Reporters’ Notebook

To Henderson commuters who did a double take last week as they merged onto U.S. Highway 95 at Horizon Drive, rest assured: Dario Herrera is not running for office again, despite the large campaign sign declaring his candidacy for Assembly District 16.

The sign, posted for several days near the northbound onramp, apparently is a relic from his successful 1996 campaign.

"It sounds like someone's playing a joke, quite frankly," said Larry Lomax, Clark County's registrar of voters.

After one term in the Assembly, Herrera became a Clark County commissioner. Then he went to prison for his role in a highly publicized corruption case. As a felon, he is barred from running for office again.

Herrera said he didn't know anything about the sign.

"That's news to me," he said Friday, after changing his newborn son Teo's diaper.

Herrera suspected someone is planning to cover the A-frame sign and reuse it for a different campaign.

"Or maybe someone's just out there having fun. Who knows?" he said, adding with a laugh, "They're not out there because I asked anyone to put them out there, that's for sure."

CARRI GEER THEVENOT

The first day of school is an anxious time. Superintendent Walt Rulffes, who is retiring soon, wanted to sound reassuring about Monday, his last such first day.

"We're going to start school," he said. "We're not going to lose any students. We haven't lost any in my entire time. Those we did lose temporarily we found before their parents knew about it. So we have a good record."

JAMES HAUG

During an interview for a recent story, a reporter misstated Lucy McClain's age as 93, so McClain sweetly corrected her.

"I'm 86, dear," she said. "Let's not make it any worse than it is."

KRISTI JOURDAN