Miscellaney From Around Town

- Not only is The Polar Express rotten, but little kids get hurt on their way to seeing it. A class field trip to the Loews Lincoln Square IMAX showing of The Polar Express went kablooey thanks to an errant escalator. NY1's report is unintentionally funny:

The children [ages 6-11], on a field trip to see the IMAX version of “Polar Express,” were riding the escalator when it suddenly stopped and then moved backwards, according to a teacher accompanying the students. One girl fell, causing a ripple effect.

- The woman who stole $850,000 from the Whitney Museum - in cash, thanks to being in charge of visitor admissions - pleaded guilty to embezzlement charges yesterday. The judge okayed Naseem Wahlah's lawyer's request that Wahlah perform community service in Pittsburgh. Gothamist isn't sure about sentencing of embezzlement charges, but the police had recovered $800 from Wahlah's house. Wahlah's sidekick, Rowan Fowley, who pleaded guilty to third larceny with his theft of $30,000, was given probation earlier.

- Mother Nature punk'd the city; the city finally cancelled the Winter Festival, after the unseasonably warm-for-January weather has made it "too warm to make artificial snow." The Winter Festival would have featured cross-country skiing, tubing, and snowboarding in Central Park. Damn, we would have loved to see the Mayor on a slide again.