Reporters’ Notebook

DURING CHILD MOLESTER CHESTER STILES' TRIAL, defense attorney Stacey Roundtree grilled an FBI agent about the kind of investigations the agency does.

This included national security cases, FBI agent Andrew Gruninger said.

Roundtree called the FBI's investigations "I could tell you but then I'd have to kill you" kinds of cases.

"I don't know about that," Gruninger replied.

DAVID KIHARA

AFTER A JURY CONVICTED STILES of all 22 counts against him, this dull-witted reporter asked county prosecutor Mary Kay Holthus if the videotape showing Stiles sexually assaulting a 2-year-old girl played a large role in the guilty verdict.

"You just kept a straight face when you asked that, didn't you?" Holthus said.

DAVID KIHARA

A REPORTER WAS GRILLING SEN. JOHN ENSIGN'S SPOKESMAN, Tory Mazzola, on whether funding for fish hatcheries was properly included in the $787 billion stimulus bill.

Ensign, R-Nev., had cited it as an example of what was wrong with the bill, despite having sought earmarks himself for Nevada fish hatcheries in the past.

Mazzola argued that funding for fish hatcheries isn't wasteful spending necessarily; it's just not the sort of thing that should be in a bill intended to jump-start the economy and help struggling families.

Families of fish would certainly be helped, the reporter joked.

Mazzola replied: "Those are schools of fish, not families of fish."

So can we call it education funding?

MOLLY BALL

THE CITY OF LAS VEGAS OFFERED a pretty compelling reason for refusing to renew the business license of Hawaii Relax Tanning and Spa: "substantial evidence to support that this is not a tanning salon."

That evidence included female employees dressed in lingerie who gave massages to undercover police officers and reportedly agreed to sex acts for money. Also, while several rooms had useful cots, only one had a tanning bed.

And to top it all off, Mayor Oscar Goodman had a reason to take the case personally.

In photographs of the spa's interior, Goodman's picture -- along with those of Princess Diana and other celebrities -- could be seen hanging on the wall above a list of prices for the salon's services. (No, not "those" services. Spa stuff.)

"It's unbelievable that I could be put in an embarrassing spot and be completely innocent," Goodman said.

ALAN CHOATE