* Frenemies Unite! The Nevada Legislature may have come up short of a veto-proof majority to extend domestic partnership rights to same-sex couples on Friday and the divorcing governor seems likely to defend the sanctity of an institution he himself has repeatedly demeaned, but something even more important happened this weekend. The Review-Journal's publisher, Sherm Frederick, leader of one of the most conservative editorial pages in America and someone whose journalistic decisions I frequently baffle over, endorsed -- I'm not making this up -- full-on gay marriage. What's more, he told his fellow conservatives that support of legal protections for families like mine is a conservative ideal that strengthens communities! I don't know if Sherm's commentary is enough to reverse the two votes in each house needed to override a veto, but it certainly is yet another significant landmark in the obvious and irreversible march toward marriage equality in America. And, as a side note, he also attacked the vermin Perez Hilton for his disastrous efforts to slime Miss California for stating her opinion. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I couldn't agree with Sherm more from beginning to end.* While I'm At It... I have my problems with the Vegas media, to be sure, and I say so often enough. But my six days in South Florida made me realize we have it better here than I thought. The Sunday edition of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel was shameful and flimsy, with an awful design and precious little locally produced copy. What was there was incredibly dull and mostly puffery anyhow. I'm an alum of both newspapers (R-J 96-99, S-S 99-00) and I'm here to say that the Sunday R-J is a better, more substantive, more sophisticated, better-looking newspaper than the Sunday S-S. It's not even close. And I'm not even including the Pulitzer-winning Las Vegas Sun in the equation! The S-S' latest resdesign makes it resemble a high school newspaper, and that's sad because this was once one of the nation's most respected dailies. Also on a related front, there are three NPR stations operating in South Florida and each one of them goes to all-music at nights and on weekends? Wow. Congrats to Flo Rogers and the rest of the gang at KNPR and good luck on that fund drive.
* Happy economic news, too! Ben Spillman writes today that the classy British Airways will begin daily non-stop service from Heathrow to McCarran starting in October. Fares will start at $461 r/t. So somebody's crunching numbers and thinks that Vegas isn't completely dead yet.
