Print edition for October 31, 2001

Probe continues in anthrax hoax: The hoax was reported to authorities after a powdery substance and two white envelopes were found in a courthouse stairwell about 6:30 p.m. on Oct. 17. The substance did not test positive for anthrax.

Serena to play in LV charity tennis event: Victoria Sun; On Sept. 11, the day of the terrorist attacks, tennis star Serena Williams was scheduled to fly home to Florida from New York.

Casino self-exclusion programs grow, called a 'work in progress': Kevin Ferguson; Shame often overwhelms compulsive gamblers when they come into casino manager Denis Floge's office to reveal their gambling addictions.

Kenny saying no to race for governor: Kenny for months had been said to be the Democratic Party's choice to challenge Gov. Kenny Guinn, whose term ends in 2002. The two-term commissioner, however, had wavered and said she wanted to discuss the decision with her family.

Comdex security vastly boosted: Kevin Ferguson; Conventioneers at Las Vegas' giant Comdex computer trade show in two weeks can expect something dramatically different this year. They'll see long lines at convention entrances and beefed up security precautions, such as bomb sniffing dogs and metal detectors, organizers announced Tuesday.

LV hypnotist being probed: David Strow; Las Vegas hypnotist and former Strip headliner Marshall Sylver is the target of a criminal investigation, the Nevada attorney general's office announced Tuesday.

Nevada workers to help with N.Y. reclamation efforts: CARSON CITY -- Twelve safety specialists and industrial hygienists from state government will leave Sunday for New York to help with reclamation efforts at the World Trade Center.

Status of immigration law leaves many in limbo: By Timothy Pratt; Silvia Ramirez, 34, has lived in the United States almost half of her life. She and her husband, Benjamin Limon, came from Guanajuato, Mexico, in 1988 with their son, Angel, who was only 2 at the time.

LV firms in online gambling deal: Global Cash Access is a maker of cash advance and cash access terminals that are used in many Las Vegas casinos. i2corp.com has patented a method of live remote wagering.

Nevada cash flow plunges for Park Place: David Strow; Park Place Entertainment Corp. reported a big loss for the quarter ending Sept. 30, as cash flow plunged at the company's Las Vegas resorts and it racked up $175 million in mostly non-cash special charges.

Ralph Siraco's selections for Thursday's races at Santa Anita: 1st Race -- Secretaryharriet -- Hustling Pedroza on Carava trainee, draws good post for short dash opener, could be Secretary's day. Sunset Serenade -- Draws alongside top pick, Pincay aboard Gallagher trainee, Sunset early in the day? Value Play -- Sitkasue

News briefs for October 31, 2001: A 65-year-old man who suffered second- and third-degree burns during an Oct. 15 explosion at a Las Vegas model rocket factory has died.

Chaparral squeaks by Silverado: Victoria Sun; For the Chaparral boys soccer team, scoring had never been much of a problem. It was their defense that was a bit suspect.

Recession numbers issued: The drop in the gross domestic product -- the total output of goods and services produced in the country -- was the biggest since the first quarter of 1991 when the country was in the depths of the last recession, the Commerce Department reported today.

Mayor apologizes for Utah remark: Diana Sahagun; Mayor Oscar Goodman on Tuesday apologized to Salt Lake City residents for his remark that officials preparing for the 2002 Winter Olympics may have sent as many as 1,000 homeless people to Las Vegas.

Gambling seen as way to save struggling town: Connie Farrow; ROCKAWAY BEACH, Mo. -- The odds of one day being able to wager on cards or plunk coins into slot machines on a gambling boat in southwest Missouri may be slim, but that won't discourage some residents of this economically depressed town.

Swap options: Local swap meet scene marked by variety, low prices: Kimberley McGee; And that's merely scratching the surface of the subculture that exists at the informal marketplaces, where cash and compromise hold sway over credit cards and corporate attitudes.

Utah's Parker to celebrate homecoming Saturday: Steve Guiremand; As a youth growing up in Las Vegas, Arnold Parker rarely attended football games at Sam Boyd Stadium.

