Week in Review: Reporters’ Notebook

The Center for Biological Diversity announced that, on New Year's Eve, they would be giving away 50,000 endangered species condoms in an effort to "raise awareness about the devastating impacts of human overpopulation" on endangered species. Why New Year's Eve? "Because New Year's Eve is one of the biggest days of the year for condom use."

Really, Center for Biological Diversity news release guys?

May we humbly suggest that while perhaps New Year's Eve should be one of the biggest days for condom use, our experience covering the festivities on the Strip that night tells us that is not likely the reality.

RICHARD LAKE

District Judge Valorie Vega is no fan of gotcha' journalism. Asked if a television reporter's question about why Vega "forced" a jury to work overnight in a recent murder trial was an accurate assessment, Vega responded with a bit of heat in her voice: "That's like the, 'When did you stop beating your wife?' question," she said. "I felt like she had already written the story by the time she got around to calling me."

DOUG McMURDO

Official Week in Review predictions for 2011:

■ A celebrity will be arrested in Las Vegas on charges related to sex, drugs or rock 'n' roll.

■ While the local economy struggles, experts will predict a rise in housing prices, a drop in housing prices, lower unemployment, higher unemployment, a decline in foreclosures and a spike in foreclosures.

■ A Nevada politician will become entangled in a scandal involving sex, drugs or rock 'n' roll.

■ Oscar Goodman will retire as mayor of Las Vegas, leaving a big, blank space on this page.

■ A developer of a major project will go bankrupt -- wait, are there any left?

■ A Las Vegas police officer will represent on the scanner that a person, probably a male, who is naked, is doing something that would generally be acceptable if clothed, i.e. crossing the street or eating a hot dog.

■ Our new governor, Brian Sandoval, will not fall off a horse, be accused of assaulting a cocktail waitress, or be caught, tabloid-style, by TV cameras, with a strange woman at the airport, dampening the spirits of Week in Review staffers everywhere.