WEEK IN REVIEW: Reporters’ notebook
Las Vegas city officials went out of their whey last week to avoid having developers and builders get cheesed off over an update to building codes.
Some extra sharp eyes in City Hall noticed that the recently updated "Unified Development Code" included a typo in some street-building requirements that called for "curd and gutter" instead of "curb and gutter," a situation one councilman milked for a cheap pun.
"A cheesy mistake," Ward 3 Councilman Bob Coffin quipped during a recommending committee meeting in which the error was discussed and forwarded to the City Council for correction.
Planning manager Doug Rankin was glad to correct the confusing language, but he hoped it wouldn't make dairy lobbyists turn sour on the city.
"The cheesemakers are going to be upset because we are not requiring curd," Rankin said.
BENJAMIN SPILLMAN
California condor condoms? Devil's Hole pupfish prophylactics? The Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental group, mailed out 100,000 "endangered species" condoms to be given away on college campuses across the country during Earth Day events.
Artist Roger Peet created a special edition of colorful condom packages featuring threatened and endangered species from the dwarf seahorse to the polar bear.
"What better day than Earth Day to get people talking about overpopulation and its environmental impact?" campaign coordinator Amy Harwood said. "We add 80 million people to the planet each year, leading to pollution, habitat destruction, and the prospect of extinction for thousands of species already living on the brink."
Is the group's next campaign "Save the Rubber Tree"?
KEITH ROGERS
TWEET OF THE WEEK:
@STetreaultDC (Stephens Media Washington bureau chief commenting and retweeting his bureau mate's link to a cherry bomb explosion in a GSA bathroom): @Peter_H_Urban FOIA docs on #GSA exploding toilet. As if they didn't have enough problems.
