Chris Christie Fires Back

And now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine:

Wedding Bells

Congratulations are in order for Montana Democrat Max Baucus. The Senate Finance Committee chairman announced over the holidays that he is engaged to Melodee Hanes -- a former staffer -- and will marry this summer.

Back in 2009, Baucus acknowledged he was in a relationship with Hanes when he nominated her to be Montana's U.S. attorney. Hanes withdrew her nomination and now works at the Justice Department. Calls for an ethics investigation of Baucus went nowhere.

The couple, who both left spouses in 2008 and were later divorced, have been living together on Capitol Hill. This will be Baucus' third marriage.

Big Apple Stink

A week after a winter storm dumped more than a foot and a half of snow on parts of the East Coast, trash service has finally resumed in New York City.

But as officials were criticized for clean-up delays, a union boss representing sanitation workers said the city couldn't rely on outside contractors, telling The New York Times -- quote -- "you can never count on the privates because they don't have to show up. What obligation do they have?"

However, The New York Post reports up to 720 sanitation workers -- roughly 11.5 percent -- called in sick last Monday and Tuesday following the storm. That's more than double the usual absenteeism rate.

One of the mounting trash piles actually did save a life. A man who jumped out of a ninth-floor window in an apparent suicide attempt is alive after his fall was cushioned by the garbage.

Blizzard Beach

And finally, New Jersey Republican Governor Chris Christie has shot back at critics who knocked his family vacation to Florida during that awful storm.

Christie told detractors he used his cell phone to stay updated and that he had more important things to do than -- quote -- "showboat on the back of a plow."

Christie said he'd long ago made a promise to his children that he had to keep -- quote -- "send my wife to Disney World with my four kids by herself? Oh, that would be an interesting move. I would then be divorced."