Ronald McDonald walked onto the stage of the Apollo Theater on Wednesday night to introduce the first two performers during the venue's weekly Amateur Night.

The handful of young children in the audience were delighted, but others seemed confused by the appearance of such an incongruous corporate mascot on the hallowed Harlem stage.  read more »

Here's a sort of pre-emptive argument that Assemblyman Peter Rivera of the Bronx made to me earlier about the standard that Cuomo might apply to determine whether member items -- particularly those sought by representatives of minority districts -- are in the "public interest":

"As a Hispanic, if the question is whether affirmative action is in the public interest and whether monies are allocated to various groups, like African-Americans, Hispanics, that service those communities that have been disenfranchised, I would hope that the standard that the attorney general is going to use is not the standard the federal government has used to determine what is in the public interest."

"I'll give you a perfect example. We've given money to the Apollo Theater. Apollo Theater is African-American. Question: is that in the public interest because it's going to a particular group, the African-American group?