Reporters’ Notebook

HAVE STATE BUDGET CUTS GOT YOU FEELING SQUEEZED? Assemblyman Joe Hardy knows how you feel and has a handy visual aid to prove it.

"One of the things we've recognized in this state is we've made cuts," the Boulder City Republican said at a recent candidate forum. "This is my new business card."

Hardy held up the mini-card he recently had printed, which is one-third the size of a regular business card and about twice the size of a postage stamp.

MOLLY BALL

OVERHEARD ON THE SCANNER: "Where is my sandwich?"

THE CEREMONIAL GROUNDBREAKING FOR THE FIRST BUILDING in a newly annexed part of North Las Vegas took place last week in a spiffy white tent with a breakfast buffet. The scene inspired David Carver, president of Apex Industrial Park, to reminisce. The park, he recalled, began as merely a 13,000-acre piece of vacant land.

"I'm proud to say that after 12 years of my leadership, it's now a 13,000-acre piece of land with a tent and an omelet bar," he said.

MOLLY BALL

ALSO ON HAND FOR THE EVENT WAS PERENNIALLY COWBOY-HATTED Clark County Commissioner Tom Collins.

He shared with the audience that he hadn't gotten much sleep because he had been up late baling hay and castrating bulls, an activity that left his hands stained with iodine.

"Commissioner, next time, I'd really appreciate you mentioning the bull castration before you shake my hand," Carver said.

MOLLY BALL

AT A RECENT MEETING, CLARK COUNTY COMMISSIONER Rory Reid spoke about the need to resolve a permit dispute.

Suddenly, thunder crashed overhead, punctuating his point. The audience gasped and fell into stunned silence.

Later, Reid laughed at his Zeus-like moment, but acted content to stick with less lofty duties. Like funding parks and roads.

SCOTT WYLAND

JONI KAISER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR FOR THE RENO-BASED COMMITTEE TO AID ABUSED WOMEN, said Nevada's budget woes have hit groups like hers pretty hard. They are facing a 28 percent cut to their largest revenue source: a portion of marriage license fees collected in Nevada.

That seems like a strange place for anti-domestic violence groups to get their money, Kaiser admits.

"For some reason, all the divorce money was already spoken for," she said.

HENRY BREAN