Danny Gans item: Las Vegas journo's cry for help?

For about a week now, we've been asking why the Las Vegas press corps has not investigated the circumstances of the mysterious death of headliner Danny Gans at the age of 52. For the most part-- and if we're not accurate here, please correct us-- the answers have been: the untimely passing of the unique entertainer is not much of story; our of respect for Gans' family; speculation about everything from steroids to precription drugs to Botox are beneath attention; and nothing should be written or investigated until the coroner releases the official report.

However, buried away in the Living section of the Las Vegas Review-Journal today is a column called The Water Cooler: "a few things in news, entertainment and popular culture that we've been talking about lately."

And buried beneath one-liners about hamburgers, Denise Richards, the French and Miss USA runner-up Carrie Prejean is this item:

"Danny Gans passes away. The voices are stilled, the silence is deafening."

Indeed, voices of the media have been stilled when it comes to this story. The silence has indeed been deafening.

We realize Las Vegas has a long history of being a quid pro quo town, but are the real journos of Las Vegas media now reduced to speaking in code?