Print edition for November 14, 2000

Company to cut work force: Company to cut work force

Community news briefs for November 14, 2000: The American Association of Retired Persons is sponsoring 55 Alive driving workshops 5:30-9 p.m. Thursday and Friday at the Silver Springs Recreation Center, 1951 Silver Springs Parkway, Henderson.

Columnist Ron Kantowski: There's no truth in Fed Cup advertising: Just call it the worst example of false advertising since Kenny Kerr walked into a longshoreman's bar selling snake oil.

Californians capture SCORE Baja 2000: Campbell and his three co-riders, Tim Staab, Craig Smith and Steve Hengeveld, traveled the 1,679.54-mile circuit in a record 30 hours, 54 minutes and 12 seconds to capture the overall motorcycle victory aboard a Honda XR650.

New handicapped seats at T&M: Physically disabled fans who attend the UNLV Rebels men's basketball home opener Friday against Northern Arizona University will have access to new handicapped parking and floor seating.

Ralph Siraco's selections for Wednesday's races at Hollywood Park: 1st Race -- Absolute Dream - Draws good rail post for the route opener, Pincay scales Hendricks trainee, should get good trip from the wood. Apricot - Training at Anita, hustling Espinoza abard Cerin trainee, been knocking on diploma door, might open here. Value Play -- Samaria

Chicago is his kind of town: Victoria Sun; Results of the Oct. 22 Chicago Marathon:

Columnist Susan Snyder: Olympics should be toasted: Let me start by saying I like Utah.

Bad air from California may cause algae in Lake Tahoe: "It appears as if they might be underestimating the nitrogen contribution" from elsewhere, Alan Gertler, an atmospheric sciences researcher at DRI, told the Reno Gazette-Journal.

Bar owners gripe at Allegany gambling crackdown: The crackdown that began last month has virtually shut down the video poker games that proliferated in the county in the past decade, especially after State's Attorney Lawrence V. Kelly declared in 1996 that gambling prosecution was not a high priority.

IBL team releases former Rebel center: IBL team releases former Rebel center

Fulbright Fellowship will help UNLV prof to teach in Germany: Kris Hill; Craig Walton contemplated a picture on his computer screen of a beautiful German town bathed in sunlight and surrounded by forested hills.

SEC sues Las Vegas man alleging securities fraud: A Las Vegas man defrauded investors by selling $19 million in unregistered securities -- spending some of the money on a honeymoon and a divorce settlement, federal regulators alleged Monday.

Wednesday's horse racing entries: Post Time 1 p.m.

Mountain West honors Rebels' Mason: Mason, a sophomore from Bastrop, La., posted the longest punt return for a TD in the MWC this season and the second-longest in league history. He leads the conference in punt returns and ranks seventh nationally with a 17.4 yards-per-return average.

Harrah's: Casino won't work without tax break, hotel: Alan Sayre; The casino simply has not met - and cannot be expected to meet - once-lofty projections of how much money it would take in from gamblers, the panel was told during the casino's first official public statement of what it wants to stay open.

President signs bill authorizing money for Lake Tahoe: Sandra Chereb; "This is an historic and landmark day for one of the environmental crown jewels of our nation," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who co-sponsored the Lake Tahoe Restoration Act in the Senate along with fellow Democrats Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and Nevada Sens. Harry Reid and Richard Bryan.

LV tech firm sues ex-employee: In a Clark County District Court lawsuit, E-financial.com and David Story sued Julie Gibbs, an at-will employee who was hired on Aug. 29 and allegedly terminated on Sep. 27, alleging she was "willfully and wantonly retaining (the handbook) in a vindictive and hostile manner and is demanding sums of money for (its) return."

Struggling Comstock to close in downtown Reno: "We're going full-speed ahead in starting our renovations," said Joel Gamel of Miami, whose group specializes in apartment and condominium conversions. He expects to spend $600,000 to convert the Comstock into about 200 studio and one-bedroom condominiums that could go on the market as early as spring with an average selling price of about $50,000.

Tyco buying Lucent unit: Tyco buying Lucent unit

Where I Stand -- Brian Greenspun: Trusting the people: Maybe I have missed something during the soap opera that is the Florida election, but it sure seems to me that the difference between what a man says and what a man does has become crystal clear in the past few days. That man, of course, is Gov. Bush -- George, not Jeb, and that's a whole other question -- and the issue is just whom does he really trust.

Former prosecutor in Edwards trial says informants were shopping for leniency: Assistant U.S. Attorney Jim Letten, who led the successful prosecution of Edwards, testified last week that he did not know initially that Edwards was a target. Letten also said he was not aware of an immunity deal for brothers Michael Graham and Patrick Graham of Texas until after the fact.

Columnist Dean Juipe: NCAA back to looking at freshmen: Dean Juipe; The NCAA has the tenacity of a pit bull.

