NYC judge just ruled on #sodaban, says it's arbitrary and capricious. This is a victory for small business and personal choice in #NYC.

— NYC Beverage Choices (@NYCBevChoices) March 12, 2013

It was doomed to fail, writes the Guardian. Even New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg acknowledged, "When we began this process, we knew we’d face lawsuits." He added, "When you adopt a groundbreaking policy, special interest will sue. That's America."

So the overturning by New York State judge Milton Tingling of Bloomberg's proposed ban on sugary beverages above 16 ounces, which was due to go into effect on Tuesday before being dismissed as "arbitrary" and "capricious" by Tingling, didn't come as a complete surprise.Continue reading...

New York politicians are making life difficult for anybody who sells sugared beverages, but it doesn't stop there. Recently, Dunkin’ Donuts came under fire from state comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli, who doesn't usually deal with what restaurants serve to their customers.

The state’s pension fund owns 51,400 shares of Dunkin’ Brands Group (worth around $2 million) and DiNapoli has been working toward getting any companies the fund invests in to be more involved in sustainable practices, the New York Times reports. As a result of DiNapoli's work, Dunkin’ said Thursday that it would announce in the second quarter a timetable for obtaining the palm oil it uses in its products from sustainable sources.

“Consumers may not realize that many of the foods and cosmetics they eat and use contain palm oil that has been harvested in ways that are severely detrimental to the environment,” DiNapoli said in a statement. “Shareholder value is enhanced when companies take steps to address the risks associated with environmental practices that promote climate change.”

Meanwhile, Dunkin’ and other coffee vendors in New York City are preparing for the difficult task ahead of informing its customers about which of its drinks have more sugar than the new Mayor Bloomberg-pushed, American Beverage Association-opposed, NYC sugary drinks ban allows. According to the Times, Dunkin’ Donuts is handing out fliers to inform its customers while Starbucks is waiting until the rule goes into effect Tuesday before taking any action.Continue reading...

New York City's ban on selling beverages bigger than 16 ounces that passed last month doesn't seem to face a major threat as it heads toward implementation in March. It's fat from popular with many New Yorkers, and the beverage industry and others certainly hate it, but the regulation has begun to assume the momentum of inevitability.

That's why the American Beverage Association, which represents Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Dr Pepper Snapple Group among other companies, has launched a last-ditch effort that now includes a lawsuit against the city that the organization, as promised. The suit argues that the unelected New York health board, which approved the ban spearheaded by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, shouldn't be telling people how much soda to drink, according to CBS Radio. The suit also said that the rule "burdens consumers and unfairly harms small businesses."Continue reading...

Japan's Softbank acquires 70 percent of Sprint for $20 billion.

Santander walks away from $2.7 billion RBS deal.

Microsoft makes new push into music via Xbox.

Red Bull basks in post-skydive glory.

ABA sues New York City over soda ban.

Advent offers to buy beauty retailer Douglas.

Allstate scores points with peers with "Mayhem" campaign.

Amazon flags e-book refunds.Continue reading...

When Jon Stewart and Bill O’Reilly faced off Saturday in a mock debate, the topic of whether the government should decide what size soda consumers should drink was brought up and summarily dismissed, but there are plenty of other folks — like New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg — who aren’t letting the issue go.

The just-passed law that Bloomberg pushed to help keep New Yorkers healthy by making it illegal to sell sodas larger than 16 oz. in many New York establishments will go into effect on March 12. And Bloomberg isn’t alone. A soda-tax measure was put on the ballot in Richmond, California, that would discourage consumers from drinking soda and collect money through a soda tax “for neighborhood gardens, recreation and other youth projects that would help fight childhood obesity,” BeyondChron.com reports.

Sick of being called a bad guy in the war against obesity, the American Beverage Association (and the soda giants it represents) today launched a "Calories Count" vending machine program that will start being distributed in the new year. The ABA's new initiative will help consumers identify lower-calorie sodas in vending machines by placing soda calorie counts right on the buttons of vending machines.Continue reading...

New Yorkers were girding for a showdown Wednesday between Mayor Bloomberg and the opponents to his proposed ban on 16-ounce or bigger soft drinks. A mid-afternoon public hearing was scheduled to debate the measure, which still needs approval by the city Board of Health — appointed by the mayor — to take effect.

The ban's opponents could always sue or appeal to the state legislature (or not, judging by Gov. Andrew Cuomo's recent remarks), but the "hundreds" of people who gathered on the steps of City Hall on Monday to oppose the ban, organized by a American Beverage Association coalition called New Yorkers for Beverage Choices, would rather put a stop to Bloomberg's legislation before it goes into effect.Continue reading...

Some media couldn't wait to jump all over the almost non-existent attendance this week at the "Million Gulp March" near City Hall in New York against Mayor Bloomberg's proposed soda ban.

Organized by a gaggle of libertarians, Ron Paul supporters and ad hoc protesters, the protest at New York's City Hall on Monday drew only about 50 people, according to local reports, while organizers had predicted attendance of about 500 — never mind the "million" moniker in its name.

"Before, the government was instituted to protect the rights of everyone and prevent crime, and now it's cracking down the rights of everyone," Zach Huff, a spokesman for Ron Paul 2012 organizer NYC Liberty HQ, told CBS News. "It's astonishing we have a mayor who is pro-choice when it comes to what a woman can do with her body but isn't pro-choice with simple choices, like soda-container sizes."

Bloomberg retorted, "If you want to kill yourself, I guess you have the right to do it. We’re trying to do something about it."Continue reading...

If the battle between New York and Big Soda were a sumo wrestling match, it might shake the entire Eastern Seaboard. The two giants have only begun squaring off in a titanic battle for the gullets and obeisance of Manhattan residents and the moral high ground too, after Mayor Bloomberg's proposed ban on selling carbonated soft drinks above 16 ounces in regulated outlets in Gotham.

The American soft-drink industry is ramping up its campaign to fight New York's proposed restrictions on large sugary drinks. Now the city is in the midst of a public-comment period on the proposal ahead of a scheduled July 24th public hearing, and PepsiCo, Coca-Cola and allies aren't sugar-coating their words in letting it be known exactly what they think of Bloomberg's idea.Continue reading...