Print edition for December 28, 2006

A high-tech pit crew: By Rob Miech; Ronn Bailey describes what he sees, feels and digests during the Dakar Rally, considered the world's most grueling racing test:

Commentary: Learning from others is a step toward greatness: In a confined room with 30 to 40 high school students eager to talk about world issues, what could really happen? The fact is that not all adolescents are ignorant and uneducated about the world surrounding their humble abodes. It's amazing how knowledgeable many teenagers are in our society and how they can take information and form a plan of action they feel is suitable for the situation.

Editorial: Saving our Arctic dwellers: Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne says the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will spend the next year gathering and analyzing data to determine whether the polar bear population's existence is significantly threatened by receding polar ice. A report by the U.S. Geological Survey says melting sea ice has contributed to a 15 percent decline in the survival of cubs and to an overall decline in the size of male cubs.

Editorial: Studying immigrants' impact: In a story by the Las Vegas Sun on Tuesday, Assemblyman Mo Denis, D-Las Vegas, said he is pressing for legislation that would require the state to launch such a study because those involved in the immigration reform debate have been basing their proposals on assumptions rather than hard data.

Letter: Illegal immigration ignored for too long: Why does this matter? They are illegal, they are breaking our laws and if we Americans did this, we would be punished. There is a double standard here that shouldn't be.

Letter: It's time to slow Las Vegas growth: Rapid Clark County growth is clearly linked to airport congestion, crime, illegal immigration, habitat loss, land price increases, medical problems, pollutants, road rage, school underfunding, traffic problems, utility cost increases and water scarcity. And rapid growth creates a need for taxes, taxes and more taxes for multiyear residents.

Letter: Bush insults citizens' intelligence: President Bush at one time said, "I am the decider and I decide what is best, and what is best is for Donald Rumsfeld to remain as secretary of defense." Following the election, President Bush said that "sometimes it's necessary to have a fresh perspective and Bob Gates will bring a fresh perspective." Bob Gates replaced Donald Rumsfeld. Does that mean a fresh perspective replaces what is best?

Letter: Surefire way to curb antics of 'role models': Yank the liquor license of a few high-end hot spots for violating the law and watch the feces hit the fan! It seems liquor laws are upheld for the masses but not for the self-styled "chosen few" individuals and the trendy establishments who serve them.

Editorial: Gerald R. Ford, 1913-2006: Since the previous fall, when Nixon had chosen him to succeed former Vice President Spiro Agnew, who had resigned after pleading no contest to tax evasion, Ford had energetically supported the president. Ford said he believed what he had been told by Nixon, that the White House was not involved in covering up the century's most notorious burglary - Watergate.

LOOKING IN ON: CARSON CITY: CARSON CITY - The election is long over but some critics are continuing to raise questions about the accuracy of the state's electronic voting machines.

LOOKING IN ON: HIGHER EDUCATION: Nevada State College officials are voluntarily reducing the size of their proposed nursing building in hopes of improving their chances that state lawmakers will pay for it.

New discrepancies in accounts from Gibbons, Mazzeo: New versions of what happened between Gov.-elect Jim Gibbons and Chrissy Mazzeo outside a Las Vegas restaurant Oct. 13 surfaced in law enforcement reports released Wednesday.

Children's care to be jeopardized by Sunrise contract standoff: By Marshall Allen; Starting Monday, some of the sickest children covered by Sierra Health Services, the state's largest health care provider, may be forced to leave Nevada for treatment.

Seeking answers in roadside tragedy: This is no way to die: Flat on the cement at 6 a.m., struck down by a motorist who leaves you bleeding from both ears near a dirt lot next to a dive bar.