NEW THIS MORNING

DOES THE IDC HAVE A PAC PROBLEM?: The four-member Independent Democratic Conference has raised $224,000 for its PAC, but unlike the Democratic and Republican conferences, it may not be able to spend it freely for its members: http://bit.ly/yxrFT1 NEW THIS MORNING: * Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver's plan to raise the minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to $8.50 emerged last night, with the Daily News saying Senate Republicans were noncommittal (http://nydn.us/zT8Inu ) while the Post said they would block it (http://nyp.St/x0hcRK). * The New York Times notes how Gov. Andrew Cuomo's new Department of Financial Services is encroaching on Attorney General Eric Schneiderman's traditional turf: http://nyti.ms/wzjZFf * Cuomo's budget seeks to overhaul 19th-century civil service rules to make it easier to hire and transfer state workers, which union leaders say would open the door to patronage abuses, the Wall Street Journal says: http://on.wsj.com/waE0fs   * New York Republican leaders worry that a Newt Gingrich win over Mitt Romney in Florida's Republican presidential primary would hurt the party slate here, prompting talk of sending an uncommitted slate of delegates to the national convention, the Post's Fred Dicker writes: http://nyp.st/ACSRFB * As MTA contract talks hit a stalemate, the Daily News finds a union flyer urging subway operators to enter stations "with extra care" as a potential slowdown (http://nydn.us/A0zgDR), while the Post finds an MTA email ordering supervisors to write up five workers each month for discipline (http://nyp.St/x5bbik). * Mayor Michael Bloomberg is enamored of high tech, but New York City is seeking bids to replace 1,172 typewriters at agencies that still use the old machines for filling out forms, the Post says: http://nyp.st/A6VCzh