About time

Welcome to this week's Reno News & Review.

Finally, I can stop talking about it! The Daily Show episode aired. If you want to see it, go to http://thedailyshow.cc.com/videos/v4l2pe/a-shot-in-the-dark.

It's a mixed bag. I personally think my part was truncated because the two hosts, Samantha Bee and Jason Jones took longer with their banter than Jon Stewart would have. I only think that because I know the part of the interview from which that section was taken. I was reading some numbers I'd prepared before the show that compared officer-involved homicides to total homicides in the states for which Fatal Encounters has collected comprehensive data. In fact, the only thing I didn't like about the segment was where she said we just have counted up to Nevada.

Here's what I said broken down for print. These are 2000-2012 numbers: In Nevada (2.8 million population), there were 2,226 total homicides with 193 caused by law enforcement. That's 8.8 percent. In New Hampshire (1.3 million), it's 198 total homicides with 16 caused by law enforcement for 8.1 percent. Connecticut (3.6 million) had 1,500 total homicides with 48 caused by law enforcement for 3.2 percent. Massachusetts (6.7 million) had 2,163 with 69 caused by law enforcement for 3.2 percent. Vermont (600,000) had 146 total homicides with 13 caused by law enforcement for 8.9 percent. Maine (1.3 million) had 276 total homicides with 34 caused by law enforcement for 12.3 percent.

These are the most shocking numbers of all the stuff I've learned since we started this project. They freak me out so bad that I wish somebody would check my math and where the statistics come from (FBI Uniform Crime Report) and prove me wrong.

I'm going to write a story about the whole experience of being flown out to New York City, drinking a lot of Negronis in a very nice hotel bar, etc., etc., because I truly believe more people are interested in my little adventure than they are in the reporting that brought me there in the first place. With a little bit of luck, I'll be able to make it as surreal as the experience was for one as provincial as myself.