Wynn's newest development is actually the $2.1 billion Encore.

According to some pundits, the Anchor is what Steve Wynn hung around his neck after dealers at Wynn Las Vegas overwhelmingly voted in favor of union representation a week ago.

HOWARD STUTZ

YOU KNOW THE CITY OF LAS VEGAS' FINANCIAL SITUATION ISN'T GOOD when Hizzoner can't even muster the chutzpah to pretend to be mayor over everything.

During a grim budget hearing last week, there was a pregnant moment during grim reports of revenue growth.

Councilman Gary Reese chimed in with this comment: "We're getting a 7-foot center," he said, referring to UNLV basketball recruit Beas Hamga.

"I understand, but he's out in the county," responded Mayor Oscar Goodman.

DAVID McGRATH SCHWARTZ

ALL THAT WAS MISSING WAS SOMEONE YELLING "PUNKED!" at interim Councilwoman Brenda Williams.

At Tuesday's special Las Vegas City Council meeting, the council members all agreed to dress in Western wear at the next day's meeting to publicize the Helldorado Days Parade.

On Wednesday, only rookie Williams showed up sporting a fashionable white cowgirl hat.

The rest were in their normal formal wear.

DAVID McGRATH SCHWARTZ

DISTRICT JUDGE LEE GATES DIDN'T BUY a defense lawyer's argument last week when she sought to delay a murder trial. An expert who testified for the prosecution in the case could not determine whether fingerprints found on shell casings matched those of the defendant. With more time, Deputy Public Defender Andrea Luem told the judge, "perhaps" a defense expert could exclude the defendant as the source of the prints.

"With more time, perhaps O.J. will find the real killer," Gates quipped before denying the request.

CARRI GEER THEVENOT

JUDGE ROBERT KELLEY, WHO PRESIDES OVER TRAFFIC COURT at the Regional Justice Center, has heard a lot of excuses over the years.

Husbands usually blame their wives; wives usually blame their husbands.

Then there was the guy who blamed his brother. "He said 'My brother stole my license,'" Kelley recalled last week.

The driver brought his brother into the courtroom with visible bruises on his face.

Kelley asked, "Did you steal your brother's license?"

"Yes," the man replied.

"Did your brother do this to your face?"

He again said yes.

When asked what happened, Kelley said he "had the clerk transfer the ticket" to the thieving brother.

K.C. HOWARD

The gang in the Over the Hedge comic has been dabbling in hard news of late, trying to figure out where the nation's honeybees have mysteriously disappeared to.

Where did the comic's critters find the bees? The same place where many of those missing Southern California and Rust Belt residents have turned up over the years: Las Vegas.

It's fitting that Over the Hedge should make a cameo appearance in Las Vegas. After all, as one of the Review-Journal's most alert readers pointed out, one of the main characters is named RJ.

SOUTH FLORIDA SUN-SENTINEL

To Vegas, baby, but not for fun, they say

Florida officials are taking some heat for traveling to Las Vegas on the taxpayer dime.

Officials from Margate, Lauderdale Lakes and Hollywood will spend four days in Las Vegas, and taxpayers will pick up the $40,000 bill, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported.

Starting today, 17 officials will be in town to represent their cities at the spring convention of the International Council of Shopping Centers, schmoozing with companies and trying to convince them to open stores and headquarters in Broward County, the newspaper reported.

The trip is to lure businesses and increase the sales tax base.

"This isn't a vacation or a frills trip. We're all going to be occupied," Lauderdale Lakes Commissioner Eric Haynes told the newspaper.

But not everyone is buying into that mission.

"Commissioners should have stayed behind and allowed the people's business to continue," Lauderdale Lakes resident Tycie Causwell told the Sun-Sentinel.

The convention of the International Council of Shopping Centers attracts more than 50,000 retailers, developers, bankers and brokers to the Las Vegas gathering.

"I wish the convention was in Timbuktu" to prevent any similarity to a junket, said Gary Rogers, who heads Lauderdale Lakes' community redevelopment agency.