diff --git a/protected/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/compression/reducereads/ReduceReads.java b/protected/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/compression/reducereads/ReduceReads.java
index 3cdf3d75e..629a27c48 100644
--- a/protected/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/compression/reducereads/ReduceReads.java
+++ b/protected/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/compression/reducereads/ReduceReads.java
@@ -253,7 +253,6 @@ public class ReduceReads extends ReadWalker<LinkedList<GATKSAMRecord>, ReduceRea
             intervalList.addAll(toolkit.getIntervals());
 
 
-        // todo -- rework the whole NO_PG_TAG thing
         final boolean preSorted = true;
         final boolean indexOnTheFly = true;
         final boolean keep_records = true;
diff --git a/protected/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/compression/reducereads/SlidingWindow.java b/protected/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/compression/reducereads/SlidingWindow.java
index 24a3ba3cb..fff1c20a5 100644
--- a/protected/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/compression/reducereads/SlidingWindow.java
+++ b/protected/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/compression/reducereads/SlidingWindow.java
@@ -220,7 +220,6 @@ public class SlidingWindow {
             regions = findVariantRegions(0, breakpoint, markedSites.getVariantSiteBitSet(), !forceClose);
         }
 
-        // todo -- can be more aggressive here removing until the NEW window header start location after closing the variant regions
         while (!readsInWindow.isEmpty() && readsInWindow.first().getSoftEnd() < windowHeaderStartLocation) {
                 readsInWindow.pollFirst();
         }
@@ -607,9 +606,7 @@ public class SlidingWindow {
                     toRemove.add(read);
                 }
             }
-            for (GATKSAMRecord read : toRemove) {
-                readsInWindow.remove(read);
-            }
+            removeReadsFromWindow(toRemove);
         }
         return allReads;
     }
@@ -805,9 +802,8 @@ public class SlidingWindow {
                 hetReads.add(finalizeRunningConsensus());
         }
 
-        for (GATKSAMRecord read : toRemove) {
-            readsInWindow.remove(read);
-        }
+        removeReadsFromWindow(toRemove);
+
         return hetReads;
     }
 
@@ -924,5 +920,11 @@ public class SlidingWindow {
             }
         }
     }
+
+    private void removeReadsFromWindow (List<GATKSAMRecord> readsToRemove) {
+        for (GATKSAMRecord read : readsToRemove) {
+            readsInWindow.remove(read);
+        }
+    }
 }