Print edition for August 1, 2001

Editorial: Tough part under way for county: There are two basic reasons why the county needs to immediately put in place an aggressive plan to improve air quality in the valley. First, and most importantly, it is essential that the air we breathe is healthy for our residents, but especially for seniors and children who are most susceptible to respiratory ailments. Second, the region is in danger of facing sanctions from the federal government if it doesn't take reasonable steps to curb pollution in the valley. In the worst-case scenario, sanctions even could result in the federal government placing a limit on growth, an action that could ...

Harrah's, Argosy buyouts close: Las Vegas-based Harrah's acquired the Lake Tahoe casino company from an affiliate of Colony Capital of Los Angeles. The buyout adds four casinos to the Harrah's chain -- Harveys Resort & Casino of Lake Tahoe; Harveys Casino Hotel and Bluffs Run Casino, both in Council Bluffs, Iowa; and Harveys Wagon Wheel hotel-casino in Central City, Colo. Council Bluffs is located across the Missouri River from Omaha, Neb.; Central City is about 30 miles west of Denver.

Local services deliver the goods: Max Jacobson; Did you ever get the urge to dine on restaurant fare on one of those lazy evenings when you just couldn't muster the energy to go out and retrieve it yourself?

Owner of 51s rumored to be in talks to buy A's: Steve Guiremand; Las Vegas 51s president Don Logan this morning would neither confirm nor deny several published reports that Mandalay Sports Entertainment, the principle owner of the 51s, had struck a deal to purchase the Oakland Athletics major league baseball team.

Columnist Peter Benton: Matyas captures Sun City event: Peter Benton; Joe Matyas shot 74-69--143 to eke out a narrow victory in the championship division of the recent Sun City Amateur Championship -- one of the season's designated tournaments conducted by the Southern Nevada Golf Association.

Editorial: It's time to toughen nursing home rules: Some states, including Nevada, have toughened their regulation of nursing homes. But that doesn't mean Congress shouldn't get involved -- establishing minimum federal standards is needed and providing more funding would be of help as well. The elderly and their families shouldn't have to worry that admitting them into a nursing home will put them in harm's way.

Former county facilities chief will not appeal ethics ruling: Barrett vowed to appeal the decision after the commission voted 4-1 he violated a section of the state ethics law. His attorney, Shawn Huggins, said Tuesday that Barrett simply changed his mind.

Review: Rush Hour 2: Relax and kick back: Geoff Carter; Grade: Three stars

Obituaries for August 1, 2001: Pat Basch, 73, of Henderson died Monday in a local hospital. She was born Aug. 8, 1927, in Cleveland. A resident for 15 years, she was a schoolteacher.

Strip hotel designer Stern dies at 84: Martin Stern Jr., a visionary architectural designer whose conceptual drawings of resorts including the original MGM Grand and Las Vegas Hilton forever altered the Las Vegas skyline, has died. He was 84.

Prominent local artist Heller dies: So dedicated was Jim Heller to his art that in the final stages of his lifelong battle with muscular dystrophy he was determined to complete his last commissioned painting, even if it required a little help from a friend.

Columnist Jeff Haney: Sports bettor Fezzik: Teaching, not 'touting': For the past couple of years, the line "By Fezzik" atop an article on sports betting has meant readers were in for a treat -- and often a windfall.

Thursday's horse racing entries: Post Time 2 p.m.

PCL box: Las Vegas-Tucson: 2B--Aven, Johnson, Branson, Christenson, Wilson, Barajas, Sell. 3B--Gibson. HR--Barajas. SB--Barajas.

Privacy concerns arise in Internet gaming review: Kevin Ferguson; Nevada and Australian gaming regulators appear to vary on at least one significant element of regulating Internet gambling: how to curb activities of problem gamblers.

Columnist Victoria Sun: Keever finds success as pro: Victoria Sun; A professional golfer's rookie season is usually the toughest.

Columnist Dean Juipe: UNLV awaits interesting season: Dean Juipe; UNLV football fans haven't had much reason to pay attention to polls in recent years.

Letter: Being bilingual is a good thing: All I can say is there seem to be a few people who are still ignorant and mean-minded who think we still live in the past. I am glad that schools want to teach other languages in today's world -- you need more than one language in order to make a good living.

