Reporters’ Notebook

THE LATE SEN. EDWARD KENNEDY will be remembered for many things, not the least of which was his ability to recite a nursery rhyme.

"I never heard a better or more passionate rendition of 'Itsy Bitsy Spider' than by Sen. Kennedy," U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said in an appearance last week at Harmon Elementary School in southeast Las Vegas.

Actually, in Kennedy's case, it probably sounded more like "Itsy Bitsy Spidah."

Duncan recalled the senator reciting the rhyme to kindergartners in Chicago. "You got some sense of the character of the man, his passion, his love for children."

JAMES HAUG

AT AN EVENT TO ANNOUNCE A MAJOR GIFT TO UNLV, U.S. Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., bragged that she went to the school years ago, when it was called Nevada Southern University.

When U.S. Sen. Harry Reid spoke, he noted that his wife, Landra, attended Nevada Southern, too. Indeed, she was a cheerleader, he said.

"They used to win some games in those days," he said to a chorus of groans and laughter.

RICHARD LAKE

THE RECENT INSTALLATION OF THE VINTAGE Bow and Arrow Motel sign on Las Vegas Boulevard had Mayor Oscar Goodman waxing poetic about neon and Las Vegas' history. It's the art form of Southern Nevada, he said.

"As jazz is to New Orleans, neon is to us," said the mayor.

Downside? You can't dance to it.

ALAN CHOATE

GOODSPRINGS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, FOUNDED IN 1913 in the small mining community near the California border, was recently listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Because of declining enrollment and budget issues, the Clark County School Board has considered closing it but decided to let it stay open for another year.

This was a contentious issue that Goodsprings native Steve Fleming was happy not to discuss as he presented the school board with the historic plaque for the elementary school.

"We're just happy to be here on a No-D Day -- no dilemma, no discussion, no dissertations, and no decisions."

JIM HAUG

THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL IS OFTEN STRESSFUL FOR EDUCATORS, but Superintendent Walt Rulffes was unusually serene Monday at the opening of Jerry and Charlotte Keller Elementary School in east Las Vegas. The new school is named after the former sheriff and his wife, a former special education teacher.

The local law enforcement community turned out for the ribbon cutting, prompting Rulffes to quip, "I've never felt so safe in my life. ... These bodyguards are packing heat."

JAMES HAUG