Reporter’s Notebook

WAS IT DEJA VU WHEN the historic Moulin Rouge, the city's first integrated casino, caught fire on Wednesday? It sure seemed like it.

Remarked one journalist from another media outlet: "That thing burns so often that at some point it's going to be newsworthy when the Moulin Rouge isn't on fire."

DAVID KIHARA

OVERHEARD ON THE SCANNER: "He has not had anything to eat or drink. However, he is advising that Satan is in his room."

MONTANA GOV. BRIAN SCHWEITZER'S STATE GOVERNMENT IS RUNNING A BUDGET SURPLUS, and he couldn't help rubbing it in just a bit during a recent trip to Las Vegas.

During a recent conference call on the federal stimulus legislation with state governors and Vice President Joe Biden, Schweitzer joshed Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons about the money Montana stood to get from Washington. "I said, 'Jim, we're not sure how we're going to spend it in Montana. We have a surplus,'" Schweitzer recounted. " 'I thought maybe we'd come to Las Vegas and put it all on black.'"

Though Nevada's share of the stimulus money is only a fraction of what the state would need to fill its budget shortfall, Gibbons was a good sport about it, according to Schweitzer.

"He said, 'I bet we could even throw in a room for a night.'"

MOLLY BALL

IN PREPARATION FOR HELLDORADO DAYS THIS WEEK, Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman emerged from a dressing room Thursday dressed head to toe in Western garb, looking the part of a well-heeled cowboy, and apparently wanting to play the part as well.

"You look like you're ready to play poker," said Jace Radke, a city spokesman.

"Or shoot someone," Goodman responded.

"Well, the news conference is at 11," Radke said. "You can probably find someone to shoot there."

ALAN CHOATE

GOODMAN DIDN'T BRING A GUN TO THE NEWS CONFERENCE, but he apparently will have one later this week as Helldorado Days gets under way.

And he joked that he'd be looking for D. Taylor of the Culinary Union. Goodman and Taylor verbally sparred at last week's council meeting when the mayor tried to strictly enforce a 3-minute time limit on Taylor's remarks, even though he often lets other speakers run over the public comment time limits.

"I'll have a pistol and a holster, and I'll be looking for some of the people who speak over the limit at City Council meetings," Goodman said.

ALAN CHOATE

THERE'S SOME CONFUSION ABOUT THE NAME OF A PARTICULAR RODEO EVENT scheduled on Thursday night during Helldorado Days. One organizer called it, "Panties on a Calf," but was quickly corrected. In reality, supposedly, it's called "Bloomers on a Baby Bovine."

The festival's Web site simply refers to it as "Dress the Calf."

We're just glad it's not "Lingerie on a Lion."

ALAN CHOATE

THE LEGISLATIVE SESSION IN CARSON CITY CAN BE A BIT OF A BUBBLE, with a campuslike atmosphere divorced from ordinary human concerns. It's a place where the most important people make less than $4,500 a year, yet a million dollars in the budget is considered pocket change.

And yet they are still, technically, human beings, as state Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford noted in a hearing last week.

"It's hard when you're just looking at numbers on a sheet" to understand the impact of education programs, he said. "Over the last few weeks, I've basically made it a part of my schedule, when I get back home, I take that time to go out and talk to real people -- not that anyone in Carson City is not real."

MOLLY BALL