Volunteers to join Fallon leukemia probe: Federal and state scientists this week will begin selecting families for biological and environmental tests in an attempt to determine what has caused a childhood leukemia cluster in Fallon.

Atlantic City tunnel finally opens, disrupts operations at Harrah's: John Curran; ATLANTIC CITY -- The Atlantic City tunnel project finally opened to traffic Tuesday, after 2 1/2 years of construction and one very embarrassing glitch.

Columnist Elizabeth Foyt: Couple enjoy dual celebration of birthday, health at party: Elizabeth Foyt; Maureen Schnitzer was recently honored with a festive birthday dinner hosted by her husband, Harvey Schnitzer. The congenial evening, held in the private dining room at the Old Spaghetti Factory in Henderson, was in truth a dual celebration marking a strong return to good health for Harvey, as well as Maureen's 70th birthday.

Rebels: Second to one: Steve Guiremand; UNLV may have its most talented team in two decades. But that wasn't enough to garner John Robinson's Rebels the No. 1 spot in the preseason Mountain West Conference media poll released on Tuesday.

Mich. malfunction no cause for chaos at Circus Circus: Jace Radke; An amusement park ride at the Circus Circus hotel-casino remains in operation after a version of that ride crashed to the ground at a Michigan amusement park Monday sending 31 people to the hospital.

PDS profit improves despite stagnant revenue: Revenue fell slightly from $14 million to $13.9 million for PDS, which leases, sells, manufactures and refurbishes gaming equipment and has its own gaming operations.

Ralph Siraco's selections for Thursday's races at Del Mar: 1st Race -- Just Another Day -- Enriquez sits West trainee, draws good box for sprint opener, jockey-trainer combo are productive team. Deputy's Dream -- Baze atop Sadler trainee, draws alongside top pick, another jockey-trainer tandem that clicks together. Value Play -- Sainte Maxme

New BYU coach replacing an icon: Victoria Sun; The high expectations about to be placed on new BYU football coach Gary Crowton are unlike any he has ever experienced.

Letter: Social Security doesn't need radical changes: For years they have been telling young people that they will never get a Social Security check under the present system and the way to make sure they do receive a check is to roll the dice with their payroll tax contributions by investing them in the stock market.

Long-awaited NLV library opens: Angela Soo; The North Las Vegas Library District today opened a new satellite branch near San Mateo Street as it studies plans for a new, full-service facility.

Defendant in sex assault case says he made 'a big mistake': Erica Johnson; Clarence "James" Dozier, accused of drugging and sexually assaulting three woman as well as videotaping the scenes, said he made "a big mistake," as the defense phase of the case got under way Tuesday.

Nevada Power pulls fast one: Its excuses have been so we won't experience a shortage or blackouts like California, or soaring prices. Well, guess what? We have the soaring prices my relatives do not have in Southern California.

Soup, salad, suspense: Dinner theater lets diners in on the action: Kimberley McGee; They passed the glitz of the Strip and shows they'd seen or refused to see.

Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Outlaws champion recovering from freak accident: Three-time Pennzoil World of Outlaws champion Sammy Swindell is recovering at his Tennessee home after sustaining multiple injuries in a freak accident last week at Lernerville Speedway in Pennsylvania.

Community briefs for August 1, 2001: Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area offers hikes and walks free of charge, but reservations are required for all programs, which begin at the Visitors Center. To make reservations or for information call 363-1922. Some upcoming programs:

Columnist Jon Ralston: Questions still linger over Mack's absence: THE PRODIGAL councilman planned to return to the public eye this morning, having wasted much political capital during a July of missed meetings and inexplicable insulation.

Vegas attracts convention with 12,000 attendees: Dan Merriman, communications manager at CSI's national office, said the convention would be June 27-30 and the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority said the event would be at the Las Vegas Hilton.

Awards: Martha Watson, dean of the Greenspun College of Urban Affairs, will serve as a liaison between WESTAF and the arts communities in Nevada. She has a doctorate in communications, has authored numerous academic articles and several books and she has been involved in higher education for many years.

MWC Notebook: Thompson defends moving to Fridays: Steve Guiremand; Mountain West commissioner Craig Thompson defended his conference's decision to move two football games to Friday night this fall so that they could be televised nationally by ESPN.

UNLV's conference home opener changed: Instead of opening Mountain West action at Air Force on Sunday, Jan. 6, the Rebels will host Wyoming on Jan. 5, then visit Air Force on Jan. 7. The Wyoming game had to be rescheduled from Jan. 19, when the Thomas & Mack is hosting Disney on Ice.

