WEEK IN REVIEW: Reporters’ notebook
You know those online petitions from people in Nevada and other states asking to secede from the U.S.?
Well, that isn’t the only serious issue now finding a voice on the official White House website.
Consider this petition, launched Friday: “We the undersigned hereby request Barack Obama to immediately nationalize the Twinkie industry and prevent our nation from losing her sweet creamy center.”
HENRY BREAN
Former Chicago Mayor Richard Daley had this to say in a Thursday speech at UNLV: “There has been a long history and tradition of back and forth between Las Vegas and Chicago for many, many years.”
He appeared to be referencing Midwestern visitors to Las Vegas, but the city has played host to some other guys from Chicago who weren’t coming to Nevada for the sunshine.
BENJAMIN SPILLMAN
Helen Mortenson is a Las Vegas institution, especially in scientific circles. She moved here in 1962, and has been active in groups dedicated to archaeology and geology almost ever since.
So it made perfect sense for the woman who has dedicated so much of her time to protecting mammoth fossils in the northwest valley to get personalized license plates that read “ICE AGE.”
But the DMV needed convincing. When Mortenson tried to order her plates, she said the clerk stopped her with a question: “Does that have something to do with drugs?”
HENRY BREAN
In a sentencing report for convicted pimp Ocean Fleming, prosecutors sought a maximum penalty of 22 years to life in prison .
Defense lawyer Robert Draskovich said prosecutors were being a bit overzealous in their assessment of Fleming.
“It would appear this man is the root of all evil. They did leave out the high unemployment rate. They did leave out Hurricane Sandy. Everything else they blame this man for,” Draskovich said.
Fleming was slapped with a 17-years-to-life prison term by Judge Michael Villani.
FRANCIS McCABE
