Reporters’ Notebook

MICHAEL RAYMOND, A PILOT for Las Vegas-based Vision Airlines, flew rescue workers and supplies to Haiti in the wake of Tuesday's 7.0 earthquake.

When asked to e-mail photographs of his experience to the Review-Journal, he said, "I'm going to have to ask my younger daughter to do it. You can put any jet in front of me, and I'll know how to fly it, but that's something I don't know how to do."

KRISTI JOURDAN

CLARK COUNTY SCHOOLS SUPERINTENDENT Walt Rulffes has faced his share of angry parents. So when he was introduced to educators at a conference in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, he opened his remarks with a smile.

"It is a rare opportunity," he said, "to have a room full of people and cameras rolling and have the crowd not be hostile."

STEVE TEREAULT

SCHOOL BOARD PRESIDENT TERRI JANISON is asking the public to emulate the Masai warriors of Africa. The tribesmen are so focused on the welfare of youth that asking each other, "How are the children?" is their standard greeting.

To follow their example, the quote "How are the children?" will remain on video screens during breaks in School Board meetings this year.

What Janison didn't say is the Masai are also known for practicing the most severe form of female circumcision, removing all or a part of the external female genitalia of girls in puberty.

JAMES HAUG

OSCAR GOODMAN FORGOT TWO THINGS at his State of the City speech last week. The Las Vegas mayor excluded his beloved Mob Museum in a list of downtown projects, which he later admitted was an oversight. And he skipped a quote from Dan Brown's latest novel that matched the mayor's upbeat message: "I've learned never to close my mind to an idea simply because it seems miraculous."

The speech clocked in at about 30 minutes, which is long for Goodman. A lawyer/politician who doesn't go on and on? Don't close your mind. Maybe it really is a miracle.

ALAN CHOATE