Print edition for February 8, 2000

J.P. Morgan takes a stake in slot company: In documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission today, J.P. Morgan reported ownership of 642,750 shares of Anchor stock. It was the first such filing by the New York firm.

Woman accused of robbing banks on her way to Detroit casino: DETROIT -- A 37-year-old woman from Romulus was charged with robbing two banks on her way to gamble at a Detroit casino, the FBI said.

Court turns down tribe's appeal to build casino: A lawyer who called the project an "assault on Albany Township" applauded the court's decision Monday.

Reid hosts hearing on suicide 'epidemic': Benjamin Grove; WASHINGTON -- Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., whose father committed suicide in 1972, held a special hearing on suicide today on Capitol Hill.

E-mail porn makes its rounds of county center: Adrienne Packer; A pornographic e-mail that circulated through the County Government Center computer system Monday has triggered an administrative investigation.

Proposed HUD budget would add to Southern Nevada funds: Valerie Miller; A new Department of Housing and Urban Development budget proposed by President Clinton could result in more money for housing in Southern Nevada.

Columnist Ron Kantowski: Florida recruit has schools doing double takes: As indecisive as Lynn McGruder was in finally choosing to play his college football at Tennessee last week, the hulking Cheyenne High defensive lineman looks absolutely sure of himself in comparison to Jonathan Colon of Coral Gables, Fla.

Obituaries for February 8, 2000: Olive W. Barough, 87, of Las Vegas died Jan. 22 in a local hospital. She was born Dec. 7, 1912, in Waupaca, Wis. A resident for 26 years, she was a retired medical office secretary, an officer in the American Association of Retired Persons and a member of American Association of Medical Assistants.

Planning Commission to consider low-income senior complex: Diana Sahagun; A site plan for a low-income senior housing complex in the North Las Vegas redevelopment will be considered by the Planning Commission Wednesday.

Jury leans toward life in bar slayings: Bill Gang; The jury trying to decide whether Kenshawn Maxey should live in prison or be executed for murdering two people during a bungled bar robbery was given one last chance today to reach a verdict.

Bounty hunter helps nab bounty hunter: A bounty hunter once featured on a syndicated television show capturing fugitives in Las Vegas, today is sitting in the Clark County Detention Center facing felony charges in Seattle and possible local charges.

Legislators brace for session on reapportionment: CARSON CITY -- The 2001 Legislature doesn't start for a year, but there's already talk about having a special session just to handle the sticky issue of reapportionment.

Columnist Dean Juipe: Will local player live up to hype?: Dean Juipe; Lynn McGruder's name has been in the headlines several times in the past week, as the Cheyenne High School lineman narrowed his collegiate choices to UNLV and Tennessee.

Ralph Siraco's selections for Wednesday's races at Santa Anita: 1st Race -- Roman Cuzzin - Draws good rail post for the mile, should attend to pace here, hustling Espinoza aboard. Master Carson - Gomez astride Lewis trainee, must overcome outside post here, should be a factor with a good trip. Value Play -- Kentucky Bluebird

Santee Sioux seeks purchase of Devil's Nest resort: Ruzicka and his wife Nancy, who maintain a home in Verdigre, now live in Lakeport, Calif. They have owned the Devil's Nest for 12 years.

Santini testifies: Natalie Gott; Agent Geoffrey Santini today detailed his attempts to watch Edwin and Stephen Edwards and Guidry while the three allegedly met at a Baton Rouge restaurant.

Pryor approves wording of proposed Arizona gambling amendment: Attorney General Mark Pryor approved the wording for the popular name and ballot title on Friday. The measure is the third gambling-related proposal that could appear on the 2000 general election ballot.

Probe finds some intimidation, but otherwise good relations in Nevada: Sandra Chereb; Despite past friction, a report released Monday said there is a strong desire by the agency, local residents and elected officials to improve relations.

Tax accountant gets six months: McNulty, 62, operated McNulty and Associates since the 1980s. He was indicted last April on 25 counts of aiding and assisting in filing false income tax returns.

Togliatti leaves commissioner race: George Togliatti, an executive at Harrah's Entertainment, said he had raised less than $60,000 compared to a Malone warchest of $415,000.

Big League Weekend: Griffey out, Rodriguez in: Scheduled to join Rodriguez are Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Barry Bonds, Jose Canseco, Nomar Garciaparra, Shawn Green, Chipper Jones, Rafael Palmeiro, Mike Piazza, Manny Ramirez and Greg Vaughn.

Debit card scam reported at casinos: ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Authorities say a family gang scammed more than $760,000 from US Bank through phony debit-card withdrawals at Minnesota and Wisconsin casinos.

