No news is all bad.  Take the state budget mess, for instance.

• The moment Gov. Paterson declared it a “crisis”, his poll numbers shot up.
• The same Quinnipiac poll finds that most of us want millionaires to bear the brunt of filling the budget hole.
• Paterson’s calling the showdown over state spending “High Noon”, and he’s Gary Cooper.
• Crisis?  What crisis, says one state Assemblyman.
• When the Senate comes back on Friday, it is likely to approve the Gov’s school property tax cap.  Senate leader Dean Skelos answered questions about the cap from school board members.
• Meantime, some lobbying groups want the old David Paterson back.

All Spitzer, All The Time:

They may have been working on budgets in Albany yesterday, but they were talking about something different.  Hundreds of pages of documents were released Tuesday, from the investigation into former Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s attempt to bash then-Senate leader Joe Bruno over Bruno’s state-funded travel.  I could provide literally 25 links to stories on this.  Google it if you’re as interested as the Albany pols.

I also hear (can’t find the doggoned link) that Spitzer’s prostitute is now the mascot for a bar.  16th minute of fame officially underway.

Real News, Elsewhere:

• State pension fund drops, but by not as much as other pension funds.
• Paterson signed a bill to slow down home foreclosures.
• Environmental groups want Paterson to enforce a truck emissions law.
• Assembly Democrats want something done on home heating costs before winter hits.
• The challenge to Paterson’s gay marriage order begins tomorrow.
• An expensive, balky statewide emergency communications system is down to the deadline.
• The state will look into medicaid fraud after newspaper points out lots of it.

Apropos Of Not Very Much:

• Imagine: No more pizza shop coupons hung on my doorknob and bar band flyers under my windshield wiper.
• Buffalo’s new city slogan:  Dying faster than the rest.
• Funny, no one ever wants a second ride.

And Finally:

• John McCain calls Barack Obama a celebrity like Paris Hilton, and Paris Hilton’s insulted.