Print edition for November 19, 2005

Miller reveals cautious optimism for new season: Looking at her roster for the 2005-2006 season, Lady Rebels head coach Regina Miller has a hard time containing her enthusiasm.

Vo-Tech considers adding course on golf course maintenance: By Emily Richmond; Students at Vo-Tech High School may soon be encouraged to be under par.

How do you define Chinatown?: By Timothy Pratt; Is it the pagodas? Or what's under them? Does a McDonald's with a pagoda "maintain the cultural heritage of Chinatown"?

Ultimate fights: Season 3: At some point during tonight's Ultimate Fighting Championship card at the MGM Grand, the two coaches will be named for Season 3 of the organization's reality show competition, "The Ultimate Fighter."

Charities seek turkey donations: Major Las Vegas charities need more than 1,200 fresh or frozen turkeys to fill Thanksgiving food baskets for poor families beginning today.

Flashpoint for Nov. 19, 2005: The to and fro between the Bush administration and its political operatives and the Reid administration and its political operatives over Iraq is quite spectacular. Reid has been pounding the president for being dishonest about the war and he maneuvered the Senate Republicans into passing a resolution widely seen as a rebuke to the Bush administration's handling of the war. The Bushies have responded, led by the vice president and the RNC, by running a TV ad and sending out releases exhuming old quotes from Reid and others supporting the war. The Reid war room struck back Friday with a ...

Letter: Crime prevention is not that simple: If crime prevention were that easy, imagine the possibilities. We, as a society, could boil to death in oil all convicted felons (on national television perhaps?). How many folks would have to be boiled to death before court dockets became devoid of felony cases? Really! Somehow, state-sanctioned maiming (and/or killing by whatever means, for that matter) doesn't seem to be the solution to crime prevention.

Letter: Canyon use requires more common sense: A cottonwood forest will not grow in four years in the desert, and the endangered flycatcher is not bothered by vehicles -- they even nest on the side of hotels in Laughlin. A visit to Boulder City Park -- and see the bighorn sheep just next to the road -- tells you that the vehicles don't keep them away. All the animals and vegetation were always there and never left.

Letter: Ethics must be applied to Yucca: Now if they would only apply these lessons to Yucca Mountain and the collusion of the Environmental Protection Agency, the Energy Department and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in the setting of radiation standards on Yucca Mountain.

Letter: TASC initiative is sorely needed: The Tax and Spending Control initiative (TASC) would restore fiscal sanity to the process. If we could trust our state employee-heavy Legislature to do the right thing, we wouldn't have seen a 36 percent increase in government spending two years ago and another 24 percent increase this year. These bureaucrats are more than willing to take every last dime the taxpayers have to pad their salaries and benefits.

Editorial: Baseball stands up to steroids: Perhaps the criticism was fair at the time. But now, with the benefit of hindsight, it is obvious that the House committee was right to pressure Major League Baseball on this issue. Baseball is a hallowed sport that has been followed by millions of fans for generations. But leniency on the part of baseball officials regarding steroid use among players was creating fan cynicism and setting a terrible example for the game's younger fans.

Editorial: Attacking vs. answering: Reasons that Bush cited for going to war have turned out to be unfounded and many of Bush's critics, including Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., want to know whether the administration manipulated now-discredited intelligence reports.

Editorial: It is 'nowhere' all around: We agree that the bridges, which would have provided both Anchorage and the tiny town of Ketchikan with alternative links to extremely remote areas, were excessive. The $286 billion transportation bill was faulted for being loaded with pork and this was a prime example.

New head appointed for Child and Family Services Division: Fernando Serrano, who has been chief juvenile probation officer for Humboldt, Lander and Pershing counties since 1988, will take over the $106,000 job in January. He replaces Jone Bosworth, who resigned to take a job in Missouri.

Hot button issues of yesteryear still making headlines: School: Western High

Attorney general makes waves at City Hall: Dan Kulin; Even City Hall insiders were surprised Wednesday morning to hear that newly appointed Attorney General Goerge Chanos would be looking into Las Vegas' dealings with Billy Walters and his Royal Links Golf Club.

Guinn stresses value of education: By Liz Benston; Gov. Kenny Guinn could have been addressing a PTA meeting, a teachers' union or a group of high school teachers about the importance of education.

Chancellor reaches for the stars: University system Chancellor Jim Rogers is pulling a page from the state of Georgia's playbook in proposing his Nevada Stars Program.