Print edition for January 26, 2004

Mold creeping into home defect lawsuits: Jennifer Shubinski; Three Nevada judges who have become experts at trying and resolving construction defect cases warned that the next big issue, which they say could cripple the industry, is starting to show up in their courts.

Jury chosen in Stewart trial: Jury chosen in Stewart trial

Friars' farewell: Franciscans end 35 years of service in valley: By Timothy Pratt; After more than 35 years that have included jailed priests, angry mayors, bearded white men tapping their Birkenstocks to gospel music and robed friars hauling portable toilets to the homeless, the Franciscan friars said goodbye to the Las Vegas Valley Sunday.

Local phone market heats up: Jennifer Shubinski; Telecommunications giant SBC Communications Inc. of San Antonio today said it will offer local residential telephone service in the city of Las Vegas and said other nearby areas, such as Henderson, aren't far behind.

Jobless rate declines in December: There were an estimated 47,300 people out of work in December, down from the 53,000 in the same month of 2002.

Japanese deal to be formalized: Sammy also will supply Sega games such as an online horse racing product to IGT for overseas markets, the Sankei Shimbun newspaper in Japan reported Sunday.

Removal of golf courses OK'd: Erica D. Johnson; A ruling by a District Court judge this morning will allow developer Billy Walters to replace two golf courses at the Stallion Mountain Estates with 1,560 homes.

Officer in fatal shooting ID'd: Gillis has been with the department for nine years, a police spokesman said.

Spokeswoman defends Goodman's TV comment: Sito Negron; Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman said through a spokeswoman Friday that his intent in appearing on national television to discuss homeland security funding was to drive home the point that the city is not getting the money through the state quickly enough.

District can't explain away poor scores on key exam: By Emily Richmond; When Clark County students scored lower than had been hoped on a statewide proficiency exam, school officials said it was because results for all students -- even those with limited English proficiency -- were included in the overall total.

County ready to talk about growth: Clark County is close to launching a formal discussion about growth, people close to the County Commission confirmed Friday.

Moody's upgrades debt: The upgrade announcement followed this month's conference call with analysts during which Station executives outlined new casinos in the pipeline and detailed cash flow growth for the next few years.

News briefs for Jan. 26, 2004: An autopsy was scheduled today on the body of a man found nude Sunday by dirt bikers in the desert north of town, Metro Police said.

Arts district: Boom or bust for businessman?: Sito Negron; Call it the price of progress.

Youth prison, now state-run, to reopen today after 2 years: Jennifer Knight; A youth corrections facility where inmates staged a rooftop revolt two years ago when the place was privately run was expected to reopen today under state control, officials said.

Standard & Poor's ratings, outlook remain unchanged: "Furthermore, in the event that a permanent license does not get awarded after the four-year period, Standard & Poor's would expect a reasonable approach associated with transferring ownership rather than closure of the casinos," Hwan said. "It is expected that such an approach would have a high likelihood of preserving value for bondholders."

Ex-CCSN president's lawyer gets meeting transcripts: Forty-four days.

Adelson in Macau lawsuit: By Richard N. Velotta; The owner of The Venetian hotel-casino says an Israeli tourism entrepreneur wasn't the guiding force in the company's efforts to build casinos in Macau.

Rebels looking for a little payback during trip to CSU: Steve Guiremand; FORT COLLINS, Colo. -- UNLV players were still munching on their postgame pizzas in the locker room following Saturday afternoon's 76-62 victory at Wyoming when the the topic of tonight's game with Colorado State here at Moby Arena was mentioned.

New museum board named: The new board includes Chairman Charles Creigh of NewMarket Advisors; Vice Chairman Jeff Harrison, director of Properties for Lake Las Vegas Resort; Secretary Jacque Matthews of Matthews Communications and Treasurer David Hehn of Wells Fargo.

Columnist Lisa Ferguson: Sun Lite for Jan. 26, 2004: Lisa Ferguson; Go ahead and keep Christmas, enjoy Easter and have Halloween: We at Sun Lite prefer to celebrate obscure holidays the more bizarre, the better. A quick check of the Internet revealed that today has been designated Love Your Toilet Day.

School Board offered ideas to help battle youth obesity: Dan Kulin; A group made up of lawmakers and parents fighting childhood obesity was expected to ask the Clark County School Board today to put healthier foods in school vending machines and make more students take physical education courses.

Lodging giant's profit soars: Net income rose to $67 million, or 17 cents a share, from $40 million, or 11 cents a year earlier, the company said in a statement. Revenue rose 3.3 percent to $989 million from $957 million.

VegasBeat -- Timothy McDarrah: During break, Dion to be a lounge act: Celine Dion plans to spend her vacation time at home instead of going to see fellow Caesars Palace headliner Elton John perform on her stage at The Colosseum next month.

Dad pleads guilty in fatal neglect: Erica D. Johnson; The Henderson man charged in the death of his 18-month-old daughter and the abuse and neglect of his other four children claims he was not home enough to witness the deplorable conditions in which his children were living.

PBA-ABC Masters Results: AP; 2. Chris Barnes, 239, 1 game, $50,000.

Henry helps UNLV remain perfect in MWC: After finally giving in and going to the doctor on Friday, perhaps it was appropriate that RanDee Henry gave her teammates a shot in the arm on Saturday night.

