Reporters’ Notebook

THERE'S "NEWS YOU CAN USE," AND THEN THERE'S THIS:

When Las Vegas police and the FBI searched the home of a suspect in a string of bank robberies, they found Review-Journal stories about the heists taped to the man's bathroom mirrors.

Andre Byron Rogers Sr., 46, was arrested on Wednesday on three federal counts of bank robbery, and police said more charges are pending.

As police Lt. Clint Nichols put it in an e-mail to the reporter who wrote the stories found at Rogers' house, "Makes our job much easier when they become 'fans' of themselves."

ANTONIO PLANAS

DAVID CAIN BOWERS OF KNOXVILLE, TENN., WANTS TO COME TO LAS VEGAS AND TRY HIS LUCK AT CRAPS, OR MAYBE THE SLOTS.

After a recent conference on nuclear power and the media at the University of Tennessee, Bowers, a bartender at a restaurant near the campus, showed his driver's license to a curious reporter to prove he was born on July 7, 1977. Not only that, he weighed 7 pounds, 7 ounces.

Count 'em up: That's 7-7 on 7/7/77. Time to put $7 on the pass line, roll the dice and let it ride.

KEITH ROGERS

CALL IT THE NEWS CONFERENCE THAT ALMOST GOT LEFT BEHIND.

In its weekly newsletter of upcoming events, the Clark County School District's communications department originally omitted mention of the news conference for the annual results of No Child Left Behind, until the Review-Journal asked about it and the newsletter was amended.

It might seem like nothing, except for what school district officials were scheduled to announce: They failed to show sufficient progress this year.

JAMES HAUG

OVERHEARD ON THE SCANNER: "Thanks for gettin' outta bed and checkin' that one out."

TEENS IN THE GREEN ACADEMY OF TRAINING AND TECHNOLOGY PICKED UP 10-YEAR-OLD TRASH on Mount Charleston in a part of the forest that had been thinned out for the sake of fire prevention.

Archaeologists regularly discover things about ancient civilizations by studying the trash they leave behind, but the teens in the Big Brothers Big Sisters program learned only one thing of note about the Mount Charleston litterers. Said Patty Conant, litter program coordinator for the U.S. Forestry Service, "They were mostly beer drinkers."

JAMES HAUG

LIMP BIZKIT REUNITED AT THE PALMS ON JULY 18 FOR THE RAP-METAL ACT'S FIRST SHOW IN EIGHT YEARS.

The free concert apparently was a big success, although it was little hard to tell based on the review in Rolling Stone, which began like this:

"The line of cars weaving its way down Flamingo Road towards the Palms Casino in Las Vegas signified something big was going down Saturday night."

Right, because most Saturday nights, that sleepy stretch of road is all but deserted.

HENRY BREAN