New York Health Commissioner Richard Daines posted an infomercial on YouTube that defends Gov. David Paterson’s plan to add an 18% tax to sales of sodas, the New York Post reports. The five-minute ad, in which Daines uses a hunk of fake fat to illustrate the dangers of sugary soft drinks, had been viewed a few thousand times by yesterday afternoon and had drawn mostly negative comments.
—Aimee Picchi