Print edition for January 5, 2004

State controller projects growth: CARSON CITY -- Nevada's economy is on the mend but it won't return to the explosive growth experienced in the 1990s, says state Controller Kathy Augustine.

Sides to meet again on Red Rock Station: The two sides that have battled over a proposed high-rise hotel in Summerlin have one more chance to reach a settlement before Wednesday.

VegasBeat: Timothy McDarrah: Spears' latest move ends with splits: That's what pop tart Britney Spears and her childhood friend from Kentwood, La., Jason Allen Alexander, said to one another after a quickie pre-dawn wedding on Saturday at the Little White Wedding Chapel on Las Vegas Boulevard North.

Sports briefs for January 5, 2004: France beat Russia 2-1 in the eight-nation event, with Amelie Mauresmo and Fabrice Santoro winning mixed doubles 6-3, 6-4.

News briefs for Jan. 5, 2004: Metro Police arrested a 75-year-old man Friday suspected of stabbing to death his neighbor, who was found dead behind the suspect's Spring Valley mobile home.

State probing mutual funds: Lockyer wouldn't name the three companies under investigation, but said all were implicated in the Security and Exchange Commission's investigation of Morgan Stanley.

More wells sought to find perchlorate: Dan Kulin; Additional perchlorate monitoring wells may be installed around the former PEPCON plant in Henderson, where the toxic rocket fuel component was manufactured until a deadly explosion at the plant in 1988.

Columnist Dean Juipe: Manning, like Elway, silences his critics: Dean Juipe; For years John Elway lived with the indignity and the rap that he couldn't win the big game. It was a preposterous supposition and an unfair burden, given his otherwise fantastic career.

Las Vegas, exhibitors looking to cash in on CES: Kevin Rademacher; With just three days to go before the opening of the 2004 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, out of town attendees and local executives are counting on a financial windfall from the event.

Favre, Green Bay survive with interception in OT: Judy Battista; GREEN BAY, Wis. -- With two minutes remaining in regulation, Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre walked over to the defense, a lead in hand, a trip to the second round of the playoffs ready to be taken.

Court rejects appeal in 1998 LV slaying: CARSON CITY -- The Nevada Supreme Court has rejected the third and fourth appeals of Tam C. Nguyen, serving a life sentence for first-degree murder in the 1998 slaying of a Las Vegas man he believed was having an affair with his wife.

Victim of pit bull attack outraged by 'free-bite' law: Las Vegas resident Sharon Selep says she lives in terror that Clark County Animal Control will release the pit bull that attacked her and killed her toy poodle.

Rebounding may hold key to MWC success: Steve Guiremand; UNLV opens its 2004 Mountain West Conference basketball season a week from tonight against Utah at the Thomas & Mack Center. And for Charlie Spoonhour's Rebels to have any chance at making a run at a conference title, they must improve their rebounding ... and in a hurry.

Weight problem offered as cause of plane crash: Dan Kulin; A preliminary National Transportation Safety Board report on the Christmas Day plane crash at North Las Vegas Airport that killed six people leads a flight school owner to believe the plane was simply overloaded.

Columnist Ralph Siraco: Stars of 2003: Bailey, Frankel, Valenzuela, Krone: Ralph Siraco; It was a year in which the human athletes were as prominent as their equine partners, but 2003 was also a year in which the sport lost some of its truly precious human treasures.

Obituaries for Jan. 5, 2004: Gloria Bernard, 78, of Las Vegas died Thursday in a local hospital. She was born April 11, 1925, in Newark, N.J. A resident for four years, she was a retired owner of retail clothing stores.

Gaming briefs for Jan. 5, 2004: VALLEY CENTER, Calif. -- Crime at northern San Diego County casinos increased slightly during the first half of 2003, but incidents were no more prevalent than at any other public attraction in the county and did not rival Las Vegas crime, the San Diego County Sheriff's Department said.

Crime rates relatively unchanged: Jen Lawson; Metro Police handled slightly more homicides in 2003 than the year before, but once the population growth is taken into account last year's homicide rate will be lower than 2002's, Lt. Tom Monahan said.

Hillary Clinton raps Bush's handling of war: Dan Kulin; During a fund-raising trip to Las Vegas on Sunday, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton criticized the Bush administration's handling of the war in Iraq and domestic policies that have brought back huge budget deficits.

Titans take first step toward ultimate 'goal': Damon Hack; BALTIMORE -- Separated by a dozen lockers, Eddie George and Steve McNair slowly buttoned up their suits on Saturday night after a rugged evening of having their muscles and joints rearranged by the Baltimore Ravens.

Killer loses appeal in 1995 slaying: CARSON CITY -- A Las Vegas man convicted of the fatal shooting of a woman and the wounding of a man in Las Vegas in 1995 has lost his latest appeal to the Nevada Supreme Court.

Chain sued by union: The suit, filed Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court, claims that in some instances the workers locked out by Ralphs were brought back on the payroll using the names of their minor children or relatives, a violation of law.

State of LV again to focus on downtown: Sito Negron; This year, he may have more specifics to point to, as millions of dollars for new development -- while meager compared to the billions being spent on and adjacent to the Strip -- flowed into downtown Las Vegas in 2003, with more to come in 2004.

