MINTED: Elvis Presley Enterprises has licensed a company to replace George Washington on some of Tennessee's 2002 quarters with a color illustration of the King on the 25th anniversary of his death. Secret Service Agent Tim Viertel told the Associated Press that defacing American currency is a misdemeanor crime, but, in this case, "I don't know of a U.S. attorney's office around who would prosecute it" . . . SPONSORED: Wheaties has a new cover girl on its cereal boxes: Olympic gold-winning skater Sarah Hughes, 16. "This is really a dream come true," the Long Island native gushed at a press conference Monday. "My next goal," said the high school junior, "is to get in the high 1500s on my SATs.". . . REMEMBERED: "Pippi Longstocking" author Astrid Lindgren, who died a month ago at the age of 94, will be honored on a set of postage stamps in her native Sweden. The 47-cent issues, due on March 5, will depict the writer and six of her most popular characters, says the AP: Pippi, Karlsson on the Roof, Madicken, Emil, the Brothers Lionheart and Lotta from "The Children of Troublemaker Street". . . INVESTIGATED: Producer Lou Pearlman, the man who assembled 'N Sync and Backstreet Boys (who have since broken business ties with him), is under scrutiny by the Florida Department of Labor for possibly violating child labor laws. The investigation, says the AP, was triggered by a complaint filed by Merrily Goodell, the mother of two members of Take 5, a group Pearlman put together that never made the big time. Group members say Pearlman worked them long hours and paid them so little money they couldn't buy food. Pearlman calls the charges preposterous . . . RESURFACED: One-time teen heartthrob Leif Garrett, 40, who admits to having had drug problems in the past, has begun singing and touring with a hard-rock band called F8. "I've toured arenas first, and now I'm doing clubs. I've always done things backward in my life," he told the Newark (N.J.) Star-Ledger.