They’re hot and fresh, so come and get ‘em:

» It should have been on the front page, but the story in the Review-Journal’s business section today bears reading by everyone. In it, Wynn Las Vegas roulette dealer Cynthia Fields alleges that casino mogul Steve Wynn personally threatened the jobs of any dealer who joined a union or objected to his plan to seize tips and distribute them among supervisors, like pit bosses.

What’s notable is that the National Labor Relations Board, based on Fields’ statement and others, has issued a formal complaint against Wynn for the obviously illegal (alleged) threat. Wynn has until Jan. 11 to reply, before a Feb. 1 hearing in San Francisco.

A casino boss allegedly threatening workers disposed to organization isn’t unique. But what is unique is that the NLRB is the only body to show any interest in what should be an open scandal — the taking of tips from dealers, which is apparently illegal under state law. So far, the Nevada labor commissioner and state courts have refused to intervene to stop this despicable practice; perhaps the NLRB will put a stop to it.

Oh, and we’d be remiss in not pointing out that Wynn could easily have solved the problem of finding dealers willing to take the cut in pay (that is, tip income) to become pit bosses or supervisors by raising the pay of pit bosses and supervisors. This would have been a fine free market solution (higher incentives mean more applicants), engendered goodwill among employees (thus stifling talk of joining a union) as well as the right thing to do.

Too late now…

» A spokeswoman for Gov. Jim Gibbons says he will still fight to have a paper backup to electronic voting machines, even though a bill he sponsored in Congress died during a lame-duck session that the then-congressman skipped.

Hey, mission accomplished! Former Secretary of State Dean Heller insisted that Nevada’s electronic voting machines have a paper receipt, which is used in case of a recount. Now that’s super-fast progress!

Heller, who was elected to the seat that Gibbons gave up to run for governor, should team up with his Nevada colleague U.S. Sen. John Ensign — who also has advocated for a paper back-up to electronic votes — to get Nevada-style paper-backup voting from coast to coast!

» Speaking of Ensign, in case anybody is wondering, he’s going to continue to fight for Nevadans in his second term. At least, that was the headline on a news release we got today, which included this statement:

"It is an honor and a privilege to continue serving Nevada in the United States Senate. I’m always grateful to Nevadans not only for their support but also for the faith and trust they continue to place in me to stand up for their values and beliefs in the Senate. I look forward to building upon our accomplishments for Nevada and fighting to bring back fiscal discipline."

Yes, by all means, senator, restore the fiscal discipline that we saw under, say, former President Bill Clinton, who left the nation with a record budget surplus, and root out the spendthrift ways of President George W. Bush, who has run up record deficits. Now that’s a Nevada value.

» This is why we love Chris Giunchigliani.

» We honestly didn’t think that U.S. Rep. Jon Porter was going to get a seat on the Ways & Means Committee. After U.S. Rep. Shelley Berkley landed a seat — despite a sometimes-testy relationship with new House Speaker Nancy Pelosi — we figured that was it for Nevada love in the new Congress. And while Porter’s last election was a close one, there are plenty of vulnerable members of Congress for whom a Ways & Means seat would be a path to electoral security.

But Porter landed the post anyway, a testament to his gamble in backing U.S. Rep. John Boehner for House majority leader to replace the indicted, disgraced U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay. It looks like Boehner remembers those who helped him rise to the top GOP spot in the House.

Nevada’s casinos must be very excited, not to mention Porter himself, who can now tell his critics — including us at Various Things & Stuff! — that his close alliance with House leaders over the years has finally paid off for the Silver State.

Of course, we stand by our criticism, since we don’t agree with many of Porter’s votes and don’t think they were good for the country (especially on the issues of student loans, tax cuts, offshore drilling and veteran’s benefits). But we’re still hoping that tax break for bloggers will pass the new committee. How about it, congressman?

We can think of no better way to kick off a new governorship than a constitutional crisis, and that may be what thrice-sworn Gov. Jim Gibbons has done! Gibbons today appointed two people to the state Gaming Control Board, current Chairman Dennis Neilander and current control board investigative chief, Randy Sayre.

The problem? Outgoing Gov. Kenny Guinn already appointed Neilander and Guinn’s ex-chief of staff, Keith Munro, to the two open seats on the board. That means there are two seats, three people and the music just stopped.

Who’s really on the board, Sayre or Munro? (Munro has been working in his office at the board for the last few days. When Sayre shows up, it’s going to be awkward!)

Guinn cited a 2005 attorney general opinion for the authority to appoint Munro to the seat of former member Bobby Siller, which expired precisely at midnight on Jan. 1. (Apparently, former Gov. Mike O’Callaghan had made an appointment on Jan. 1, 1979, between midnight and 10 a.m., when then-Gov. Bob List took the oath of office. For those final 10 hours, O’Callaghan was still governor, and still possessed the full powers of the executive, the opinion says.)