Government seeks recall of millions of BB guns: The Consumer Product Safety Commission voted 2-1 on Tuesday to sue Daisy Outdoor Products after the Rogers, Ark.-based company refused a voluntary recall or other settlement, commission Chairwoman Ann Brown said.

Columnist Peter Benton: Field now set for golf's World Cup: Peter Benton; The Davidoff Nations Cup, played recently in Malaysia, determined the final six teams for the 2001 World Golf Championship-EMC World Cup.

Letter: Let's feed our own people first: I hear that since Sept. 11, donations to local homeless shelters are down. Shelter beds have closed, soup kitchens have shut down.

Columnist Muriel Stevens: Bookmark good books as gifts: Cookbooks aren't all I buy, so my friends listen for clues, a good way to discover what to buy for those people on your list who appear to have everything. No avid reader ever has everything. When a friend turned me on to Janet Evanovich and her funny mysteries and colorful characters I bought every one already in print and waited impatiently while Evanovich took her good time (at least it appeared so to me) writing another. She's working on No. 8.

Family hears last words of victim before killing: Daniela Mohor; Beth Peters said she never liked the man her mother married.

In Las Vegas, bagels are wholly satisfying: Max Jacobson; Bagels have been popular with mainstream America for nearly two decades, both as a low-fat, high-energy food and as an ethnic breadstuff. Eastern- European immigrants at the turn of the century brought the bagel to North America.

Angry residents oppose thrill ride: Diana Sahagun; Representatives of the Stratosphere, who organized a neighborhood meeting hoping to drum up support for a proposed thrill ride at the hotel, instead faced a group of angry residents who brought a much different agenda.

UNLV women romp over Southern Utah: Anita Pedford scored twice and Erin Egertson and Suzanne Jensen tallied once each for the Rebels.

Editorial: Casino execs are out of line: Last week the Stratosphere said if the city rejects what would be the world's largest and tallest roller coaster ride, the company could resurrect a gorilla-themed ride that would climb the hotel's 1,149-foot tower. The gorilla thrill ride received approval from the city in 1996, but it's hard to believe that the Stratosphere seriously would consider building this "attraction," a monstrosity both literally and figuratively. "It was the ugliest thing I have ever seen in my life, and it still is," Reese said in a dead-on characterization.

Plane crashes at Mt. Charleston: The Cessna crashed west of U.S. 95 about halfway up Lee Canyon about 4:15 p.m., Metro Police said.

Official: Yucca woes not limited to Nevada: Problems posed by a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain are not limited to Nevada, state officials said during a meeting Tuesday of the state's Commission on Nuclear Projects.

Court briefs for October 31, 2001: A former Las Vegas elementary school teacher was sentenced to five to 13 years in prison Tuesday on child pornography charges.

Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Stewart to race a USAC Midget car at LVMS: Tony Stewart, the 1999 NASCAR Winston Cup Series Rookie of the Year, will be racing at Las Vegas Motor Speedway next month -- but not in his familiar No. 20 Home Depot Pontiac.

UMC kids' intensive care overloads: By Emily Richmond; University Medical Center's pediatric intensive care unit was out of beds Tuesday, forcing hospital officials to turn away ambulances headed for the children's emergency room.

Columnist Dean Juipe: Utes, Falcons simplify UNLV's task: Dean Juipe; As at least a couple of e-mail respondents noted following my column last Friday on the UNLV football team's bowl chances, "It's only going to take one day of upsets to throw off your scenario."

Columnist Jon Ralston: Reilly's plan produces innovative ideas: CONSIDERING the high ego/loon/incompetence to quality public official ratio in Southern Nevada local governments these days, taking the top appointive job in any of them would have to be considered an act of incredible bravery or manifest insanity.

Future of city subject of retreat: Mathis Winkler; Las Vegas did it. Henderson did it. Now, North Las Vegas officials will meet on Saturday for a daylong retreat to discuss the city's future.

Letter: Religious faith will save America: I might not live long enough to see the final outcome, but my children will. If this country doesn't make a meaningful effort to stop its moral decline, my children will never live to be senior citizens.