Supreme Court upholds seizure, destruction of gambling machines: Dan Lewerenz; In November 1997, a confidential informant told the State Law Enforcement Division that Collins Entertainment was storing illegal video gambling machines at the Brandon Mills and Rutherford Road warehouses.

New shareholder in Tropicana owner: The California fund reported ownership of 2.67 million shares of Aztar stock, a 6.11 percent stake in the company. It was the first ownership filing by Dimensional.

Market-slayings trial awaits key rulings: Bill Gang; Before Zane Floyd stands trial on charges he raped an outcall entertainer and then shot five people in a supermarket rampage, killing four of them, a hearing will be held to determine if his confession to police is legally admissible.

Monday's prep result: Boulder City 59, Foothill 43: The Falcons fell at home despite 16 points from Roxanne Ritchie.

Santini to testify today: Natalie Gott; Edwards, his son, Stephen and five others are on trial for what prosecutors claim was a series of schemes to illegally profit from riverboat casino licenses.

Wednesday at Bay Meadows: 1st race 6 fur 4YO & up Clm: 1 Activate Battle (Baze) 117; 2 Evening Watch (Campbell) 117; 3 Wine to Dine (Tohill) 119; 4 Ricks Ebony Star (Baze) 115; 5 Raise Cotton (Lopez) 117; 6 Dance So Bold (Dieguez) 117.

Where I Stand -- Brian Greenspun: Help from our friends?: Your money or your life!

Autotote of Connecticut gets new contract for instant games: The company that holds the current contract, G-Tech, is not happy with the situation because it had submitted a low bid of $32 million.

Utah loses star forward: The school said Monday that Mottola is awaiting further tests to see if he needs surgery.

Community news briefs for February 8, 2000: Several Southern Nevada small businesses are launching a promotional campaign to help United Way of Southern Nevada reach its $10.6 million campaign goal.

Silver Bandits outrun Swarm: Victoria Sun; The Las Vegas Silver Bandits and the St. Louis Swarm played what resembled a game of one-upsmanship Monday night, seeing who could top the other with mini-runs.

Jury still finds Tavares guilty: Under the jury's direction issued Monday, Tavares, 24, must serve at least 20 years before he becomes eligible for release.

Rebels gain national attention by beating Utes: Steve Addy; By finally beating a ranked team, UNLV took a giant step toward becoming one.

IBL box: Las Vegas-St. Louis: ST. LOUIS (18-9)

New Mexico committee approves latest offer for new gambling compact: Deborah Baker; And it would penalize one tribe that dropped out of the compact negotiations.

Judge rejects house arrest for Pope: Bill Gang; Fifteen-year-old Conan Pope remains in solitary confinement at the Clark County Detention Center on murder charges in the shooting death of his father -- but that could change today.

'Helping Hands' extends support to NLV seniors: Diana Sahagun; Reaching out with helping hands -- that's the personal touch, says North Las Vegas resident Mary Rodriquez.

Excessive force lawsuit settled for &75,000: Jack Goslin and Mary Guirsch accused jail and police officials of conspiring to cover up the excessive use of force on inmates at the facility.

Internet site sues Californian, alleges cybersquatting: In a U.S. District Court suit, Hellonetwork.com Inc., which offers Internet-based video streaming, web hosting and other services, accused Gary Gene Black of cybersquatting -- registering Internet domain names using trademarks that belong to others with the intention of selling back the domain names to the original owners at a profit.

Vandals attack, disable top Internet site: WASHINGTON -- Computer vandals overwhelmed the most popular site on the Internet, using a common type of electronic attack to render the flagship Yahoo! Web directory inaccessible for at least several hours.

FBI says woman robbed two banks on way to Detroit casinos: She told investigators she took the money and headed to the MotorCity Casino, the FBI said.

Father, son, couple - all from Billings -strike lottery gold: His father's Cash 4 Life jackpot was won in the Jan. 31 drawing.

Board of Regents' search for new chancellor continues: The five-regent chancellor search committee will meet with representatives of the college systems schools including UNLV President Carol Harter to develop a profile of the type of chancellor needed to fill the vacant post.

Harter urges NCAA presidents to reject betting ban: Harter said legal sports betting in Nevada in 1998 amounted to $2.3 billion compared to estimates of illegal, uncontrolled sports gambling nationally ranging from $80 billion to more than $300 billion annually.

Nevada surplus should hit $155 million by June: Brendan Riley; Comeaux said in an interview Monday that casino-related taxes are up more than 16 percent so far this fiscal year, compared with 4.4 percent growth predicted by the state's Economic Forum last spring.