Columnist Kate Maddox: Death at C2K to prompt lawsuit: Kate Maddox; Plans are in the works for legal action to be taken against the Venetian and the company that leased and operated the now-defunct first incarnation of Club C2K.

Shifting gears: Local car enthusiasts fight to keep hot rods out of political races: James Sohns, president of the Nevada Car Owners Association and a fanatic about protecting his 14 classics, took it personally when Vice President Al Gore said the world needs to get rid of automobiles.

Broken right foot shelves Kelly again: Steve Addy; Who: UNLV vs. Northern Arizona When: Friday, 7:30 p.m. Where: Thomas & Mack Center TV: None Radio: KBAD 920-AM

Local news briefs for November 14, 2000: A newlywed couple suffered smoke inhalation and cuts as they crawled through a window early this morning to escape their burning mobile home, Las Vegas fire officials said.

Smithsonian officials to visit: Erin Neff; Las Vegas will roll out the cultural red carpet for Smithsonian Institution officials Thursday to convince the national museum to give Sin City a closer look.

Discrimination complaint against LV casino dismissed: Grace Leong; A federal judge on Monday dismissed a lawsuit accusing the Roadrunner Casino Sahara and its parent Sahara Enterprises Inc. of racial discrimination when it stopped two black people from playing slot machines during a private party at the club.

Plan would protect 3 million acres in Nevada: Benjamin Grove; WASHINGTON -- Roughly 3.1 million acres of the 5.6-million acre Humbolt-Toiyabe National Forest land in Nevada would be designated roadless to protect it from development under a federal plan now nearing completion.

Park Place, Harrah's next in line in minority contracting crusade: David Strow; Six months ago, the MGM Grand hotel-casino became embroiled in a debate over the role of minorities in Nevada's gaming industry.

Letter: Grow up, W.: Let system work: Letter: Grow up, W.: Let system work

Letter: Partisanship not motivation for governor: Case in point: In his "Where I Stand" column on Nov. 9, Brian Greenspun attributed Gov. Kenny Guinn's television attack advertisements against Rep. Shelley Berkley in Nevada's 1st Congressional District race to "ugly partisanship." But the truth is, as anyone who has followed this saga clearly knows, Guinn's decision to get involved in that race had nothing to do with the fact that he was a Republican and Berkley was a Democrat.

Driver in fatal accident may be in Mexico: Keith Paul; A Las Vegas man who ran from an accident scene last month, leaving his injured wife and dying children behind, apparently has fled to his native Mexico, Nevada Highway Patrol officials said.

New testing irregularities confirmed: Terry Webster and Cy Ryan; Teachers used practice answers contained on the exams, gave students answer sheets and asked them to correct wrong answers. Test booklets were missing or lost.

State gives subsidy to LV aerospace firm: David Strow; Developer Robert Bigelow's company has received nearly $28,000 in tax credits -- but not for his announced plan to launch lunar tourism from the Las Vegas Valley.

Cell phone bookings offered: Cell phone bookings offered

Hotel-casino spending $20 million on Guggenheim: The anticipated cost of the project was disclosed in the quarterly report of Las Vegas Sands Inc., filed today with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The 63,000-square-foot hall, being built between the Venetian and its parking garage, is slated to open in spring 2001.

LV company files for bankruptcy: The filing came less than a month after Spintek laid off a large number of its employees and warned investors that it might have to file for bankruptcy as a result of "substantial cash needs" following a failed attempt to arrange financing. The filings are Chapter 7, which typically involves the liquidation of a company and its assets.

MGM MIRAGE, PurchasePro in online deal: The MGM MIRAGE marketplace will be powered by PurchasePro, a Las Vegas business-to-business Internet commerce provider.

Telecommunications alliance deal: IBM intends to announce that Alcatel of France, Lucent Technologies, Nortel Networks of Canada, Telcordia Technologies and Ulticom Inc. have all joined the initiative. Alcatel, Lucent and Nortel are among the world's biggest makers of communications equipment. Telcordia, which used to be controlled by regional Bell carriers and was known as Bellcore, provides network software and consulting services. Ulticom also provides software for communications networks.

Quake rattles Beatty: The temblor was measured at 2.4 magnitude by the USGS and occurred at 8:06 a.m. about 40 miles northwest of Beatty, according to the USGS website and the University of Nevada, Reno website.

Big Yucca contract awarded: The Department of Energy announced today that the Bechtel-Scientific Applications International Corp. won the operating contract for the Yucca Mountain Project.

New York-New York sues contractors over ADA issues: In a Clark County District Court lawsuit, New York-New York alleged the defendants' negligence caused the hotel-casino to incur "architect's fees, engineer fees, expert fees, consulting fees and other associated costs of repair."

Red Rock's birthday means free admission: There will be no charge Wednesday to visit the 196,000-acre area that is managed by the Bureau of Land Management.

