The family who found a California King snake wrapped around a 7-month-old baby's leg on Monday has decided to sue the mattress manufacturer and store where the mattress was purchased. ...

Feeling the sting of controversy - and perhaps wanting to keep relations with Chinese-Americans warm - after disqualifying a newborn Chinese-American baby born to non-legal U.S. residents in a New Year's scholarship contest, Toys R Us has decided to give all three babies in the drawing $25,000 scholarships. Here's the toy retailer's statement:"We love all babies. We deeply regret that this sweepstakes became a point of controversy. As a result, we have decided to award......

Of all the retailers to find themselves in a heated debate about immigration, Toys R Us is one of the more unlikely ones. But the toy retailer is under some criticism concerning how it handled a newborn's situation in a New Year's contest. Toys R Us offers a $25,000 scholarship towards college education for a baby born in the new year. The NY Times reports that three babies were tied for being the first......

Dear Gothamist, I'm sure there are other people who want Wiis but are much too cool to wait in line or fight for one. But they're still hard to come by. I need me some citizen journalism action on this issue. Where are people getting Wiis, if anywhere? - Wah Wah Wii Wii It's so true. The Nintendo Wii has been out for almost two weeks, but they are still moving off the shelves......

Dunh dunh DUNH! It's the most insane shopping day of the year, thanks to most people being off and feeling that the day after Thanksgiving is an acceptable beginning to the Christmas shopping season. However, some stores were actually open yesterday, giving turkey and football some competition. Some stores opened at 5AM today, others at 6AM. In fact, some people have been flying in from overseas, perhaps to take advantage of the exchange rate!......

Angel Parades was the first person to buy the Playstation 3 at the Sony Store in Midtown (apparently Charlie Murphy was on the scene!) while Sergio Rodriguez bought the first one at the Union Square Circuit City. Rodriquez said, "This is the best game ever. It's so worth the wait. Some people may call me crazy, but I really love to play." We found 1010WINS' description of who was waiting: "die-hard gamers and entrepreneurs......

After last month's breastfeeding confrontation at Toys R Us (which was followed by a Times Squre nurse in), the Daily News decided to send a reporter undercover. Well, sort of. Tracy Connor, who we really liked while watching Bravo's Tabloid Wars, and her three month old daughter Charlie went on a breastfeeding odyssey in "humble and posh locations" all around town to see "who is hip to NIP" (that's Nurse In Public). Connor and baby......

Toys R Us cannot live down the tempest in a nursing bra cup. Last week, breastfeeding mother Chelsi Meyerson claimed employees at the Times Square store harassed her to stop nursing her son in the store, urging her to move to a private room. While the store said that its employees did not harrass her and only offered her "opportunity to breastfeed in a private area designated for this purpose in the Times Square store"......

The city is always a hotbed for activism. Metro has a story about two gay men and a lesbian staging a sit-in in front of the U.S. Armed Forces Recruiting Station in Times Square yesterday. Only thing is the USAFRS was closed! The three protesters, who were trying to "enlist in defiance of the military’s ban on homosexuals" believe the USAF knew they were staging the purpose and decided to close up. Jake Retain, a......

If you tuned into Good Morning America this morning, you may have noticed Diane Sawyer extracting something from a safe. And, yes, that red and furry object was the new Tickle Me Elmo T.M.X. - T.M.X. for Tickle Me eXtreme. Not only the the doll talk in the third person and giggle, Elmo basically has a crazy laughing fit - slapping his knee, falling on his back and convulsing, getting back up, falling on......

Arthur Frommer and the pharmaceutical company Novartis have teamed up to give Americans the Where to Stop & Where to Go of places to travel and places there where you can go to the bathroom, and one of the cities mentioned at length is New York City. Novartis makes a drug for OAB, which stands for Overactive Active Bladder (apparently 33 million Americans suffer from it!), and when you go to the site where you......

It has happened: The Howard Johnson at Broadway and 46th Street has been sold. The Rubinstein family who owned the HoJo at 1551 Broadway for ages sold the property, plus another building on West 34th, for $100 million. The Post speculates that the new retailer will be something a little more high-end, as rumors say the buyer, Wharton Acquisitions, will level the building to create a "retail box" like the Times Square Toys R Us......

While Gothamist doesn't think we'll be seeing Star Wars Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith during the first weekend (as a friend put it, Hayden Christensen looked more like a date rapist than brooding Jedi), we're totally excited about the Darth Tater toy. It's a Mr. Potato Head with Darth Vader accessories. An Amazon reviewer writes:A couple of choice lines from the packaging: "Together we shall rule as father & spud!" + "As a Dark......

Sure, all the news is obsessed with how well Black Friday shopping was, but Gothamist was more interested in a twist on Christmas shopping madness. The pepper spray incident at Toys R Us at Times Square on Saturday, which forced an evacuation of the store. Luckily, it seems that pepper spray only causes a "rotten egg" smell, burning in the throats, and coughing, so everyone was all right, but the store was closed for a......

Margaret Braun, Sugar Artist...

Okay, we know you've seen Lord of the Rings: Return of the King already, maybe as part of the marathon showing. Gothamist wants to know what you think. And if you haven't seen it yet (gasp!), before or after you watch the movie in Times Square, you can go to the Times Square Toys R Us where they have some of the props from the film on display. [Via Neil] Gothamist is not making......

Samology's photographs of the ferris wheel at the Toys R Us at Times Square reminds Gothamist of how fun it is to go there. While the megastoring of NY is disconcerting, the Times Square Toys R Us is a keeper.......

Times Square is almost like the heart of the city: The flashing lights, heart of the media world, the crowds, the tourist traps. But on the flipside, some New Yorkers avoid Times Square if they can because it's simply too crowded and stressful to navigate. The Times looks at the problem of the gridlock in Times Square, which can be traced to the high numbers of vendors on highly trafficked streets, plus smokers outside of......

The 100th Toy Fair is wrapping up at the Jacob K. Javits Center this week. Apparently, it's the last big toy blowout before the show splits into smaller ones. It's an exciting time in the city, with the prototype toys not yet released displayed at the Times Square Toys R Us and reports about the cool toys on the Today Show - Corey Greenberg says that "Hokey Pokey Elmo" is on his way. I wonder......

Check out the Lego versions of the Harry Potter characters! LEGO HARRY POTTER They also have Star Wars, and they did have Spiderman when I went to Toys R Us this past summer. Now, if only they would do a Lego version of Twin Peaks.......