Isn’t That . . . : Effi...

Isn’t That . . . : Effi Barry, wife of D.C. Mayor Marion Barry, attracted considerable attention shopping with son Christopher at a food store in Washington earlier this week. The city’s first lady, in a jade silk dress and pearls, left her security guard with the shopping cart in the checkout line while she shopped the aisles. She then patiently waited some 20 minutes in line, and although she was recognized, no one approached her.

Driven: Roxanne Pulitzer, 39, who parlayed her lurid 1982 divorce into a career as a novelist, has been accused of cavorting with a race car driver who two weeks ago filed for divorce from his wife of five years, the Palm Beach, Fla., Post reported Wednesday. Jean de la Moussaye, 27, who calls himself “count,” won’t say whether they had an affair, but they do have a business deal: He advertises her novel “Twins” on his race car. “Business indeed,” said his wife, Francine. “Monkey business.”

How’s That, Mario?: New York Gov. Mario Cuomo says he doesn’t want to run for the presidency but he made a telltale slip of the tongue in New York Wednesday night. Cuomo was finishing up a speech calling for support of his re-election when he said: “You need me in this White--whoa.” After the crowd gave him a 30-second ovation, Cuomo said: “I think I kept you here one sentence too long.”

Hospital Report: The president of the Mormon Church has been released from the hospital after he was treated for blood clots on the brain. Ezra Taft Benson, 91, went home Wednesday after two operations at LDS hospital in Salt Lake City. The leader of the 7.5 million-member Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was hospitalized Sept. 18 suffering severe headaches and difficult swallowing.