Adoptions give break to mustangs: Rebecca Malone; Liz Masters is often awakened in the morning by her "little drummer boy," Pistol. He sticks his front feet in his feeding bucket, kicks around to make noise and then goes to her window to make sure she gets up to feed him.

Columnist Muriel Stevens: Traversing the peaks and valets: The call back from Boulevard mall Director of Operations Jeff Kurtz arrived too late to be included in last week's column about malls charging for valet parking. Kurtz didn't hesitate to answer my questions, and he couldn't fathom why everyone else I spoke to wouldn't tell me that valet parking at Boulevard mall is $3.

State has 1,906 more registered Democrats than Republicans: CARSON CITY -- Democrats held a 1,906 voter registration edge over Republicans at the end of June, Secretary of State Dean Heller reported today.

City officials regroup on annexation bid: Launce Rake, Diana Sahagun and Angela Soo; Doug Selby is not used to facing a picket line when attending private land-use meetings.

Delta promoting lower fares in key America West markets: An airline fare war for business customers is pitting two of the top air carriers at McCarran International Airport.

Wife: If Vigoa is guilty, he should get death penalty: Kim Smith; The wife of a Las Vegas man accused of killing two armored truck guards last year and robbing a series of casinos believes he should get the death penalty if he's guilty.

Preseason All-Mountain West team: OFFENSE

Crack in nuke waste container discovered: The Energy Department will delay the transportation of low-level nuclear waste to the Nevada Test Site from a New York reprocessing plant after investigators discovered a crack in a container in the first shipment, a spokesman said.

Sommer, LCI still sorting Aladdin details: David Strow; London Clubs International said this morning it does not have a definitive agreement to take majority control of the $1.2 billion Aladdin hotel-casino, amid concerns that the Sommer Trust, the property's current controlling shareholder, hasn't signed off on the deal.

Scared into silence: Fearing deportation, immigrant women seldom report domestic violence: By Timothy Pratt; Information

LV firm's loss widens: Las Vegas-based Southwest Gas said losses for the second and third quarters are typical because of the seasonal nature of the natural gas business. The higher loss was caused by increases in operating expenses and financing costs. Operating revenues shot up 41 percent to $279 million.

Petition supports two fired nurses: By Emily Richmond; Supporters of two nurses fired from Sunrise Hospital for refusing patient assignments have gathered more than 500 signatures on a petition demanding that the workers be rehired.

Berkley, Gibbons tops in campaign funds: Brendan Riley; CARSON CITY -- Nevada Reps. Shelley Berkley and Jim Gibbons already have amassed a combined $1.1 million for re-election battles that won't be determined until November 2002.

Business briefs for August 1, 2001: Tim Quillin will join Hall as vice president of marketing and the company will retain the Hall name, said Mick Hall, president and chief executive officer.

LV economy helps profit of Summerlin developer: The Howard Hughes Corp.'s record-setting pace of land and home sales in Summerlin -- aided by the strong Las Vegas economy -- boosted the Rouse Co.'s otherwise sagging second quarter earnings, the company reported Tuesday.

Hospital to close psychiatric ward: By Emily Richmond; In a move officials say will ease emergency room congestion, Valley Hospital plans to close its 11-bed adult psychiatric ward, converting it into a 24-bed unit for general patients.

Senator fails to pay workers' insurance premium: CARSON CITY -- State Sen. Maurice Washington wants the workers compensation system to pay the medical bills for an injury he suffered in a charity basketball game, but he wouldn't buy similar industrial insurance coverage for his own employees at a child care center he operates in Sparks.

Big LV health insurer beats profit expectations: While beating analyst estimates of 33 cents per share, the profit included a one-time gain of 11 cents per share from the sale of securities.

Hilton mulls downtown hotel; outlet mall proposed for same LV parcel: Diana Sahagun; Hilton Hotels Corp. is considering a nearly 4-acre parcel in downtown Las Vegas as the site for a 20-story hotel and will meet with city officials this week to discuss the idea, according to a source involved with the meeting.

House rejects Yucca bill: Legislation would have given DOE more authority: Benjamin Grove and Mary Manning; The House today scrapped -- for now -- legislation that would have taken Yucca Mountain project spending authority away from Congress.