Perhaps that’s the real reason Gibbons took the oath of office starting at 11:59 p.m. on Dec. 31, 2006, and finished at 12:00:12 a.m. on Jan. 1, according to his chief of staff, Mike Dayton. (A clever cover story — national security — is deconstructed and mocked in our column in CityLife this week.)

So the question now becomes: Did the Guinn appointment of Munro, signed in 2006, immediately take effect when the clock struck twelve? Or did Guinn need to act in the 12 seconds of the New Year before Gibbons finished uttering the oath of office in order to get his man in under the wire?

The question seems to center on whether Gibbons can essentially appoint Sayre to a seat that’s already been filled by Munro, whose term won’t expire for another four years. (Calls to the governor’s office weren’t immediately returned, but we’ll update you when we learn more.)

In the interim, the legal questions are myriad: If the board meets, who gets seated? Who’s vote is valid? If Munro is ousted, but later a court rules that he was legally and legitimately appointed, are Sayre’s subsequent votes void?

Poor Munro was in the dark, according to the Review-Journal: "I’ve heard nothing. No one has talked to me, and I would assume they would," he said. "The governor should have a lot bigger issues to worry about then little old me."

Oddly, Keith, he doesn’t seem to…

Ah, yes, readers, the delightful outpourings of a spat between Republican chief executives, all of which may have been avoided had Guinn simply let Gibbons choose his appointees to the control board, or had Gibbons simply let Guinn’s choices stand.

But what’s a new year without a little uncertainty on one of the two key boards that govern Nevada’s No. 1 industry?

And while we’re on the subject, a few other gubernatorial nuggets:

» Despite the program’s popularity, Gibbons has indicated he will not keep full-day kindergarten in the budget he’s inheriting from Guinn. The outgoing governor included funding to extend the expensive program to all Nevada schools, despite the fact that Gibbons on the campaign trail said it was untested and that more research was needed before it should be implemented statewide. (All-day kindergarten is currently run only at so-called "at-risk" schools.)

"We have some great ideas about education that I think are actually going to supersede the benefits that would come from those that recommend all-day kindergarten," Gibbons told the Review-Journal’s Sean Whaley.

We were surprised by this, because up to now, there haven’t been many ideas articulated by the new governor, much less great ones. After months of campaigning and days of governing, we say it’s high time to bust one of those bad boys out! Let’s hear it, gov!

And a confession on this one: We once more assumed that Gibbons would leave full-day kindergarten in the budget, because there’s so much research to show it helps kids adjust to school. This is the guy who championed an initiative called "Education First," right? Plus, the political blowback of cutting it would be too much to bear, right?

Wrong. Much like the Assembly Democrats of 2003, who firmly believed that Republicans wouldn’t dare sacrifice schoolchildren to their political ideology, we forgot one, simple thing: Republicans don’t much care for public schools, and talk about education primarily as a rhetorical device, not an actual concept.

We promise not to make that mistake again.

» The Irony Prize for 2007 is already up for grabs, with Gibbons taking the lead. In his brief inaugural address, he noted that "…any great society that pits one group against another is bound to fail."

Um, how does Gibbons think he got elected?

This is, however, the first time he’s been able to utter the phrase "great society" without also using an epithet, so he’s making progress!

» Gibbons apparently suffers from an ailment known as "familial tremors," which cause the hands to shake, the R-J reports. The tremors exacerbated by stress or caffeine, but calmed by alcohol.

Yes, alcohol. And we simply cannot pick between the 1,231 jokes that immediately popped into our heads here.

"This is nothing that should affect the governor’s performance," says spokesman Brent Boynton. "He is not a brain surgeon."

And with that, we’ve got our first 2007 inductee into the prestigious No Shit Hall of Fame!

But seriously, folks, there’s more. "At this point, I would say the governor’s medical condition is a minor irritant. We’ll just make sure he sticks to decaffeinated coffee," Boynton added. Hey, don’t forget alcohol! We hear that works, even if it has been banned from the governor’s mansion by first lady Dawn Gibbons.

UDPATE: We just heard from Gibbons spokeswoman, Melissa Subbotin,who confirmed that the governor is ironically relying upon the exact same attorney general’s opinion that Guinn used to justify his appointment of Munro to back up Gibbons’ choice of Sayre. According to Subbotin, the opinion says an appointment made by a sitting governor before his term expires (defined as when the new guy takes the oath) is valid.

But Guinn signed Munro’s appointment back in November, before Siller’s term had expired. And since Siller didn’t resign his post before that term ended — at midnight on Dec. 31 — Guinn would have had to stay up real late and sign Munro’s appointment before Gibbons was officially sworn in. (You recall that he was sworn in at 12:00:12, giving Guinn 12 seconds to act, under the Gibbons’ interpretation.)

It’s still a crisis, folks, unless somebody steps forward to fix it. At this point, it looks like that could only be done by Munro. If he offers his resignation (from a job he held for just four days) then Sayre’s appointment is unclouded and balance is restored to The Force. Otherwise, we’re headed to court.