Print edition for October 3, 2005

Summary Box: Mississippi Legislature passes onshore casino bill: AP; THE DEALERS: Republican Gov. Haley Bourbor and coastal legislators pushed for the move as a safety measure and to ensure casino companies would rebuild following Hurricane Katrina.

Editorial: Time to fish or cut bait: In its verbal agreement to be the developer of Union Park, which is 61 city-owned acres of former railroad land in downtown Las Vegas, Related Executive Vice President Marty Burger said, "We view the development and planning of Union Park as our company's next great challenge ..."

Columnist Ron Kantowski: Sun's sports roster rises to the occasion with unique coverage: For loyal Sun subscribers who have been keeping score at home, there's really no need to continue reading. You already know what we do back here in the toy department of the newspaper and how well we do it. So get yourself something cold to drink from the refrigerator and get ready for another Monday night of John Madden breaking down the West Coast offense. Your participation here is no longer required.

Letter: Three strikes -- Bush should be out: Then came Iraq, with the lies about weapons of mass destruction and terrorist connections, and the big contracts for Halliburton. Many tens of thousands of Iraqis have been killed in this illegal and immoral war, as have almost 2,000 of our troops. Also, thousands of troops have been wounded, many of them seriously. The war is costing nearly $6 billion a month, enough to build levees, combat hunger and research myriad killer diseases.

Sun pledges to uphold ideals of founder: Despite the joint delivery arrangement, The Sun remains a fierce competitor of the Review-Journal. By sharing the R-J's larger circulation, the Sun will ensure that its independent voice will more clearly be heard.

Columnist John Katsilometes: Saving some good news while rehearsing the writing of this column: Over the past three months I have written several test-drive versions of this column while running around the city with my head on a swivel, chatting up possible subjects and collecting information.

Editorial: Critical link in airline security: USA Today reported that the injury rate for TSA screeners last year was four times higher than for those in the construction and mining trades, with the screeners missing nearly 250,000 work days. They missed job training sessions -- including instructions on how to detect firearms and explosives. Their absences also left staffing gaps that in some cases forced airports to violate a law requiring baggage to be screened with bomb-detection machines.

Letter: Davis-Bacon decision burdens laborers: How can these victims of Katrina reorganize their lives when being paid such paltry wages? What a cruel thing for President Bush, and the Republicans in Congress who sponsored this suspension, to do in placing this new burden on these poor, suffering people.

Columnist Jeff Haney: Movie themes inspiring pro football handicappers and how the pros and public fared: The term "NFL Films" took on new meaning this weekend as a handful of football handicappers showed they were nearly as concerned with celluloid heroes as with the gridiron variety.

Letter: What does same-sex marriage cost?: Letter: What does same-sex marriage cost?

Praise the Lord and get past the indictment: By Timothy Pratt; "This may be the last time you hear the preacher preach," a man sang out. "This may be the last time you shake the preacher's hand."

Letter: Predictably, America remains unprepared: Political ideology may have its place in issues of national and international politics. It has no place, however, in situations such as those now faced by coastal Texas and Louisiana. As a matter of fact, using a disaster for political gain is perhaps the lowest a politician can sink, and that is saying a lot given the depths to which most of our politicians have reached in the eyes of the public.

Ultrasound training a bit unsound: J. Craig Anderson; The popularity of ultrasound scans to detect everything from heart disease to the sex of an unborn child has created a booming industry for technicians who can perform the painless, noninvasive procedure.

Solving mystery of high filing rate: no gamble, or is it?: Benjamin Grove; For years Nevada's personal bankruptcy rate has been among the highest in the nation, but experts have difficulty explaining why that is.

Feds file suit against state over moving companies: The coalition says the state has been looking into companies' records to judge their "business fitness." Sandra Avants, chairman of the state Transportation Services Authority, said this issue has been researched thoroughly and the agency's regulation of the industry is appropriate. The state looks at business records to prove that a company has the proper insurance.

Editorial: A Reporter walks free: Miller never wrote an article about her conversations with the source, whose name she still did not reveal publicly Friday. But he was identified by her newspaper and others as I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, chief of staff for Vice President Dick Cheney.

Police sting results in 440 traffic citations: Using a $20,000 state grant, the police department staged 10 stings, starting in June. Police dressed in plain clothes walked in crosswalks and drivers who failed to stop were pulled over by waiting traffic officers.

Getting back to Basic High School: The red brick schoolhouse at Henderson's Van Wagenen Street and Pacific Avenue, in the foothills of Black Mountain, is boarded up and fenced in, awaiting a date early next year with bulldozers.

Rush to bankruptcy: Benjamin Grove; WASHINGTON -- Jim, a 53-year-old physician's assistant and Las Vegas transplant from Cleveland, made a decent salary and never dreamed he'd go broke.

Children's Museum may be moving on up: Jennifer Shubinski; The Lied Discovery Children's Museum is strongly considering moving from its location across from Cashman Field, north of downtown Las Vegas, to a retail and office development now under construction about a mile south of Mandalay Bay.