Not satisfied with making sure New Yorkers know exactly how fat they're going to get off food at chain restaurants, the Health Department is taking its calorie crusade underground with a new educational campaign that launches today. The posters confirm your worst suspicions about fast food and also expose deceptively harmless snacks, like a perfectly innocent-looking apple raisin muffin, for the high-calorie frauds they are. That cute little muffin packs 470 calories—nearly a quarter of......

Following in the tradition of showing one smoker's missing fingers and a smoker with a removed larynx, the Health Department continues with graphic images to scare smokers into quitting: New matchbooks show decaying gums and teeth (we've obscured the image, in case there are people eating... click here for full image). Other image include "ravaged lungs... painful tumors." Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Friedan said, “Throat cancer, gum disease, blackened lungs – these are the......

There was some surprise when Geoffrey Zakarian’s three star restaurant Country (pictured) was shut down by the Department of Health last Friday. But it turns out that fruit flies, mouse droppings and a fly in the Maker’s Mark were the least of its problems – the main infraction was the restaurant’s unapproved sous vide method, which Country utilizes to vacuum-seal raw meat in plastic for slow cooking at low temperatures. The Times reports that Zakarian......

Hey teens! Cutting, huffing and BB guns are such a didgeridon't. Know what’s cool? New York City’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: As of today, the department is now one of the cool new people on MySpace, and it’s looking for friends. The actual profile name is NYC Teen Mindspace, and according to deputy commissioner Dr. David Rosin, the goal is to “reach out to young people where they socialize, in a style they......

On the heels of announcing 40% of New Yorkers practice unsafe sex, the Department of Health wants to test every adult in the Bronx for HIV over the next three years. Noting the borough's highest AIDS-related death rate in the city, Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Frieden said, "The Bronx has the opportunity to lead the city in the fight against HIV/AIDS by being the first borough to have all residents tested." The health department hopes......

The Jamaica, Queens nightclub that Sean Bell went to before being fatally killed by police gunfire had finally been closed, if only temporarily. Authorities, from the police department (performing stings) and State Liquor Authority (which stripped it of its license), and the community tried to shut it down but it was done in by mice that the Health Department found. The Post reports a sign simply says the club is under renovations.......

Just as fast food chains Taco Bell and Wendy's are bringing the tomatoes back to their menus, the NYC Health Department announced that there have been six more reported cases of salmonella, bringing the total of NYC area cases of the disease to seven. For the past few weeks, more and more cases of salmonella connected to tainted tomatoes have been reported across the country, forcing restaurants--especially national chains--to reconsider the role of raw tomatoes......

Katalin Pota (pictured), the actress who played Tony Soprano's housekeeper Lilliana, has been ousted from her Williamsburg loft on Grand Avenue. The building she lived in is owned by Simon Taub, the man who built a wall in the middle of his Borough Park mansion to separate himself from his wife. To rewind a bit, Pota was assaulted back in 2001 in New Jersey while trying to protect a friend from an attacker; the incident......

The NYC Health Department issued a warning recommending residents get measles vaccines before traveling overseas. There are currently measles outbreaks in Israel and Switzerland, and others have occurred in other parts of Europe. Assistant Commissioner for Immunization Dr. Jane Zucker said, “Vaccinations are the safest and most effective way to protect yourself and others, whether you are traveling to Europe or to a developing country. If you’re traveling to or returning from Israel for the......

It used to be one only had to worry about "the morning after" if they took another bar patron home with them, but the NYC Health Department is asking at least 800 imbibers of a West Village bar to get a hepatitis A vaccination! The precautionary measure is being taken because a bartender at Socialista has the disease. Now everyone who was at the bar on February 7th or 8th after 8pm or February 11th......

Well, this explains a lot: The Center for Disease Control and Protection says this year's flu shot is only good for 40% of the flu bugs going around. Thanks a lot, new strains of flu viruses that are kicking people's butts! Every year, health departments around the country recommend people get flu shots, starting in the fall and continuing to remind people who haven't for many months. Usually, the flu vaccine tends to be good......

The new NYC Condom campaign carries a secret Canadian tourism message: One of the ads features Toronto's Flatiron Building. Darn those confusing stock image searches using "Flatiron Building"! Toronto’s Gooderham Building (photo at right) makes an appearance in the ad entitled “The Village” (image below, highlighted on the right). This landmark Toronto building, often called the “Flatiron Building” by those in the Greater Toronto Area, predates Manhattan’s (properly known as the Fuller Building) by ten......

Last year, the Health Department unveiled its free NYC Condoms on Valentine's Day. For this year's Valentine's Day, not only will volunteers from the Health Department be distributing condoms again, there's a new packaging and a new ad campaign with the tag "Get Some." Don't worry - the condom is the same lubricated Lifestyles latex condom as before. The Health Department gave out 36 million NYC Condoms last year and Assistant Commissioner for HIV......

Ignorance will no longer be bliss for drinkers at some of New York’s fine franchise restaurants. Starting next month, whether you like it or not, you’re going to find out calorie information on every drink you order at Olive Garden, Applebees, T.G.I. Friday’s or Pizzeria Uno. The new Health Department law requiring chain restaurants with more than 15 locations nationwide to print calorie counts on menus also requires them to display their beverage stats. The......

A 17-year-old student at Massapequa High School died of bacterial meningitis yesterday. Michael Gruber had gone to bed with flu-like symptoms on Wednesday and on Thursday morning his parents were unable to wake him up. He died at New Island Hospital. Gruber was also in the St. Rose of Lima Catholic Youth basketball league and worked part-time at a King Kullen in Massapequa Park. The Nassau County Health Department is notifying people who had close......

