• New Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, in a Spitzerian move, will go after Albany’s hot potato du jour: “member items” (the lawmakers’ richly funded discretionary-spending kitty). The AG’s office promises to look into more than 6,000 individual items. Come on, that Elks clubhouse totally needed a new humidifier. [NYT]
• The bizarrely warm weather (66 degrees tomorrow, kids!) is wreaking havoc on every seasonal business: Apparel shops are stuck with non-selling winter gear, cafés are making a killing on outside tables, you can rent a boat in Central Park, and city pothole crews are aimlessly wandering the streets. [NYP]
• The city’s all but throwing a parade for Wesley Autrey, the Playboy hat-wearing Samaritan who jumped in front of a subway train to save a fellow commuter. Among the fruits of his good deed so far: the Bronze Medallion (NYC’s highest award), $10,000 from Donald Trump, and a year’s worth of free MetroCards. [NYT]
• Civic heroism being infectious, two Bronx friends are credited with a spectacular rescue of a 3-year-old boy dangling off a fire escape. One cushioned the fall with his body, and the other caught the child as he bounced off. Heartwarming, and just a teeny bit slapsticky. [amNY]
• Finally, the Daily News catches a great throwaway moment in its Busta Rhymes item. The arrested rapper covered his $3,500 bail (on an assault charge) when an associate pulled the needed amount in cash out of his pocket. [NYDN]