LV-to-Fresno flights added: Allegiant, which recently added 17 flights a week between Las Vegas and Reno, flies 115-passenger DC-9 twin engine jets.

Streamline.com calls it quits: Streamline.com calls it quits

Storm creates driving headaches in the Sierra: Chains were mandatory in California early Tuesday over Interstate 80 from Truckee to Colfax, on U.S. 50 over Echo Summit and on California 88 over Carson Pass.

Oracle, Compaq in partnership: Oracle, Compaq in partnership

Daughter's testimony too much for convicted killer: Kim Smith; For the first time in the six weeks he has been on trial for murder in the 1992 deaths of four people, Richard Powell lost his composure.

PUC attorney to run ethics panel: CARSON CITY -- Polly Hamilton, a staff attorney for the state Public Utilities Commission in Carson City, has been named executive director of the state Ethics Commission.

Rape victim testifies that her attacker apologized to her later: Kim Smith; The third of six women allegedly raped by a Las Vegas teen testified Monday that the teenager apologized for attacking her and said he'd never done it before.

Obituaries for November 14, 2000: Myrtle Allen, 100, of Las Vegas died Nov. 2 in Las Vegas. She was born May 28, 1900. A resident for 65 years, she was a homemaker.

IRS seeks Nevadans entitled to overdue refunds: "This is from last year and years prior to that," Karen Westphal, an IRS spokeswoman in Phoenix, said of the refunds.

Goodman softens rhetoric, not intent: Erin Neff; Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman has toned down his rhetoric, but not his feelings toward Councilman Michael McDonald.

Head office to replace U.S. auto executive with a German: DETROIT -- DaimlerChrysler shares rose today on reports that the automaker is preparing to oust the American head of its unprofitable U.S. operations and replace him with a German.

Police file affidavit against Rhodes: Diana Sahagun; An affidavit outlining evidence that North Las Vegas City Councilman John Rhodes committed fraud against the city was submitted Monday to the Clark County district attorney's office.

UNLV scientists back DOE on Yucca safety: Copyright 2000 Las Vegas Sun

Editorial: Just what is Bush so afraid of?: Overseas ballots will be counted until Friday as long as they were postmarked by Election Day. In light of that, then, it is clear that Harris' insistence on requiring all vote recounts to be completed by today was a decision motivated by raw, partisan politics. In the past, overseas ballots have tended to favor Republicans, so the conventional wisdom is that a sizable majority likely will go to Bush. Meanwhile, the four counties where Gore is seeking a recount went for the Democratic nominee in the first tally, so it's possible that if more mistakes are found, they could favor ...

McCarran No. 2 in study on satisfaction: The airport serving Las Vegas tied with Denver International Airport, just behind Orlando International Airport in the inaugural J.D. Power and Associates Domestic Airport Passenger Satisfaction Study.

Controversy surrounds latest NAACP election: It wouldn't be a Las Vegas NAACP election without someone yelling foul before or after the voting.

Letter: Bush wants it all his way: It is OK for Texas but not Florida because Bush says we should "trust the people," meaning apparently the people of Texas but not the people of Florida. In Seminole County, Fla., the Bush campaign gave its approval to a partial manual recount, a fruitful decision because the Bush Presidential Transition Express gained 98 votes in that manual recount. It is OK to manually recount in largely Republican Seminole county, but not in largely Democratic counties.

Judge to rule on casino decision: Kim Smith; District Judge Ron Parraguirre is expected to decide within the next three weeks if the state's Gaming Policy Committee's decision to stop the development of a Spring Valley casino was constitutional.

Casinos see interest in legal struggle over teachers' tax: CARSON CITY -- Big casinos in Las Vegas are going to jump into the middle of a district court battle over the constitutionality of a proposed 4 percent business profits tax sought by the teachers union in Nevada.

Teacher hit with charges of making bomb threats: Kim Smith; A criminal complaint was filed this morning against a Silverado High School teacher charging her with two counts of making bomb threats and two counts of turning in false fire alarms.

Letter: Make developers pay for growth: I think the developers should be required to fund the needed extras. They are the ones profiting from the growth.

Lawsuit claims Strip hotel-casino at fault in California woman's shooting: Heather Vitarelli, of Napa, Calif., died in the hotel's casino Sept. 8 when she was struck by a stray bullet fired by a theft suspect during a struggle with a Harrah's security officer.

Copter crash victims not badly hurt: Jace Radke; PAHRUMP -- The crew of a Flight for Life helicopter that crashed Monday night in Pahrump suffered only minor injuries and were released from the hospital a few hours later.

Court briefs for November 14, 2000: An 80-year-old man charged with misdemeanor battery in an August attack on gambling figure Bob Stupak pleaded no contest Monday.

Immunity offered in cheating: But no one came forward to take advantage of the offer by Deputy District Attorney Ben Graham, who said his office did not anticipate any prosecution "at least as we now know it."