Print edition for December 10, 2006

John Katsilometes has lunch with a few lawyers - 500 or so - honored by their peers for their commitment to pro bono work: The Clark County Bar Association and Clark County Pro Bono Project (a division of Clark County Legal Services) held their sixth annual Pro Bono Awards at the Rio on Friday afternoon. The awards recognized the volunteer work of individual attorneys, along with contributions from small, medium and large law firms during the past year. There was no shortage of deserving candidates: Listed in the event program were attorneys who took on at least one pro bono case in 2006; about 300 lawyers were named.

Drinking in the past: By Ed Koch; Las Vegas businessman Noel Sheckells loves the Old West enough to spend $1 million to preserve a piece of it.

FLASHPOINT for Dec 10, 2006: The theater last week surrounding the politicians who induced the hospital behemoth Universal Health Services to return to the table was nothing short of stunning. Jim Gibbons, the governor-elect, doing little and getting much positive press - I bet he'd forgotten what it looked and sounded like. Speaker-elect Barbara Buckley speaking softly and carrying the heaviest stick. County Commission boss Rory Reid speaking loudly to the hospital execs and shocking everyone - whether it was an act or not. Sen. Harry Reid and Rep. Shelley Berkley exerting not-so-subtle pressure on the hospital to come to the table. And the winner: ...

Letter: America failing because war was built on lies: It's an unenviable position for the world's greatest superpower, yet here we are, courtesy of the Bush administration and a multitude of misinformation, miscalculations, misstatements and mistakes. And then there are the lies.

Editorial: So long to the do-nothings: With the arrival of new leadership by the Democrats, however, the Tuesday-through-Thursday workweeks and the gobs of extra time off at national holidays are over for members of Congress.

Letter: Unclaimed property currently a big hassle: A couple of years ago, a small dividend check to me somehow ended up with the Unclaimed Property Division. I have had the same mailing address for more than 10 years, and the company has sent me checks to that address before and afterward.

Editorial: Driving into gridlock: The traffic will get worse, according to a state blue-ribbon task force report released last week, unless the 2007 Legislature and the new governor act decisively. The state Department of Transportation reports that it will have a shortfall over the next nine years of at least $3.8 billion to build much-needed projects, such as widening portions of Interstate 15 and U.S. 95 in the valley.

Letter: Recycling not made easy for homeowners: With respect to recycling, I don't see why anyone would really be interested. I have lived in Las Vegas since 1994. I have asked for recycling bins for a long time. I have received two white containers for newspapers and a couple of years later, they finally sent me a blue container for glass, which I hardly use, because most everything is made from plastic.

LOOKING IN ON: THE SUBURBS: By Mike Trask; It's going to be a lot easier to vote in the Henderson municipal elections next year.

Editorial: A new way to airport: This past week Clark County commissioners gave the Monorail the OK to start moving forward with the $500 million plan, which the company pledged wouldn't cost taxpayers any money.

Jon Ralston on how ambiguities in the Clean Indoor Air Act have both sides blowing smoke about its constitutionality: The Nevada Cancer Society and its do-gooder allies want to ban smoking in most places - their Question 5 proposal is even called the Clean Indoor Air Act. Who could not want their indoors clean? On. Nov. 7 more than 310,000 Nevadans said they did. Their opponents, mostly bar owners and slot route operators, ran a competing Question 4 campaign that was a right-to-smoke initiative disingenuously disguised as a child-protection imperative. Those backroom pols lambasted in their commercials were, in fact, them.

Letter: War for oil argument doesn't hold water: Wow! An affirmation that Bush really is stupid. He chose to mess with a foreign country that ranks only 14th in world oil production. And why would we want to put bases there? We already have bases in Saudi Arabia - but Bush probably doesn't know about the Truman Doctrine, then the Eisenhower Doctrine, the Nixon Doctrine, and the Carter Doctrine - all rooted in the historic, secret meeting of FDR and King Ibn Saud aboard the USS Quincy in Egypt's Great Bitter Lake, back on Feb. 14, 1945.

New face of labor has heart, drive: By J. Patrick Coolican; Jane McAlevey traveled by train through Mexico and war-torn Central America in her early 20s. She has worked in Asia and Brazil and on a sheep farm in New Zealand. She rock-climbs and cycles and rides her horse at Red Rock Canyon. She's fluent in Spanish. She's an adjunct instructor at Cornell University, even though she has no college degree.

Jeff Simpson on why casino chief Steve Wynn reserves the right to change his mind: While the criticism often works in political sound bites, successful business leaders don't shy away from changing their minds when circumstances change or perspectives evolve.

Battling domestic violence: By Sam Skolnik; The first signs that her boyfriend was an abuser came soon after their relationship began in late 2000.

Brian Greenspun reflects on why this is such a good time to realize how good we have it and just how good the future can be: Since tomorrow represents what many people consider a milestone of middle age - at least I do since I am most directly affected - I thought it appropriate to look back for a moment and forward for a few more to consider what is or should be important.

Still time to load up on stocking stuffers: This is the ninth year the Sun is holding a holiday auction, with the money raised going toward the Sun Summer Camp Fund.

Labor sees new day in Southern Nevada: If there was any doubt about the resurgence of organized labor in Southern Nevada, it was erased last week when union leaders persuaded elected officials to broker a deal to get hospital nurses back to work.