Henderson Police officer on leave after shooting at car in parking lot: Howard DiPietro, 39, surrendered to Henderson Police Sunday afternoon and was booked into the Henderson jail about 5:45 p.m. on a charge of attempted murder of a police officer, Henderson Police spokesman Keith Paul said.

Moncrief wants Cheetah's license pulled: Sito Negron; Las Vegas Councilwoman Janet Moncrief is calling for the revocation of Cheetah's tavern license.

Lincoln County meeting tackles proposed rail route: Mary Manning and Heather Rawlyk; Lincoln County commissioners were expecting a lively meeting this morning as residents got their first opportunity to speak out on the proposed rail line that would bring highly radioactive waste through the county on the way to Yucca Mountain.

Waist issues: Vegas ranks 16th among 'Fattest Cities': Heather Rawlyk; Las Vegas, home of free drinks, the all-you-can-eat buffet and padded seats for slot machines, appears to be getting fatter.

NRC says Yucca issues are unresolved: Suzanne Struglinski; WASHINGTON -- The Nuclear Regulatory Commission says the Energy Department has not provided enough information to support its answers to questions the commission posed regarding Yucca Mountain.

Regents speak out on CCSN demotions: By Emily Richmond; Breaking a six-week silence, three university system regents released a statement Friday detailing their reasons for voting to demote Community College of Southern Nevada President Ron Remington and college lobbyist John Cummings.

Four die in weekend traffic accidents: Four people -- including two 16-year-olds -- died on valley roads during the weekend.

Hotel lists sought: Jace Radke; The FBI used subpoenas to obtain guest lists at Las Vegas hotels prior to the New Year's Eve celebration.

Letter: Proud of work on 'Shovel Brigade': I didn't go to Jarbidge on a whim -- not when anyone with the temerity to touch a single clod were being threatened with jail time. The rebels didn't really fix the road. Our biggest tangible accomplishment was actually the hauling out of an outhouse full of dung, 5 gallons at a time, which was left there by wilderness hikers. This is the same outhouse the feds just emptied again, for $15,000 worth of helicopter time.

Columnist Susan Snyder: Building a future is not easy: As owner of Austin's Lincoln Motel, she's a newcomer of sorts. Keller grew up in rural Nevada, but moved away. She returned a year ago to buy the motel with her husband and retire in the former silver-mining boomtown.

Cher fares well in (another) grand send-off: Spencer Patterson; In the 1993 film "Groundhog Day," Bill Murray's character wakes up to Sonny & Cher's vintage hit "I Got You Babe" morning upon morning upon morning.

Henderson services forced to move: Beginning Tuesday all City Council meetings will take place in the Grand Ball Room at the Henderson Convention Center, 200 Water St. Any other meetings that regularly take place in the council chambers will also be moved to the convention center, such as planning and developmental services meetings, City Clerk Monica Simmons said.

Columnist Lisa Ferguson: Sun Lite for Jan. 5, 2004: Lisa Ferguson; The holidays are finally behind us, and gone (by now, we hope) are all of those decadent holiday treats. Of course, depending on how heavily you indulged during the season, it may seem that they're still on your tail, so to speak.

Letter: Far-right talk radio is full of lies, arrogance: If Hillary Clinton were to suddenly die, there would be dozens of these people without a career. They have centered their entire beings on bashing and trashing Sen. Clinton and her husband and they can only congratulate themselves and the rest of the zealots and ideologues of the far right while they endlessly recycle the same old innuendo, lies and exaggerations. (An ideologue is defined as a person with a solution in search of a problem.) I don't think I've heard a single 15-minute segment without someone bashing Hillary! Shame on them.

Editorial: 'Solution' is better than a 'response': City Council members are now wrestling with the larger question of whether city employees should be allowed to hold elective office. Councilwoman Lynette Boggs McDonald says the practice presents a management nightmare. "It really presents a difficult situation when you have individuals who are your subordinates when the Legislature is not in session but become your superiors when the Legislature is in session," McDonald said. Holding the opposing point of view are Councilmen Larry Brown and Gary Reese, who say all citizens, including city employees, have the right to serve in the citizen Legislature.

Editorial: Tough on justice: We said then that this is not justice and raised concern about judicial independence. In his annual year-end statement, William Rehnquist, chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, expressed the same sentiments. He made the Feeney amendment the central theme of his statement, which shows how seriously he considers it to be flawed. Congress should repeal this amendment so that sentences reflect the seriousness of the crimes rather than the serious pressure felt by the judge.

Gambling brings mixed returns for Wis. tribes: Juliet Williams; RED CLIFF, Wis. -- A decade of tribal gambling has spread the wealth unevenly among Wisconsin's Indian reservations, bringing phenomenal increases in living standards for two but leaving the other nine still struggling with poverty and lagging incomes, an Associated Press review found.

Birth announcements for Jan. 5, 2004: Dec. 23:

Community briefs for Jan. 5, 2004: The Las Vegas PC User Group is sponsoring a genealogy special interest group in conjunction with the Downtown Family History Center of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at 9 a.m. Jan. 10 at the Family History Center Library, 501 S. Ninth St.