Print edition for May 27, 2004

Cabbies asked to keep eyes open for terrorists: Cy Ryan and Mary Manning; Las Vegas taxicab drivers and police officers were asked to watch out for seven people identified Wednesday by Attorney General John Ashcroft as terrorist suspects.

EOB ignores own bylaws in paring down board: By Timothy Pratt; In an Economic Opportunity Board meeting Wednesday riddled with irregularities -- including being closed to the public at the last minute -- eight members of the group that governs the nearly $60 million nonprofit organization decided who gets to stay on the board and who leaves, an effort to clean house and start anew.

Trial continues for last 311 Boyz suspect: By Matt Pordum; The trial of alleged 311 Boyz gang member Scott Morse continued today, with prosecutors planning to call seven of the nine alleged members of the gang originally charged in the rock throwing attack of Stephen Tanner Hansen to testify.

State taxable sales soar as economy booms: CARSON CITY -- Nevada merchants reported a strong $3.5 billion in taxable sales in March, a 16.1 percent increase over a year ago and the third straight month of double-digit increases.

Scouts pledge to aid schools with low fees: By Emily Richmond; After nine months of wrangling and negotiating, Clark County School District officials say they've come up with a facilities-use fee policy that even the Boy Scouts can get behind.

Eleven sought in ATM, casino scam: Jace Radke; The FBI continues to search for 11 people named in two federal racketeering indictments alleging two Romanian crime rings are using stolen credit cards and false identification to bilk hundreds of thousands of dollars from Las Vegas casinos and ATMs.

Reid's hat in the ring for another six years: Kirsten Searer; Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., seems determined not to repeat the 1998 election, when he beat John Ensign by just 428 votes.

Police seek clues in slaying of casino exec: Jen Lawson; A man found bludgeoned and stabbed to death in his large Spring Valley home Tuesday night was the former slot manager of the Virgin River hotel and casino in Mesquite.

Problems found at mobile parks in county: Sito Negron; County building officials found more problems at DiMarco mobile home parks on Tuesday and Wednesday. Today they were to go to court in the city of Las Vegas for operating their Sky-Vue Mobile Park without a business license.

Incidents seen as warning: When an Elvis impersonator recently showed up for his CCSN dental clinic appointment with a loaded, semi-automatic handgun tucked into the back of his pants, Campus Security Director Sandy Seda was the only officer on the campus trained to respond.

Ex-CEO sentenced to 8 years: Grass, 50, who headed up the nation's third-largest pharmacy chain in the late 1990s before being forced out in October 1999, also was fined $500,000 and given three years' probation for his role in a billion-dollar accounting fraud that sent the company's stock tumbling.

L.A. investor purchasing Alexis Park, nearby site: One of the unsuccessful bidders for the Aladdin hotel-casino and the Las Vegas Hilton is acquiring the Alexis Park Hotel and plans to build a casino on the property.

Gaming briefs for May 27, 2004: ATLANTIC CITY -- Donald Trump's Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts Inc. made a $73.1 million interest payment due on $1.3 billion in debt, just days before the company would have been in default.

Commercial casino take increased 2 percent in '03: By Liz Benston; Nontribal casinos nationwide generated more than $27 billion in gambling revenue last year -- a 2 percent increase from 2002 -- and more than Americans spent going to the movies, visiting theme parks or renting or buying videos, an industry-funded study issued today found.

PUC approves increase in Las Vegas natural gas rates: Kevin Rademacher; The Public Utilities Commission on Wednesday voted to allow Southwest Gas Corp. to raise its Southern Nevada rates by 17.1 percent.

Sierra Pacific rate hike request trimmed by PUC: Brendan Riley; CARSON CITY -- What began as a $95 million rate increase request from Sierra Pacific Power Co. was cut in half and approved Wednesday, as Nevada regulators clashed over the utility's bid to recover some of the costs of a flawed power-generating experiment.

Sports briefs for May 27, 2004: Venus Williams and Jennifer Capriati advanced today to the third round of French Open, which is better than any American man did.

VegasBeat -- Timothy McDarrah: Newton might have been father of country: But when Wayne Newton and Desi Arnaz Jr. got together Wednesday night it was like no time had passed at all.

De la Renta lends support to Nathan Adelson Hospice: The Nathan Adelson Hospice has been tending to the needs of terminally ill patients and their families for more than 25 years.

Columnist Ron Kantowski: Postseason tournament not a big hit with coaches: According to a consensus of coaches, there's an ideal time to hold the Mountain West Conference tournament:

Stand Down serves about 200 homeless vets: At least 200 homeless military veterans got help Wednesday at the first-ever local Veterans Stand Down at the Fraternal Order of Eagles Lodge northeast of downtown Las Vegas, event officials said.

Legislative panel hears testimony on bank tax: CARSON CITY -- Two bankers told a legislative committee Wednesday that the 2003 tax on the banking industry was punitive and the industry is paying more than its fair share compared to others.