The American Kennel Club annually releases a list of the most popular dog breeds in the country and in the biggest cities. No beating around the fire hydrant, this year's favorites in NYC: 1. Labrador Retriever 2. Yorkshire Terrier 3. Dachshund 4. Havanese** 5. Poodle** 6. Cavalier King Charles Spaniel 7. French Bulldog 8. Golden Retriever 9. Bulldog 10. Pug **Tied for 3rd American Kennel Club officials noted that NYC residents are among the cutting......

The Health Department revealed that cases of the flu have increased 19% since November. Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Frieden said urged New Yorkers who haven't gotten a flu shot yet to do so. In November, there was an average of 4,900 flu-related hospital visits; last week, there were 5,832. It's most critical that adults 50 and over (especially those over 65), children between 6 months and 5 years, people with chronic medical conditions, health care......

Exactly what every other driver wants: A truck carrying asbestos to overturn, spill its contents, and its driver running away from the scene. That's what happened yesterday afternoon with an asbestos truck on the Clearview Expressway hit a divided and flipped over. The truck was not a closed truck - it was an 18-wheeler covered with a tarp. Naturally, traffic was delayed for hours (12) as the Department of Environment Protection's cleanup crews worked to......

The family dog who fatally bit an 8-month-old baby in Brooklyn was euthanized yesterday. According to the city, the family had requested the dog be euthanized. On Thursday afternoon, the baby, Andrew Stein, was being watched by his grandmother in his parents' Kensington home. The 62-pound-dog Maccabee apparently bit the baby in the head when Andrew touched his paw. A police official told the NY Times that "infants are particularly vulnerable in such attacks because......

From rats ruling a West Village KFC/Taco Bell to Governor Spitzer's downward spiral, from a shock jock's questionable words to an up-and-down year for the MTA (and its riders), we bring up the biggest stories of 2007. Midtown Steam Pipe Explosion On a July afternoon, an 83-year-old steam pipe near Grand Central Station exploded, ripping apart the street. Debris, including asbestos, filled the air and covered people as they ran from the scene. One woman......

On Friday, dozens of birds fell out of the sky and died on a street in the Great Kills section of Staten Island. Residents grew concerned as, the Staten Island Advance reported, birds "flopped and twitched...as they breathed their last" (video here). One resident said the birds were flying "as if they were drunk" before falling to the ground. Residents were advised to stay in their homes as the fire department, police and as well......

Mayor Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn have announced a plan to issue 1,500 new permits to vendors who commit to selling fresh fruits and vegetables from carts in low-income neighborhoods. The “Green Cart” plan, expected to be approved by the City Council, comes on the heels of a Health Department study comparing Harlem to the Upper East Side; it determined that supermarkets in Harlem are 30% less common than the UES, and......

Governor Spitzer said that the NY State Department of Health's response regarding the Nassau County doctor exposed over 600 patients to hepatitis C and HIV was "unacceptably slow" and ordered an investigation. Dr. Harvey Finkelstein, an anesthesiologist, reused syringes and multiple-dose medicine vials between January 2000 and January 2005; some patients learned they had contracted hepatitis in 2005, but the state and Nassau County officials waited 34 months to contact other patients. It turns out......

Here's to hoping that your last cigarette break is your last ever. Today's the day of the Great American Smokeout and the city Health Department has joined forces with hospitals, clinics, and community organizations to hand out FREE nicotine patches all day. The Smokeout has been around for over 30 years and is a day where about a third of the 46 million American smokers out there try to abstain from puffing. While there are......

As health-code inspections in bars and restaurants continue apace in the wake of The Great Rat Rodeo of Aught Seven, strange, unheard of violations are coming to light: a bartender at Red Hook’s Moonshine bar was recently cited for “having bare-hand contact with one slice of ready-to-eat lime while placing on top of beer bottle for patron in bar.” In other words, every time you see your bartender poke a wedge of lime into your......

We guess that we don't have a Golden Gate Bridge to complain about, but a lot of our out-of-towners are in the Big Apple to off themselves. The Daily News reports that a new study shows "more than one in 10 people who kill themselves in Manhattan are 'suicide tourists'" and they choose NYC landmarks to do so! Men are mostly to blame for seeking out better-known landmarks like bridges or historic landmarks to leap......

Last week, the I.S. 211 in Canarsie told parents that 7th grader Omar Rivera had died from the antibiotic-resistant staph infection MRSA. Now his mother is suing the city and Kings County Hospital for $25 million over the mistreatment of the 12-year-old. On October 11, Aileen Rivera took him to a clinic to examine a pus-filled sores on his back. The Flatlands clinic gave him Motrin and a mild antibiotic, but since it didn't clear......

For better or worse, talk of NYPD detective James Zadroga's death continues to linger. For the past two weeks, the family of Zadroga, who worked hours of rescue and recovery at the pit after the September 11 attacks, and the city's medical examiner's office have been disagreeing about Zadroga's cause of death. Now Mayor Bloomberg has stepped into the fray, discrediting Zadroga's hero status. Two medical experts have supported the family's believe that Zadroga's death......

As more cases of staph infections are being reported (a Newark public school security guard has MRSA, leading the school to be disinfected), parents are growing increasingly concerned about how schools are responding to the epidemic. Yesterday, school officials held a meeting at IS 211 in Brooklyn, the school Omar Rivera Jr. attended before dying from MRSA two weeks ago, to explain how it is dealing with the potentially deadly disease. The Post reports the......

After weeks of media attention about the rising incidence of people, especially students, being afflicted by an antibiotic-resistant strain of methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus, more commonly known as a staph infection, MRSA has struck NYC. The Health Department confirmed that Omar Rivera Jr., a 7th grader at I.S. 411 in Canarsie, Brooklyn, died of MRSA on October 14. When the school found out about the child's death last week, it contacted the DOH to investigate.......