California's Proposition 17 would legalize raffles for nonprofits: Jennifer Coleman; "Nobody knows it's a crime," said John Sarsfield, a deputy district attorney in Monterey County.

Interstate Mortgage chief given the chance to untangle investment debacle with receiver: Phil Levine; The president of insolvent Interstate Mortgage Group of Las Vegas will spend the next 60 days working under the supervision of a state-appointed receiver to try and secure investors' funds.

BLM puts more land up for sale: The land is the second sale resulting from the 1998 Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act, in which the BLM was ordered to dispose of 27,000 acres in the valley.

Rebels still hoping to land highly touted defensive end: Steve Guiremand; When is no news good news?

Shaolin Monks take their turn in the Vegas spotlight: When: 7:30 and 10 p.m. daily, Friday-Feb. 23.

States join in challenge to oil merger: SAN FRANCISCO -- Following the federal government's lead, the state governments of California, Oregon and Washington went to federal court Monday to try to stop BP Amoco's $30 billion acquisition of fellow oil giant Atlantic Richfield Co.

Title company sued in failed deal: Grace Leong; Las Vegas real estate tycoon Robert Bigelow and his 13 real estate companies sued their Chicago escrow agent, alleging it mishandled a $44 million property sale and caused the Bigelow companies to be embroiled in a legal dispute with the properties' buyer.

Moore's remarks prompt regents session: Richard Moore, founding president of the planned Nevada State College in Henderson, will be called before a closed session of the university Board of Regents Thursday to explain public comments he made about a regent last week.

Business briefs: Two Las Vegas companies were among the big winners at the National Association of Home Builders National Sales & Marketing Awards in Dallas last month.

Dead cyclist's sister pleads for information: Jace Radke; The sister of a bicyclist run down and killed in an apparent act of road rage last week says someone knows who is responsible for her brother's death and is pleading for witnesses to come forward.

Editorial: Insurers' frivolous expenses: Some of these health insurers have a legitimate concern about adequate compensation, but a report released last week by the Department of Health and Human Services' inspector general raises questions about whether some HMOs might be improperly billing the government. For instance, the inspector general found that nine Medicare HMOs had sought reimbursement for lobbying, gifts and employee morale. One HMO treated customers, insurance brokers and employees to wine, flowers and other gifts totaling $37,303. Four health insurers tallied $106,490 for sporting events and theater tickets and another HMO leased a luxury box at a sports arena for $25,057. Meanwhile, ...

Man shot to death in casino sports book: Shocked gamblers fell to the floor as shots rang out just before noon Monday in the sports book at the Stardust hotel-casino.

Columnist Susan Snyder: Arts Factory feeds hunger for creativity: A week after Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman promised vigorous rejuvenation of downtown, one small group of artists already struggling to succeed there is still cheering.

Wednesday at Aqueduct: 1st race 6 fur 4YO & up Clm: 1 Hi Lo Yo (Rocco) 113; 2 Written Inthe Wind (Gutierrez) 115; 3 Knight Rounds (Persaud) 116; 4 Aaron's Prospect (Beitia) 118; 5 Great Trust (Arroyo) 115; 6 Allen's Jewel (Vergara) 120; 7 Theforcebewithyou (Melton) 111; 8 Tam Win Tam (Chavez) 116.

Letter: GOP again shows disdain for citizens: The Republican leadership has shown time and again its disdain for the citizens by publicly stating that its unpopular and disloyal actions will not cost them because by the time an election comes around they will be forgotten. They have done it so many times (impeachment, shutting the government down over the budget, refusing to discuss campaign finance reform, etc.) that I think the attention span of a lot of us might surprise them.

Editorial: Court tosses aside law's misapplication: Fortunately, though, the Supreme Court stepped in and ruled that drunken driving charges are not redundant. As the district attorney's office had argued, if an assailant robbed an individual and then later killed the victim, the suspect certainly could be convicted of each crime. The Supreme Court's decision should bring reason back to the prosecution of drunken driving cases.

Readers open hearts and wallets for auction: A check for $1,023.50, more than doubling the proceeds from the Sun's inaugural holiday auction in 1998, will be presented to the Shade Tree Shelter for women.

Letter: Why are targets in human form?: Killing by guns is rampant enough. We don't need targets to assist in where to place a bullet. I'm not saying that is why folks use a firing range, but who really knows?

Shaolin kung fu techniques: According to some teachers, Shaolin kung fu bases its techniques on "classical" and "nonclassical" animal styles, with each animal reflecting a range of strategies.