DOE warns of job losses in Nevada if funding cut: Suzanne Struglinski; WASHINGTON -- Escalating the political battle over the funding for the proposed nuclear waste repository, Energy Department officials say more than 1,700 of its employees and contractors in Nevada could be laid off if Congress does not give the department $880 million for the project.

Murphy files report of missing handgun: Sandy Murphy, waiting to be retried on charges of killing casino executive Ted Binion, filed a police report Wednesday claiming a .38 caliber handgun is missing from her Las Vegas apartment.

Justices question case against public workers in Legislature: CARSON CITY -- Attorney General Brian Sandoval ran into a skeptical Nevada Supreme Court today as he tried to convince the justices that state workers cannot serve in the Legislature.

Du Pont heiress husband dies: Jace Radke; The husband of a du Pont family heiress, who arranged for the contract killing of a former prostitute in Las Vegas, has died in federal prison.

In-house pharmacy helps cut Culinary Union workers' costs: By Liz Benston; Dramatic cost cuts in the Culinary Union's health care plan have translated into increased wages for union workers along the Strip and at downtown casinos starting June 1, an official for Las Vegas' largest union said Wednesday.

Nevada Guard soldiers relish return: Jace Radke; Staff Sgt. George Smith didn't realize how much he missed Las Vegas until he spotted it from a C-130 Wednesday as he and 49 other Nevada Army National Guard soldiers returned from a year of duty in Iraq and Kuwait.

Columnist Dean Juipe: Unbeaten Mayweather to test free agent waters: Dean Juipe; At a time when Floyd Mayweather Jr. may be reaching his full potential not only as a fighter but as a marketable commodity, his contract with his promotional firm has expired. After an eight-year run with Top Rank, Mayweather is, effectively, a free agent.

Editorial: Get serious about lack of screeners: On some of the worst days at McCarran, passengers can wait up to four hours to get through a checkpoint, so such a nominal increase would hardly make a dent. The Nevadans also noted that, in terms of screener staffing, Las Vegas was well behind some other airports not nearly as busy, such as Phoenix Sky Harbor, which had almost 200 more screeners than McCarran. Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., took the extraordinary step of saying that, until security staffing was at an acceptable level, he would use a parliamentary maneuver to prevent the Senate from acting on President Bush's nomination ...

Officer involved in shooting resigns: Jen Lawson; A Metro Police officer at the center of federal and departmental investigations into the fatal shooting of an unarmed man last year has resigned from the force, Metro officials said.

Corrections: Her name is Christie Gray, she was the assistant to the chief financial officer and was not second-in-command in the organization's financial division. The Sun regrets the errors.

Shotgun prize in raffle raises questions: Dan Kulin; At an employee-only party Wednesday celebrating the creation of the Clark County Parks and Community Services Department, staff bought $1 raffle tickets for a chance to win a variety of items including fishing gear, a free buffet at the Bellagio -- and a shotgun.

Man who hired 'doggie hit' given three years' probation: By Matt Pordum; A man accused of hiring a hit man to kill a dog was sentenced to three years' probation on Wednesday.

City drops plan to buy golf course: Sito Negron; Las Vegas officials and developer Billy Walters have decided not to pursue Walters' proposal to sell the Desert Pines Golf Course to the city for $22 million, citing high interest rates and two studies that say the deal would not make sense.

I-15 widening prompts concerns of neighbors: Heather Rawlyk; Residents and business owners were given a chance to put in their final two cents at a public meeting Wednesday night regarding a Las Vegas highway-widening project that could potentially affect their turf.

Bail rejected for woman whose diabetic daughter died: By Matt Pordum; A mother accused of murder in the death of her diabetic 11-year-old daughter was refused bail this morning because Child Protective Services officials have not been allowed to investigate the safety of her home.

Eighth applicant added to list for vacant District Court seat: CARSON CITY -- An eighth applicant has been added to the list of those who want to replace Clark County District Judge Michael Douglas.

Hopkins casts lot for 'Pound for Pound' title: Dean Juipe; The vacancy at the top of the mythical "Pound for Pound" ratings has at least two outgoing contenders vying for recognition in the aftermath of Roy Jones' loss to Antonio Tarver two weeks ago.

Letter: Chalabi's politics bothered Bush administration: Chalabi is accused of spying for Iran and providing bad intelligence on weapons of mass destruction. I don't know if he has been spying, but the neocons didn't need Chalabi to take the fall for the WMD. Everyone seems to be responsible for that failure except the president. Maybe it was also Chalabi who told Bush that Saddam was tied to al-Qaida.

Trump bailout progressing; overdue bond payment likely: John Curran; ATLANTIC CITY -- Donald Trump's financially troubled casino company expects to make good on a critical $73.1 million bond payment this week, company officials said Wednesday.

Editorial: Oversight long overdue: Ironically, on the morning that the local and state task force met, Clark County's chief building inspector said that a maintenance man at another mobile home community, College Inn on Lake Mead Boulevard, told him that an illegal sewer pipe had been installed there. That park is owned by the owners of Sky-Vue -- Sandi and David DiMarco.