LV man pleads guilty in FBI case: A Las Vegas man has pleaded guilty to possessing stolen FBI records in the first local case related to the bureau's secrets-for-sale scandal.

Five resorts delaying expansion: "There's no way we can go to the markets and finance what we have," said casino Chairman Nicholas Ribis. "We have to wait until the markets change, and nobody believes that will happen until next year, and when it does open we have to look at what is the cost of our money," he told the Press of Atlantic City.

Roof rescues that saved lives here not used in N.Y.: When Mel Larson piloted his helicopter to the 1980 MGM Grand Hotel fire, many hotel guests were waiting on the roof to be airlifted after escaping from a toxic, smoke-filled stairwell.

Value of Algiers land raises questions: Adrienne Packer; Clark County appraisers say the fact that two separate appraisers came up with the same value for a piece of Las Vegas Strip property is rare and "casts dispersions" on the process.

Community briefs for October 31, 2001: The group is composed of students from Garrett Middle School and Boulder City High School. They play music in parades and community events dressed in red-white-and-blue flag shirts, blue jeans, cowboy hats and boots.

2001 prep state football, volleyball, soccer and cross country playoff schedules and results: Football

Teachers face health-care trouble: Terry Webster; Teachers in the Clark County School District are reviewing health care options after learning their health trust is facing a deficit of several million dollars.

Columnist Jeff Haney: It's post time for Racing Form handicapper: By design, the Stardust's annual football handicapping invitational features an eclectic field of competitors.

Columnist Elizabeth Foyt: Houssels honored at Nevada Ballet Theatre gala: Elizabeth Foyt; There was a warmth, a sense of intimacy and special rapport among guests who recently attended Nevada Ballet Theatre's 30th anniversary dinner and gala performance.

Reid gets his way on Yucca budget: Benjamin Grove and Mary Manning; WASHINGTON -- Every year congressional lawmakers who want to bury the nation's nuclear waste in Nevada engage in a months-long tussle with Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., over the Yucca Mountain budget.

Letter: It's up to press, informed citizens to halt terror: While Ben Franklin and the boys might have raised some eyebrows over that, we accepted it. Yet even our "war on drugs" had a better referent. We know what a drug is; but somehow that war resulted in missionaries getting shot down, while the unlawful drugs kept flowing.

Obituaries for October 31, 2001: Ruth Bunker, 87, of Clark County died Monday in Henderson. She was born Feb. 22, 1914, in Bunkerville. A lifetime Southern Nevada resident, she was a homemaker and a pianist/organist.

Vets home landscaping must be bid: CARSON CITY -- The trouble-plagued state veterans nursing home in Boulder City is running into a new problem -- landscaping.

$100,000 donation sent to Red Cross comes back to LV: Some of the dollars donated to help victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks will come back to Las Vegas to aid those who lost their jobs in the economic downturn that followed.

Fire, ATF officials to enter range bunker: Jace Radke; Clark County Fire Department officials and agents of the federal Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms were expected to make their way inside a Metro Police shooting range bunker today to determine what caused a series of explosions at the site Sunday.

Group must rebuild NAACP chapter: Jace Radke; The NAACP has charged a group of 17 politicians, lawyers, pastors, community activists and leaders to lay the foundation for a new beginning for the organization in Las Vegas.

Thursday's horse racing entries: OAK TREE MEETING Post Time 1 p.m.

Rebels' Fan Jam Thursday at T&M: Both the men's and women's teams will play a 20-minute scrimmage. There will be a dunk contest for the men and a 3-point contest for the women. Free posters will be available and both teams will sign autographs.

Use of juror prompts criticism: A Nevada Supreme Court panel studying the jury system plans to hear testimony this week from the foreman in the Ted Binion murder trial despite objections from lawyers in the case.

Editorial: Nevada Day takes place today -- really: President Lincoln pushed for Nevada's admission as a state for a less romantic reason: politics. But that doesn't mean Nevada's birth was any less noble. Lincoln wanted another friendly state to help secure his re-election, which enabled him to enact some of the most important matters in our nation's history -- constitutional amendments that would abolish slavery and provide voting rights for all men.