Rep. Rangel, his wife Alma, and singer Aretha Franklin celebrated the Harlem lawmaker's birthday at a fund-raiser at the Crown Plaza last night. (photo credit: azi paybarah / observer)

2012: "If he runs, Giuliani's advisers envision a smaller, scrappier operation than his 2008." [AP]

2017: Mr. Baldwin, a 53-year-old Long Island native, is hardly huddling with the masses. He lives at the Eldorado." [Diane Cardwell / New York Times]

NY-9: "This is ours to lose," said Turner. [Dan Long / KickLedger]

NY-9: "OVER confidence. No Republican in #NY9 should talk like that." [Russ Schaffer / Twitter]

NY-9: "Schumer has indicated he will officially endorse Weprin and Cuomo has yet to weigh in on the race." [Rachel Hartman / Yahoo]

NY-9: This may be the last primary in September. [erick Ortiz / amNewYork]

Crime: "[S]omebody tried to shoot me through the window," Assembyman Boyland reportedly said last night. [Larry Celona and Joe Mollica / NY Post]

Crime: “It doesn’t seem they were aiming at the vehicle,” said Inspector Royster. [Joseph Goldstein and Sarah Nir / New York Times]

City Budget: "Bloomberg inserted $22.5 million into city budget to pay for his high-profile initiative…items were specifics in budget documents that council members received the day they voted." [Michael Saul / WSJ]

Travel Expenses: State lawmakers spent $2.9 million this year. [Joseph Spector / Gannett]

Travel Expenses: Freshman Assemblyman Eric Stevenson tops the list, eight $26,468. [Tony Cassino / Bronx Chattter]

Gambling: Editors say drop casino push, and stop diverting current gambling profits "from lottery's video slot machines to subsidize horse-racing tracks." [Daily News]

Labor: Verizon protesters rally outside Southampton home they thought @vp was located in. [Lisa Du / Newsday]

Audits: NYPA spent money on "nonessential" things like "parties, ceremonies, gifts and memberships," said DiNapoli. [Ken Lovett / Daily News]

Audits: "NYPA defended many of the questionable costs as morale-boosting and necessary." [Casey Seiler / Times Union]

Toll Hikes: "Cuomo administration knew of the $4 plan before the PA announced it Friday, sources said. [Glenn Blain and Pete Donohue / Daily News]

Headline: "New sex-education curriculum must teach kids how unwanted pregnancies perpetuate poverty." [Daily News]

Medicaid: Espada's organization getting cut off from Medicaid, "effectively shutting down the 30 year old Bronx-based health clinic." [Fred Dicker / NY Post]

Internet: 32 parks to get Wifi. (Free access for three 10-minutes periods every month; 99 cents for daily access after that). [Patrick McGreehan / New York Times]

Buffalo: "But [Schumer's] latest small-bore issue didn't exactly resonate in Buffalo. A check with bars on Chippewa and with police on area college campuses found that the Chinese-made fake IDs do not pose a widespread problem in this area." [Lou Michel / Buffalo News]

Nassau: Mangano and Stack promise to work together. [Celeste Hadrick / Newsday]

Media: Dominic Carter's conviction overturned. [Richard Huff / Daily News]

Media: Newsweek must have gone out of their way to find a bad Bachman photo. [Jon Stewart]