Looking back on the year 2007

Now that you've finished with Dave Barry's Year in Review -- and if you haven't read it yet, please turn to Page 1D and enjoy -- we offer a look back at an equally wacky 2007 in Nevada. And with apologies to Mr. Barry, we aren't making this stuff up:

State Parole Board officials said a law forcing them to comply with open meeting requirements would require that they get an extra $3.3 million to hire eight new analysts. ... The state Supreme Court condemned a local attorney who defended insurance companies for telling a jury things such as, "This is a case where the plaintiffs are trying to get something for nothing," and, "It's cases like this that make people skeptical and distrustful of lawyers and their clients." ... Having fought to kill a ballot initiative that would have limited state spending hikes to a combination of inflation and population growth, the state AFL-CIO then went after a proposed referendum to impose a Proposition 13-style limit on property taxes. The union's secretary-treasurer, Danny Thompson, said, "Our motivation for (suing to stop the initiative) is they would put people in a position where they will pay more in taxes in some cases." ...

O.J. Simpson in Las Vegas. Enough said. ... The State Bar said a plan to force all attorneys to submit their advertisements to a screening panel had no First Amendment ramifications. ... Union Pacific was at a loss to explain how a tanker full of chlorine gas escaped the company's Arden rail yard in August and rolled through Las Vegas. ... Somebody stole nearly 100 computers from a Las Vegas warehouse that housed equipment for the state welfare agency, but police dropped the investigation because bureaucrats were unable to tell them specific details, including when the equipment vanished. ... A local woman's request that she be allowed to take home her placenta after giving birth at Sunrise Hospital was originally refused when hospital officials labeled the organ "contaminated biohazardous waste." ...

A Review-Journal series found that the state and local institutions most affected by illegal immigration -- school districts, public hospitals, etc. -- have no interest in documenting the economic costs they incur as a result of illegal immigration. ... Gov. Jim Gibbons signed Assembly Bill 14, which aims to fight graffiti by making it illegal to carry spray paint "in public places." ... When the governor told state agencies to prepare contingency budgets reflecting an anticipated fall in projected revenue, university system Chancellor Jim Rogers said he wouldn't comply -- and argued the governor should call a special legislative session to raise taxes. ... A scientist with a Colorado environmental research institute told Congress that Lake Mead could be dry in 10 years. ...

During the final hours of the 2007 Legislature, lawmakers passed raises of more than 20 percent for state and local judges. ... The Assembly Ways and Means Committee killed a bill -- passed 17-4 in the state Senate -- that would have prohibited illegal immigrants from receiving the state's taxpayer-subsidized Millennium Scholarship. Meanwhile, the Assembly approved a measure to punish harshly employers who knowingly hired illegals. ... Four Republicans on a state Senate committee nixed a bill that would have made it more difficult for judges to seal cases from public view. ... Enrollment in the Clark County School District increased about 3.8 percent last year; the school district's budget went up almost 10 percent. ... Lawmakers in Carson City set aside just $50 million to address the state's $4.1 billion in unfunded health care benefits for retired government workers. ...

Nevada Sen. Harry Reid, who in 2003 voted in favor of legislation banning partial-birth abortion, criticized the U.S. Supreme Court when it voted 5-4 last April to uphold the law. ... In winning election to a third term, Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman expressed disappointment that he garnered only 84 percent of the vote, short of the 90 percent he was seeking. "It is what it is," he said. ... The city had to cough up $10,000 apiece to three homeless men who were arrested and jailed by marshals under an ordinance that had been repealed. ... Michael Galardi, the strip club owner who admitted bribing numerous local officials, said he was "shocked and stunned" to receive a 30-month sentence in the federal pen. ... Liberal activists killed a planned Nevada debate for Democratic presidential hopefuls because the event was co-sponsored by Fox News. ...

Freshman Assemblyman Ty Cobb, R-Reno, was castigated for not knowing his place when he cast the lone vote against electing Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, as Assembly speaker. Ms. Buckley characterized Mr. Cobb's vote as "disappointing" and in "bad taste." ... In defending a local graffiti artist, a Las Vegas attorney told a judge, "He's a good kid. It's not graffiti, it's tagging. He's an artist." ... The state Ethics Commission spent 90 minutes hearing the case of a Storey County School Board member who allegedly tried to finagle $4 in free bottled water at a Virginia City football game. ... The gaming industry went to court to block a teachers union ballot question that would raise the gaming tax by 3 percentage points to put more money into public education. ... A few months after it was revealed that Harrah's Entertainment had embarked upon room renovations at the Rio without proper permits, it came to light that workers had removed safety equipment from one floor at the company's Flamingo property to obtain a part so another floor could pass inspection. ...

Rather than be forced to vote on their own pay raises, members of the City Council approved a plan that would automatically tie their pay rate to the salaries earned by Clark County commissioners, whose wages are set by state lawmakers. ... The Southern Nevada Water Authority admitted that a pipeline intended to bring water to Las Vegas from rural Nevada would actually cost $3.5 billion, rather than the $2 billion originally estimated. ... As wildfires raged through Southern California in October, the U.S. Forest Service admitted an effort to remove dry and flammable dead trees near Mount Charleston has been held up by environmental studies. ... The state Supreme Court in October heard a case in which a woman wanted the Las Vegas 51s held liable after she was struck by a foul ball while attending a game. ...

Enjoy the new year, because 2008 will bring more of the same.