One final puzzle piece: Dean Juipe; Loquacious and opinionated, it doesn't take much to get Bernard Hopkins going. Give him a chance and he'll talk your ear off.

Letter: Kerry, not Bush, displays integrity: Hypocrisy, deceit and secrecy cloak dishonorable actions. Their oversight, mistaken judgment and greed have complicated and jeopardized efforts to align ourselves with other world powers.

Henderson man gets life sentence in killing of father: By Matt Pordum; A 21-year-old Henderson man was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 20 years for killing his father.

First-inning frenzy: Since being relegated to the No. 3 seed in the Mountain West tournament upon frittering away a three-run lead in the bottom of the ninth inning at New Mexico Saturday, about all UNLV coach Buddy Gouldsmith has been talking about is how the Rebels couldn't wait to get back on the field.

Airline orders 22 jets: The Phoenix-based unit of America West Holdings Corp. will buy 17 Airbus A320s and A319s, and sign leases for the rest, said spokeswoman Elise Eberwein. The airline plans to boost flight capacity 10 percent this year and 8 percent to 10 percent in 2005 and 2006.

GDP grew at a 4.4% rate in first quarter: The revised reading on gross domestic product, the value of all goods and services produced, compares with the advance estimate of 4.2 percent annual rate issued last month, the Commerce Department said today in Washington. Profits, reported for the first time today, jumped 31.6 percent in the 12 months ended in March, the biggest increase since the first quarter of 1984.

Friday's horse racing entries: Post Time 7:05 p.m.

Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Speeds close to eclipsing LVMS reign: Three national records were established during last weekend's NHRA Route 66 Nationals in Joliet, Ill., but The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway still can lay claim to being the world's fastest dragstrip -- unofficially, at least.

Centennial's Navy ROTC earns top national honors: Dick Benoit; Students from Centennial High School's Navy Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps recently earned several top honors while competing against the nation's 26 best teams at the Navy Junior ROTC National Drill, Academic and Physical Fitness Championship.

Obituaries for May 27, 2004: Walter G. Cederberg, 84, of Las Vegas died Tuesday in Las Vegas. He was born Sept. 3, 1919, in Brooklyn, N.Y. A resident for 18 years, he was a retired salesman and a retired Army major and World War II veteran.

Nevada drops in teacher-pay rankings: By Emily Richmond; Nevada ranked 26th in the nation for average teacher salaries in 2003, down two places from the prior year, according to a new report released Wednesday by the National Education Association.

Letter: Fair criticism is not unpatriotic: Am I, too, unpatriotic when I say that our foreign policy is an unmitigated disaster?

Oh, to be Toby: Spencer Patterson; Last year's Academy of Country Music Awards show went so poorly for Toby Keith, he left before learning he had taken the night's top honor.

Harrah's touts R.I. casino plan: Michael Mello; PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Harrah's Entertainment executives told a Senate panel a proposed casino will be a boon to the state, creating more than 3,200 direct jobs and $150 million in state and local taxes in its first year of operation.

FBI hunts for suspects in credit card scam: Jace Radke; The FBI continues to search for more than a dozen suspects named in two federal racketeering indictments alleging two Romanian crime rings are using stolen credit cards and false identification to bilk hundreds of thousands of dollars from Las Vegas casinos and ATM machines.

Expos' stadium could be raised by 2007: Angels Stadium, Anaheim, Calif.

Ralph Siraco's Hollywood Park selections: 1st Race -- AUSSIE GIRL -- Training at Santa Anita, Martinez aboard Carava trainee, likes this track, but distance is concern for stretch-runner. GENIE MAGIC -- Also training at Santa Anita, Espinoza astride Knapp trainee, also likes this layout. Value Play -- CAPTAIN'S SURPRIZE

Southern Nevada will host water meeting: Southern Nevada will host a "water summit" Friday that will bring together two of the state's key federal lawmakers and Interior Department officials for discussions on strategies to deal with a crippling regional drought.

Woman ordered to testify in CCSN deposition: A District Court discovery commissioner ruled Wednesday that Topazia "Briget" Jones, the woman whose allegations of wrong-doing triggered university regents into demoting two top CCSN administrators, had to testify in a deposition that same afternoon.

51s use long ball to end 7-game skid: Nick Christensen; All season, the Las Vegas 51s have struggled to reach .500.

La Femme continues evolution at MGM Grand: Today, Las Vegas has become an international city, more sophisticated, more respected.

Community briefs for May 27, 2004: Hershey's Track and Field Youth Program and the Las Vegas Department of Leisure Services invite Nevada boys and girls between the ages of 9 and 14 to participate in a free regional qualifying open track meet from 5 p.m. to 5:45 p.m. Wednesday at the Western High School track, 4601 W. Bonanza Road.

Teen wanted in California killing found in LV school: A 15-year-old Southern California teenager was charged with murder after he was arrested at a Las Vegas high school.