New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg says cities face a serious threat: public worker pension and health care costs and the politics around them.

In the last two years, 14 states have passed laws barring employers from demanding that prospective hires and/or current employees allow access to their non-public postings on social sites, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

The city will seek bids within days for its multibillion-dollar health insurance contracts, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Tuesday, invoking other cities' fiscal struggles as he deepened his stance in a standoff with unions.

A national push for paid sick days is poised to score a significant victory, with lawmakers in the nation's largest city set to vote on requiring businesses to provide the benefit to an estimated 1 million workers who don't have it now.

Anti-smoking advocates and health experts hailed proposals from Mayor Michael Bloomberg that would keep cigarettes out of sight in New York City stores, while tobacco companies and smokers called it an overreach.

A judge struck down New York City's ban on big sugary drinks Monday just hours before it was supposed to take effect, ruling that the first-in-the-nation measure arbitrarily applies to only some sweet beverages and some places that sell them.

Salt has quietly been slipping out of dozens of the most familiar foods in brand-name America, from Butterball turkeys to Uncle Ben's flavored rice dishes to Goya canned beans.

Opponents are pressing to delay enforcement of the city's novel plan to crack down on supersized, sugary drinks, saying businesses shouldn't have to spend millions of dollars to comply until a court rules on whether the measure is legal.