The Nevada Appeal's "Silver Dollar" and "Wooden Nickel" feature recognizes positive achievements from the capital region and, when warranted, points out others that missed the mark.
Wooden Nickel: You're probably expecting us to dole out a coin to the latest bit of very, very bad news - that Nevada now sits atop the nation in people out of work. But we're too depressed to get off the couch and fish through the change jar for one more wooden nickel for our own sorry state. So we're going global this week, maybe take our minds off our troubles for a bit. For our first nickel, we turn to BP CEO Tony Hayward, who can't keep his foot out of his mouth. Just as the "I want my life back" flap died down, Hayward was spotted at a schmancy yacht race at the Isle of Wight, where millionaires sail the un-oil-coated waters of the English Channel. (It didn't help that the name - the J.P. Morgan Asset Management Round the Island Race -conjures visions of Wall Street power elite.) Granted, he wasn't doing much for BP's p.r. cause at the Gulf, bullying American journalists on public American beaches. But good grief, man, lay low for a while. Even the Swede talking about "small people" isn't as bad as your choice of a weekend getaway.
Silver Dollar: To Australian search-and-rescue and commercial fishing ships from French-owned Reunion Island, who flew and sailed thousands of miles to pluck stranded American teenager Abby Sunderland off her disabled boat in the Indian Ocean. We'll forgo the debate about the cost of the rescue, and sense of letting a 16-year-old attempt a feat that could easily turn fatal, and just focus on our gratitude for her safe return.
Silver Dollar: To Americans, for remaining resolutely indifferent to the World Cup. We tried, honestly we did, to get excited about Denmark vs. Cameroon, or Ghana's 1-1 tie with Australia. But when the total goals scored in the entire monthlong "football"-fest is fewer than the number of M&M's in a fun pack, well, it's just too much for a country that thrives on adrenaline. We'd rather listen to a marching vuvuzela band than watch one more bout that in all likelihood will end in double goose eggs.