Phillip Kalantzis Cope

Good morning, East Village.

Over the past week we’ve witnessed the subtraction of some of New York’s Congressional representation, the addition of a former governor to NYU’s faculty, and the wild fluctuations of our weather thermometers. But for the near future, changes are looking to be for the warmer (we won’t try to predict the political ones). Snow is nowhere on the horizon, and we might reach 50s by next week.

But we aren’t the only ones obsessed with the weather. The Times has a nice round-up of how this winter has emptied the city coffers, slashed major crime numbers, interfered with all sorts of businesses – and even prevented a suicide. It also seems to have kept Christmas spirit in the air (or at least on the sidewalks), according to Gothamist.

But apparently, a little snow is nothing to deter cell phone thieves from grabbing your App-collector — DNAinfo tells us the East Village has seen quite a few phone thefts in the last month. Deputy Inspector Nancy Barry warns that thieves have a penchant for picking pockets on subway trains about to pull away, so they escape into the station while you stand clear of the closing doors. Clutch those tech toys near your heart, where they belong.

Worried that you might be mourning the loss of football season, Nearsay has profiled a solid bunch of neighborhood brunch spots to replace the game as your weekend excuse to … socialize.  Have a favorite that wasn’t mentioned? Do tell.