Mamet's Speed-the-Plow is costing the show's investors a mint; they had expected to finally break even just when Piven quit due to "mercury poisoning." The box office take dropped 33% in the wake of his withdrawal, and the money guys are livid. One producer tells the Post, "We were so close to recouping, and then this jerk screwed it up." Even Piven's former cast mate Raul Esparza is lashing out, telling the audience during curtain call last Sunday: "Today was the first time I really enjoyed playing this show. I hope you weren't expecting a big TV star." Meanwhile, actor Fisher Stevens has surfaced to defend Piven, testifying that he suffered from mercury poisoning earlier this year while eating fish four or five times a week during production of documentary The Cove, about the slaughter of mercury-loaded dolphins. more ›