Alleged molestation victim may have lied about an incident: Heather Rawlyk; A 4-year-old girl who accused a man of sexually molesting her at church in May told her mother she lied about similar accusations against her uncle, according to court records.

Takeover offer rejected: A combination would allow Sanofi, facing a patent challenge and itself vulnerable to a takeover, to cut costs and expand its U.S. sales force.

Columnist Dean Juipe: Marathons emerge as party central: Dean Juipe; Books and movies have been devoted to the subject and without fail the long-distance runner has been portrayed in a specific, stereotypical light. The generic imagery paints a picture of an introverted man or woman who finds comfort in the isolation of marathon runs.

Obituaries for Jan. 26, 2004: LaRue G. Adamson, 75, of Las Vegas died Friday in Las Vegas. She was born July 22, 1928, in Heber, Utah. A resident for many years, she was a homemaker.

Despite 'pit stops,' Petty happy with his Vegas run: Kyle Petty has started 678 NASCAR Winston Cup races in his 25-year career, so you'll have to excuse the third-generation driver from stock-car racing's first family for introducing a new concept to Sunday's Las Vegas Marathon.

Herd finishes his mission: Nick Christensen; 38th Las Vegas Half-Marathon

Local struggle continues for homeless grants: By Timothy Pratt; Recent fallout from this year's disastrous regional application for federal funds to help the homeless continued last week, as public and private officials who work with the issue scrambled to avoid losing more ground on upcoming 2004 grants.

Editorial: Great start to Young's first term: One of the first things he did was re-examine Metro's use-of-force policy. An important result is that Metro's policy now includes guidelines that emphasize verbal skills instead of physical restraint, such as using handcuffs, to get a volatile situation under control. In addition, Metro is training its police officers in potentially more dangerous situations on when to use an electrical stun gun, which can temporarily paralyze a suspect, instead of a handgun.

Letter: Bush's policies have been bad: Our military is in a quaqmire in Iraq, with no end in sight. More than 500 have been killed since the fighting ended, and to keep up our troop levels, reservists, most of them married with children, are being called up in increasing numbers. If George W. is re-elected a draft will be necessary.

Editorial: Planning for diversity: The term refers to planning that has a formula for integrating reasonably priced homes and low-priced homes among upscale and middle-class neighborhoods. Inclusionary zoning has no single formula for success. Wherever it's at work, the formula varies to reflect local goals. At a conference Goodman attended last week in Washington, where inclusionary zoning was discussed, the mayor said he was inspired by the concept. We hope he remains inspired and stimulates public discussion of inclusionary zoning here at home.

Dunes hotel tower architect Starkman dies: Although one of his major Las Vegas structures no longer stands, Los Angeles architect Maxwell Starkman left his mark with other Las Vegas commercial and residential structures that were part of his vision for the booming West.

Pardons Board reduces killer's sentence: CARSON CITY -- Ray Turner told the state Pardons Board he was a cold-blooded killer when he fatally shot a Las Vegas businessman.

Blood drive set for Rio: The event will feature a display of life-sized masks decorated by local and internationally acclaimed artists as well as celebrities, local officials and public personalities.

E-mail threat to LV came from computer with public access: Jace Radke; An anonymous e-mail threatening Las Vegas originated from a publicly accessible computer in Carson City, an FBI investigation has found.

Birth announcements for Jan. 26, 2004: Jan. 11:

Sports briefs for January 26, 2004: Eric Schneider registered the first hat trick in Las Vegas Wranglers history and led a 6-3 victory Sunday night against the host Fresno Falcons at Save Mart Center.

More mercury contamination feared: Heather Rawlyk; The Clark County Health District and the Environmental Protection Agency announced Friday that more people than they expected could have had contact with mercury that a Las Vegas teen was using as a toy.

Columnist Ralph Siraco: Eclipse Awards honor horse racing's best of '03: Ralph Siraco; The 33rd annual Eclipse Awards dinner will be tonight at the Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa in Hollywood, Fla. The Oscars of thoroughbred racing will honor top achievements and crown the Horse Of The Year as the main event.

Existing home sales increase: Existing home sales rose 6.9 percent during the month from November, the National Association of Realtors said.

Letter: Interest rates, not tax cuts, revived economy: What revived the economy was Alan Greenspan, the man who first revived our economy after the reign of George the First. During the current reign of George the Second, he again revived our economy, this time by lowering the federal discount interest rate to 1 percent. As a result, home mortgage refinancing put hundreds of dollars, each and every month, into homeowners' pockets to buy additional goods, services and for additional savings.

Columnist Susan Snyder: A different kind of homesick: Home.

Online gambling via N. Korea leading to a web of trouble: Sang-Hun Choe; SEOUL, South Korea -- Kim Beom-hoon was hailed as a trailblazer when he went into the online gambling business with North Korea. It seemed the perfect way to bridge a 50-year divide and open up one of the world's most isolated countries.

Officials waiting to talk to men hurt in blast: One of the men, Chad Levi Schraft, was in critical condition this morning. The condition of the other man, known only as Dave, was not available.

Las Vegas unions seek insurance mandate: Michelle Swafford; A local labor coalition called Saturday for state government to mandate that all employers provide health insurance coverage for their employees, easing the burden on taxpayers and the county-funded University Medical Center.