Print edition for March 5, 2000

Russian forces bombard rebel positions in southern Chechnya: Bands of rebels in villages between the Argun and Vedeno gorges were trying to establish communications in order to coordinate a mass breakout from the mountains into the lowlands, the military command press center said.

Nevada caucus an obscure exercise: By Steve Kanigher; Nevada is little more than a bystander when it comes to deciding the Democratic and Republican nominees for president.

Psychic predicts another sucker will be calling soon: Stacy J. Willis; Psychic Bob wants to confess.

Burton claims victory in rain-shortened race: Jeff Burton won the rain-shortened NASCAR Winston Cup CarsDirect.com 400 Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and captured his third Winston No Bull 5 million-dollar bonus in less than a year.

Israeli Cabinet votes for withdrawal from Lebanon by July: Sari Bashi; A Cabinet statement said the government would endeavor to pull out "with an agreement," a reference to Prime Minister Ehud Barak's efforts to revive stalled peace talks with Syria, the main power in Lebanon.

Fighting for their lives: Benjamin Grove; On remote Blue Diamond Hill southwest of Las Vegas, a rare cactus is making a valiant stand in the fast-developing Las Vegas Valley. The Blue Diamond cholla, the only cactus of its kind in the world, now numbers 6,000 plants on about 300 acres.

Editorial: HMO's ruling shows urgency for reform: Christine McDonald and her husband, Dylan, had been trying to get their health insurer, Aetna, to pay for the costs of a nurse to take care of the infant for 12 hours a day. But Aetna refused to pay the $220,000 annual costs for this care, saying the couple should do so on their own. The company chose to ignore the advice of Ian's pediatrician, who says the child needs professional care. As if that weren't callous enough, Ian's father says an Aetna representative outrageously suggested that the couple place their child for adoption so that Medicaid would pay for ...

Editorial: Leave no stone unturned: More tests are being conducted to ensure that the initial results aren't incorrect. No matter what is determined, though, the federal government needs to step up its monitoring of ground water inside the Test Site's borders and beyond. During the Cold War the government assured the public that atomic testing, including that done above ground and below ground in Nevada, was safe. But years later it was discovered that above-ground tests resulted in radiation traveling hundreds -- sometimes thousands -- of miles away. Some contend that the cancers they subsequently developed were due to the radioactive fallout from these explosions.

Court won't let man deny fatherhood role: "Gary is the only father that the child has ever known, and although Gary contends that he does not now consider the child his biological daughter, he testified that he is bonded to the child as if he was her biological daughter," the court ruled.

Black workers: Coke layoffs 'ethnic cleansing': Erin McClam; "Blacks in the company are humiliated, intimidated, yelled at, called the N-word, treated with disrespect," said Larry Jones, a former Coke manager who organized a meeting of about 500 laid-off black workers Saturday at a church outside Atlanta.

Columnist Kate Maddox: New 'Dean' is a virtual one-man Rat Pack: Kate Maddox; In all fairness to the performer who will soon be starring as Dean Martin in "The Rat Pack is Back" at the Sahara, Rick Michel has done a lot more than merely understudy previous Dean, Steve Apple.

Search for trio wanted in slaying of two armored car guards continues: Robert Macy; Lt. Jutta Chambers of the Henderson Police Department said late Saturday it is believed the three men may still be in Southern Nevada.

More to suicide than gambling losses, friends and family say: "I don't think anyone really knew who the real Sol was," Cedric Sawyer, Bell's friend and Oak Park's director of public information, told The Detroit News for a story Sunday. "He was always very private about his personal life."

Gambling a part of the budget dispute in New Mexico: Barry Massey; But the thorny issue of gambling - whether the state should change the payment rate for tribes with casinos - is inextricably part of the budget debate.

Letter: Nevada Power shareholder asks wrong questions: Maybe Mrs. Newman should ask Nevada Power's management why they merged two companies that have more differences than similarities -- by the way, not one single interconnecting line between their two systems. Obviously, Wall Street did not think it was such a good idea. The stock went down.

Nevada company puts your next home a mouse click away: Tom Gardner; Most of the time, it means days of driving around neighborhoods with a real estate agent in search of the home you just hope the rest of the family will find as perfect as you do.

Mine Workers union facing uncertain future: Martha Bryson Hodel; Representatives of the United Mine Workers of America - average age 50, job prospects uncertain - are trying to prepare for the future of a coal mining industry that is changing rapidly under economic and environmental pressures.

Letter: Flood control plans aid area residents: For example, one flood channel filled with 7 feet of water in eight minutes, and a 50-acre detention basin filled to a depth of 23 feet, almost to the brim. Downstream from these facilities were a hospital, a fire station and residential areas, which previously had been subjected to repeated episodes of flooding following even minor storms.

Lack of western presidential debates irks governors: John Hughes; But none of this fall's three presidential debates - in Boston, St. Louis and Winston-Salem, N.C., - will be held in the West.

Bush, Gore lead in campaign funds raised in Nevada: Texas Gov. George W. Bush raised far more cash from Nevadans since last year than any other presidential candidate even though the Republican made no appearances in the state.

Letter: Put new life into Huntridge Theatre: The Strip is blessed with the House of Blues, and the Stardust secured Wayne Newton. What's missing is a vaudeville show. With property taxes rising, I would like to see comedy sketches such as "Lifestyles of our Public Servants" and "Diary of a Media Mad Mayor." The Huntridge seems to me the right place for the ambiance of the '40s. Tempest Storm, where are you when we need you?

Columnist Sandra Thompson: Youths at center crammed like sardines: Sandra Thompson; Clark County's juvenile detention center is bursting at the seams.

Federal judge Wiggins dies in Las Vegas: Wiggins, who died of cardiac arrest at a Las Vegas hospital, was appointed in 1984 to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, based in San Francisco. He had been a senior judge on the court and lived in Las Vegas for the last 3 1/2 years.

Paraplegic athlete who scaled El Capitan finds new challenge: Martin Griffith; Mark Wellman finished ninth in an 11-man field in a Skijoring race Saturday at Lake Tahoe. The sport involves cross-country skiers who are pulled by a husky.

Columnist Jeff German: Mob ghost still haunts Binion case: The mob angle: It may be the only theory involving Ted Binion's slaying that hasn't been fully explored by prosecutors and defense lawyers as they prepare for the March 13 trial of the gambling figure's accused killers.

Where I Stand -- Brian Greenspun: Gun madness must stop: When you write about gun safety issues, you shouldn't go off half-cocked.

Columnist Jon Ralston: Nevada will remember Black Tuesday: Most voters and political observers will focus their attention this week on the balloting for the White House. But while Super Tuesday could determine the presidential nominees, someday it will be remembered as Black Tuesday in Nevada because of the long-term impact a very different election will have on the state's economy.

Q&A: Bernie's Journey: Tape my life, please!

Ayala retains title in decision over Bredahl: Tim Dahlberg; He had planned to go back to Denmark with Paulie Ayala's WBA batamweight title. But Ayala made sure that didn't happen in taking a majority 12-round decision to retain his 122-pound crown.

Columnist Susan Snyder: Building momentum for preservation: Contrary to whatever jokes you've heard, "historic preservation" in Las Vegas does not mean re-striping the parking lot of a 7-Eleven built five years ago.

NASCAR-Busch Grand National Results: 1. (7) Jeff Burton, Ford, 200, $90,350.

New York's lottery-funded scholarship program criticized by Democrats: Joel Stashenko; The Republican governor needs legislative approval before authorizing the so-called "Leaders of Tomorrow" scholarship program, the Democrats contended.