Letter: There are things much worse than abortion: Is it not violent enough for a woman to be raped? Must she also be forced to carry and bring into the world the growing product of her violent attacker? Is it not ludicrous that in the 21st century, in what is supposed to be a free country, there are still people trying to tell us what we can and cannot do with our bodies, our futures, and our choice in medical procedures?

Wednesday at Santa Anita: 1st race 1 mi 4YO & up Clm: 1 Roman Cuzzin (Espinoza) 120; 2 Market Maven (Black) 118; 3 Intrepid King (Rodriguez) 118; 4 Indisputable (Garcia) 118; 5 Kentucky Bluebird (Berrio) 118; 6 Master Carson (Gomez) 118; 7 Si Charmant (Hunter) 116; 8 Neotorque (Pedroza) 120.

Judge denies youth bid for freedom: Conan Pope was jailed for the second time last month after his indictment on charges he shot his father to death after an argument over dirty dishes.

Guidry testimony ends: Natalie Gott; "One more outburst and each of you owe me $500, payable on the spot," U.S. District Judge Frank Polozola warned Assistant U.S. Attorney Fred Harper and defense lawyer James Cole at one point.

Delegation pleased with funds marked for Nevada: Benjamin Grove; WASHINGTON -- Nevada's four members of Congress on Monday scanned the fine print of President Clinton's $1.84 trillion budget for fiscal year 2001, pleased with money earmarked for the state's projects and disappointed with plans they believe target the gaming industry.

Casino proposals draw fire: In a letter to Clinton, Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., said collecting child support is laudable. But, he said, "the decision to have the federal government require a private industry to assume the role of a government agency concerns me."

Man blames robberies on gambling habit: GARY, Ind. -- An inmate is suing Donald Trump and his Trump Casino in Gary for $2.1 million, saying his continued gambling at the casino led him to rob two Illinois banks.

Report backs complaints of No. Nevada Forest Service employees: Nevada's U.S. Forest Service employees are not in any physical danger but they endure "difficult work and living situations" in the state's northeast region, agency officials have concluded.

Strohmeyer lawyers spar over guilty plea: Bill Gang; Jeremy Strohmeyer's current and former lawyers sparred this morning in a hearing that ultimately will determine whether the confessed killer of 7-year-old Sherrice Iverson will be allowed to withdraw his guilty plea.

As Senate prepares for debate, nuke waste bill still changing: Benjamin Grove; WASHINGTON -- The Senate sponsor of a nuclear waste bill that would bring tons of nuclear waste to Nevada as early as 2007 primed the Senate today for debate on the bill.

Nevada may get $1 billion of DOE's budget: More than $1 billion could come to Nevada for nuclear weapons research, cleanup and nuclear waste research in 2001 if Congress approves the Department of Energy's proposed $18.9 billion budget.

Lady Luck partner to buy Kansas City riverboat: David Strow; For the third time in 13 months, Park Place Entertainment Corp. of Las Vegas has found a buyer for the Flamingo Hilton Riverboat Casino in Kansas City.

Shortage of funds forces art gallery to close: Las Vegas' budding downtown arts community will have to press on without the Nevada Institute of Contemporary Arts.

Sun writer wins award for series: Grove, now the Sun's Washington bureau reporter, spent a year visiting a fourth grade class at Helen Jydstrup Elementary School as the Sun's education reporter. The series offered a daily diary that touched on issues such as overcrowding and parental involvement along with shorter stories that further explained the issues.

Casino violence: Keith Paul; A small group of people gathered near the sports book inside the Stardust hotel-casino Monday morning and watched as a man was handcuffed after a shooting. Others didn't know what happened and just continued gambling.

Man who mailed bomb to Clinton gets wish for life prison sentence: Robert Macy; LAS VEGAS - A 53-year-old man who pleaded guilty to mailing pipebombs to President Clinton and a Texas evangelist has been given the life prison sentence he requested.

Columnist Kate Maddox: Prospective (wealthy) brides enjoy LV: Kate Maddox; Las Vegas played host to the 60 or so Mrs. Millionaire hopefuls this past week. The Fox show "Who Wants to Marry A Multimillionaire?" will be taped tonight at the Las Vegas Hilton and the ladies, many of whom had never been to Vegas before, spent the weekend checking out what we've got to offer.

Confessed child killer says he had two options - 75 years or death: Robert Macy; LAS VEGAS - Jeremy Strohmeyer claims his attorney told him he would be convicted and executed if he went to trial for killing a 7-year-old Los Angeles girl in a Nevada casino so he confessed and agreed to life in prison.