Print edition for August 9, 2006

FLASHPOINT for Aug 09, 2006: These are not good days to be Jim Gibbons. The congressman is being attacked from the bereft (Lorraine Hunt) and the right (Bob Beers). No poll shows Hunt has a chance but she continues to smash Gibbons on TV and radio. If Beers wins, he owes Hunt. Maybe he could appoint her lieutenant governor. Or maybe she should be the treasurer candidate if Kathy Augustine wins. That's the ticket. So what impact is all of this having? An auto-dialer poll this week showed Beers in a dead heat with Gibbons. Can that be true? Hard to believe. But the same ...

Jeff Haney on how one participant at the World Series of Poker avoided a repeat performance and got off the bubble: In last year's World Series of Poker championship event, Nguyen came about as close to the prize money as you can get without cashing.

THE HUNT FOR LORRAINE:: Brendan Buhler, Las Vegas Sun; Call it the Hunt hunt, as in: Where is Nevada Lt. Gov. Lorraine Hunt?

Tuesday at the main event of the World Series of Poker: AP; BIG NEWS: Nine players remain in the hunt for poker's top prize of $12 million. Former Hollywood talent agent Jamie Gold eliminated six players on his way to 25.6 million in chips. The nearest competitor was four-time World Series bracelet winner Allen Cunningham with 17.8 million. Gold's mother, Jane, said her son had a way with numbers even at the early age of 2. "His grandfather was playing cards and wanted to show him off. And he says, 'Count to the people.' Jamie says, 'One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, jack, queen, king.'"

Letter: Senators did a great job on wilderness: They have worked with local community leaders and a variety of people throughout the state to come up with a public lands bill that makes sense. The recently introduced White Pine Public Lands Bill, as reported in the Sun, shows that the senators are trying to help our rural counties grow economically and also to preserve our public lands.

Editorial: An unfair taxpayer liability: The tragedy of a young man living his last years undergoing surgeries, being hooked up to a respirator and in need of 24-hour nursing care cannot be overstated. There is, however, another aspect of this story, involving state law, that also compels comment.

Editorial: Accountability falls short: In a special session Friday that was peppered with contentious discussion, regents voted to allow completion of ongoing internal audits before deciding whether further study is needed of a program that has failed to meet most of its objectives while harnessing nearly $9 million in taxpayers' money. Regents deferred to new UNLV President David Ashley, who asked that university officials be allowed to address the institute's shortcomings, in-house.

CORRECTIONS: A story in the Sun on Tuesday about hand sanitizer dispensers at Las Vegas City Hall misspelled the last name of the city manager. His name is Doug Selby, not Selvie. The Sun regrets the error.

TAKE FIVE: las vegas motor speedway: It already was more than 100 degrees on the Las Vegas Motor Speedway infield at 11 a.m. Tuesday, but it felt an awful lot like Christmas morning to Kurt Busch.

Letter: Democracy not likely in Cuba after Castro: When Castro's forces overthrew his regime in 1959, most of his supporters and enablers fled to Florida, where they and their descendents have waged a political war ever since to prevent any kind of diplomatic exchange between Cuba and the U.S.

Dark side of the Internet revolution: By J. Patrick Coolican; One candidate is a racist, another has a hard-partying daughter and a third is a gambling addict. So say anonymous bloggers about three Nevada political candidates.

Brian Greenspun offers a view from the Middle East front as seen through the eyes of Rabbi Marvin Hier: Rabbi Marvin Hier; Israelis are survivors because they have no choice. They did not ask for Hezbollah rockets to rain down upon them and their families. The rockets are a "gift" from Iran and all those who dare to believe that Iran wants only good things for the Middle East. What Iran and Syria and Hezbollah want is for Israel to disappear. Forever.

Pennies ready to pop: By Liz Benston; The world's largest slot maker says one of its penny machines is statistically overdue to pay out a jackpot of nearly $16 million.

Letter: A glimpse into America's future: The subject was our border to the south. The year was 2010, it was a news article about President Jeb Bush making a trip to the southern border to inspect how tight our border security really is.

Governor in waiting wannabes: A primer: Michael J. Mishak; With less than a week to go before the primary, the race for lieutenant governor is looking more like a dinner party orchestrated by Comedy Central than a contest for the No. 2 position in state government.

THE ELEVATOR: Who's headed toward the penthouse on the local sports scene - and who's getting the shaft.

Editorial: Oil's slippery slope: According to a story by The Washington Post, BP shut down its North Slope operations after officials discovered extensive corrosion and leaks along 16 of the pipeline's 22 miles. BP officials said the problems "probably will take months to fix."

Yawning down the home stretch: By Emily Richmond; With six days before the primary election, you'd expect a final flurry of campaign rallies at shopping malls, parks or hotel ballrooms in the biggest population center of the state.