Print edition for December 6, 2006

FOR LOVE OF THE GAME: Green Valley High varsity bowler Christina Conti gets high-fives from her teammates after picking up her fourth consecutive strike in a match against Silverado.

Q+A: Mike Sanford: In addition to snapping a 10-game losing streak, UNLV's season-ending 42-39 victory over Air Force provided the Rebels with a much-needed boost in confidence heading into the off-season.

LOOKING IN ON: ENTERTAINMENT: The National Finals Rodeo has a connection to "Phantom - The Las Vegas Spectacular."

FLASHPOINT for Dec 06, 2006: As county officials mull over all of the weighty issues con- fronting the airport - will Randy Walker stay or leave, will Ivanpah be built soon enough? - how could they have dropped the ball on the weightiest issue of all? That is, passenger weights. Or how they could change if McCarran would only get some healthy food into its terminals. For the third straight year, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine found the Las Vegas airport is dead last in quality of food among the nation's 13 busiest airports. PCRM scored the airports by checking to see if restaurants ...

Jon Ralston's take on the first meeting of Gibbons' team: Gibbons: "As you can see from the thousands of people here, I am an inclusive governor. Inclusion is good, from the ground up, just as I know water from the ground up. I invited everyone to be on my transition team but three people - Kenny Guinn, Dina Titus and, of course, Chrissy Mazzeo. I wanted to have her, but Dawn vetoed that."

Editorial: Trying to catch a break: The breaks allowed parents to deduct some of what they paid in tuition and fees for children attending college and allowed teachers to be reimbursed up to $250 for classroom supplies and books that they bought with their own money. It also allowed residents who live in states without state income taxes, such as Nevada, to deduct some state and local sales taxes, and it gave a 20 percent tax credit to businesses for research and development activities.

Editorial: Airport not blowing smoke: According to a story Tuesday by Las Vegas Sun reporter Liz Benston, the company that runs McCarran's food and beverage concessions also plans to enforce the ban in the restaurant bars that, up to now, have allowed smoking.

Letter: Bush should be a president for all the people: Now that troop reductions seem to be the inevitable change of course - even endorsed by Rumsfeld - how much of the Bush administration's final two years will be spent apologizing to the many patriotic Americans maligned by a regime that seems to prefer seeing American service members killed and injured rather than admit their own arrogant mistakes and manufactured intelligence?

Letter: Liberal left taking over Democrat Party: One issue, of many, the liberal left is pushing for is the abolishment of the electoral college and replacing it with a majority-vote concept. This, in effect, would neutralize the voting rights of the smaller states and essentially give all of the power to a few big states, such as New York, California, Florida and Texas.

Letter: Resorts should embrace monorail: I was in the Contemporary Hotel at Walt Disney World last June. The monorail travels right through the center of the hotel there. It was so convenient and enjoyable to just hop on and travel to Epcot, other hotels and Walt Disney World with no additional fees, and at convenient times.

Editorial: Winds of change for Iraq?: Robert Gates, during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee, was careful to say that we're not losing the war, either, even though Iraq is being consumed by a grotesquely bloody civil war.

LOOKING IN ON: SUBURBS: By Mike Trask; The generosity of Henderson city employees is going to make life a little brighter for Clyde Stout of Huntington Beach, Calif .

Measuring health care: By Marshall Allen; Click here for a printable graphic.

Casinos see private funds as a way to go: By Liz Benston; The private offers to purchase Harrah's Entertainment and Station Casinos reflect the evolution of who invests in casinos - from banks in the 1970s to junk bond dealers in the '80s to the stock market in the '90s, and now private, cash-rich equity firms on the hunt for places to invest their money.Private investment has brought more advantages than drawbacks to casinos, leaving some gaming bosses wondering why they should continue as a publicly traded company, especially because the primary reason for issuing public stock - to generate capital - has diminished.

Outgoing regents give inside views: Last week's university system Board of Regents meeting was the final one for outgoing Regents Jill Derby and Linda Howard.

Boulder City gadfly buzzes about The Man: By Mike Trask; Fifty-eight-year-old Sherman Rattner is the kind of free spirit who wears Converse Chuck Taylors with a navy blue sports coat and pressed khaki pants.

DA Roger promises review of case after Mazzeo meeting: The woman who has accused Gov.-elect Jim Gibbons of assaulting her met with Clark County District Attorney David Roger this week and said she's standing by her account, despite police doubts about her claims.