Reporters’ Notebook

SO, THIS IS WHAT THEY DO WHEN THEY ARE DRIVING AROUND BORED.

Overheard on the scanner:

Two men rocking out to the radio: "Cause what I need is what I need."

Dispatcher: "Units check your mikes."

Two men rocking out to the radio:

"Cause what I need is what I need."

Dispatcher: "Units singing on southwest, check your mikes."

One man not rocking out to the radio: "Unit checked mikes, able."

THERE IS A DEFINITE GENERATION GAP -- OR TWO -- between university students and the regents who oversee the state's higher education system.

During a Thursday Board of Regents Committee meeting about where and how UNLV student government spends its money, Business Manager Dave Hill read a list of events it had to pay for, including concerts with groups "Bone Thugs-N-Harmony" and "Three 6 Mafia."

Regent Steve Sisolak, who has a daughter at UNLV, immediately whirled around, wide-eyed, to face Hill.

"Wait, what ... ?!" he exclaimed.

"They're rap groups," Hill quietly replied.

"Oh," said Sisolak, shaking his head. "I was hearing mafia and bones."

LAWRENCE MOWER

LAS VEGAS MAYOR OSCAR GOODMAN ISN'T KNOWN FOR HIS HEALTHY LIFESTYLE -- it is, after all, hard to balance a martini on the treadmill -- but last week he vowed to shape up.

On Thursday, the mayor announced that Las Vegas is one of five cities to become part of We Can!, a National Institutes of Health program aimed at preventing childhood obesity. (That's "Ways to Enhance Children's Activity & Nutrition," for all you fans of clever acronyms.)

The announcement plugged fitness opportunities at the city's community centers and parks, but Goodman also put in a good word for the Andre Agassi 24-Hour Fitness location in the downtown Molasky Corporate Center.

He noted that Mayor Pro Tem Gary Reese and his wife joined that gym -- and pretty soon they'll have a workout buddy.

"I'm going to be joining after the first of the year," Goodman said. "I'm going to load up before the first of the year, but after the first of the year I'm going to take it off again."

ALAN CHOATE

AFTER MEETING WITH THE R-J'S EDITORIAL BOARD, members of the Nevada Department of Transportation were heard whispering.

"I think it went well," said one official.

"Me too," agreed another.

Little did they know. ...

FRANCIS McCABE

CELINE DION, WHO WRAPS UP HER 41/2-YEAR STINT at Caesars Palace this month, told People magazine she caught a case of stage fright the first time her young son watched her perform at the Strip hotel. "One evening when he was about 4, he said, 'I want to go to the show,'" Dion told the magazine.

As René-Charles sat in her dressing room, Dion told People, "I started to feel nauseous for the first time in my life."

Reporters' Notebook never saw Dion's show, but we're pretty sure we would have had a similar reaction.