We're a bit relieved to see Publisher Sherm Frederick off the Sunday Opinion section now for two weeks in a row.

The editorial page department at the RJ likes to consider itself fiercely independent of political parties and internal paper politics. We've seen two separate "Sunday" columnists recommended by Frederick get pushed back to weekday runs. One, a rural columnist, was so dismal, the edit page canned the feature altogether.

Could it be that Sherm is being relegated to similar weekday status?

Frederick has penned two mid-week columns, both immediately following national news events. We thought at the time he was just upping his production and using the Massachusetts special election and the State of the Union as launching points for his partisan pablum.

But what is really the urgency in Sherm's take on these national news items? Why not just let him write it Sunday?

Could it be he's off Sundays now? Time will tell. And after all, Sherm runs the paper. If he wants to run on Sunday, he will.

**

The weekend editions of the RJ were filled with wire stories and largely uninteresting local features. There were also plenty of mistakes to correct.

On Saturday, the paper issued two corrections.

The first one is stunning. And it's not entirely accurate, either.

"A Page 1A article in Friday's Review-Journal about MGM Mirage rejoining the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce misstated Nevada's revenue shortfall. The amount is at least $580 million. The revenue shortfall in 2003 was $833 million."

Jennifer Robison wrote Friday's story about MGM's 180-degree turn back to the Las Vegas Chamber. Robison's own newspaper has been consistently citing the current shortfall as $900 million. The math used in these stories includes the $580 million general fund amount and $250 million for education. The remainder comes from increased funding for Medicaid and Temporary Assistance to Needy Families.

Robison's own paper has consistently been citing these figures for an $899 million hole. Yes, "at least $580 million" is technically accurate. So too, is saying Bill Gates is worth more than $50,000.

The other glaring error in the correction is that the shortfall was not $833 million in 2003. The Legislature raised $833 million in new taxes that year, some of which was used for a shortfall for that current fiscal year.

Anyone who understands the screwed-up nature of two-year budgeting understands that the $833 million covered two years. So, there was not an $833 million shortfall in fiscal year 2003.

Robison's story was wrong. Half of the correction is wrong on its face. And half of it is extremely misleading.

The second Saturday correction shows reporter Keith Rogers grossly overestimated the percentage of tuna consumption as it relates to overall seafood.

"The percentage of canned tuna in all seafood consumed in the United States was incorrect in a story Friday about a University of Las Vegas, Nevada study on mercury levels. Canned tuna accounts for 17.5 percent of total U.S. seafood consumption, according to the National Marine Fisheries Service."

Rogers had doubled the amount for canned tuna, placing it at 35 percent of the total.

Not even canned reporting can get math right.

While we're on the topic of canned reporting, what is up with the lengthy Sunday feature about outgoing Chamber President Kara Kelley? She doesn't leave until April 1. There's no replacement yet, and the story shed no light on Kelley's "accomplishments."

At least Robison sought out two of the many chamber critics to offer their take. But overall, what a puff piece. And no scrutiny whatsoever about why Kelley was worth so much and whether her replacement will be pulling in more than $270K a year.