Print edition for January 2, 2006

Not so pumped: As a stream of vehicles crept north on Las Vegas Boulevard during the New Year's travel crush, drivers filling up at area gasoline stations found prices that have fallen steadily since September.

Editorial: Hybrid pioneers on the rise: We believe strongly in alternatively fueled vehicles that run cleaner and get better gas mileage. As more fleets convert, setting examples for individual car buyers, the more the trend toward alternative fuel vehicles will take hold.

Editorial: Progress on payday loans: In March the Las Vegas Sun reported in depth on the practices at the more than 300 payday loan stores in Nevada, revealing that their median annualized interest rate on loans amounted to 443 percent. This newspaper also revealed that some lenders were charging annualized interest rates of more than 1,300 percent. Also reported in the story was that payday loan companies were virtually unregulated in Nevada.

The week ahead: Reading Royals at Las Vegas Wranglers, 7 p.m., Orleans Arena

Editorial: Katrina spin goes into overdrive: Mark Smith, spokesman for the Louisiana Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, is referring to the evacuation of New Orleans as a "roaring success," the paper reported. And Lt. Col. Pete Schneider of the Louisiana National Guard told the paper, "The most successful thing of this whole operation was the evacuation of the city of New Orleans."

Letter: Bush's debt will be paid for generations: That is not unlike many of the nation's irresponsible citizens who are no longer able to file for bankruptcy because they, like Bush, have maxed out their credit cards.

Columnist Jeff Haney: Despite the stories, Gaming Control Board figures show sports books are doing just fine, thank you: All football season, we have been hearing about how this was the year of the favorite in NFL betting, and how badly the sports books' bottom lines were damaged as a result.

Letter: Not leaving Iraq anytime soon: For most of this past year our troop strength was 150,000, then they added another 10,000 for the recent Iraqi elections. So withdrawing 7,000 means we have a net gain of 3,000 from earlier this past year.

Columnist John Katsilometes: A toast to thousands swilling wine from plastic cups: "We had 300 people there at the Four Seasons," Goodman said Saturday night, a few minutes before following Cheap Trick on the Third Street Stage and leading several thousand ebullient celebrants in what was billed as the world's largest toast. "It was a lot different than this."

Letter: Rates and revenues not hard to figure out: Throughout the '70s and early '80s the revenue from capital gains taxes fluctuated between 9 billion and 11 billion dollars per year. In just one year, after the percentage rate was cut from 28 percent to 20 percent in the mid-1980s, capital gains revenue jumped all the way to to $47 billion!

What's in store for Guinn's successor?: Guinn said taxes shouldn't have to be raised for several years, and plans to have a "skeleton" budget for presentation to the 2007 Legislature for the next governor.

Developers offering a new kind of suite deal with condo-hotels: Jennifer Shubinski; The first near-Strip condo-hotels are scheduled to open in the first half of 2006, bringing a new hotel concept to Las Vegas.

For now, lawmakers pull plug on utility proposal: CARSON CITY -- A new regulation changing when utilities can shut off electricity or natural gas service to non-paying customers during extreme heat or cold has failed its first test.