No News is Good News (Literally)

I've stated here a couple of times that no news story that contains positive information seems to be allowed to stand on its own nowadays.

NOTE: Channel 8's Denise Valedez just mentioned "these tough economic times". I wonder if there's a mandate from the news director to throw that phrase in several times a broadcast. I've even heard it during a weather segment. "War on Terror"? No thanks. "These tough economic times"? Yeah, baby. Can't get enough.

Ok, anyway...go and read the first sentence again, then come back.

There have been a couple of examples this week that again led me to think that you can't get an ounce of positive without having a gallon of crap poured all over it:

Exhibit A: The Project CityCenter development has begun hiring and staffing. Yay! Some touts said that "in these tough economic times" such a monstrous project would never move forward. It was simply a case of too much ambition, and not enough dough to bring those dreams to fruition. Whether it's 100, 75, or even 10 percent successful remains to be seen. Still, it's a badly needed shot in the arm for an area seeing record unemployment. There can be no downside, right?

Downside: With part of the project completed, there will be construction jobs lost. Ouch. Didn't see that one coming, did you? Then again, if you watch the news, I'm sure you did.

Exhibit B: The Clark County School District's student enrollment is decreasing for the first time in years. The district will have approximately 1,500 fewer students this school year. In past years, large increases in the number of students have stretched resources thin, led to critical teacher shortages, and forced students and teachers into much less comfortable portable classrooms. The district was sinking under the weight of Las Vegas' population boom. If increases in students caused such problems, reductions must alleviate same, right? Logic dictates so.

Downside: Fewer students means the district will have to cut programs, especially in it's arts departments. There's been a layoff or two. A future cellist is at risk. Enrollment didn't meet projections, so cuts needed to be made. None of these cuts came from any of the amazingly bloated school district administration. After hearing all these years about how the school district was unable to realistically sustain itself with such rapid growth, I thought that a drop of approximately three students per school would be welcome relief. My lesson: I'm a fool.

NOTE: Channel 8 on scene at a neighborhood where a man has barricaded himself in a home. I'm waiting for someone to say how much we've seen of this behavior "in these tough economic times".