Print edition for January 3, 2006

State-sponsored charter schools still have problems: By Emily Richmond; The Nevada Board of Education has new authority to turn down charter school applications, thanks to a change in the state law by the 2005 Legislature.

Icy roads create slippery commute in northern Nevada: AP; At least 20 accidents were reported in south Reno alone before daybreak, according to the Nevada Highway Patrol.

Columnist John Katsilometes: Taking note of the opinionated license plates of Penn Jillette: If you find yourself tailing a hot-pink Mini Cooper bearing a vanity licence plate reading "ATHIEST," know that the 6-foot-6 inch ponytailed man behind the wheel is the notoriously opinionated Penn Jillette.

Editorial: Simply a matter of fairness: Shopping over the Internet offers great convenience for customers and is an excellent way of doing business for retailers. In recent years, however, an issue of fairness has arisen about online sales and the fact that these retailers don't have to collect sales taxes as do merchants who sell strictly from brick-and-mortar stores.

Drawing the line: J. Craig Anderson; Even Sin City is not without its conventions of morality -- at least on paper.

Warming raises scientists' concerns: By Launce Rake; According to the National Weather Service and the Western Climate Research Center, Las Vegas could at least tie the record for the warmest year, in average temperature, in recorded history.

Boxing still a lure for kids away from gangs, drugs: David Kihara; It's a common dream for the kids who come to the scrappy gym. Kids as young as 6 come from Las Vegas, North Las Vegas and as far away as Henderson to the small one-room gym in the industrial area of downtown, on Commerce Street off of Charleston Boulevard. Many put in several hours a day, six days a week, to learn how to hit like Mike Tyson.

Editorial: Don't be lulled by gas prices: A few years ago American drivers would have recoiled at that price, but now most are conditioned to feel relief. Before people stop being concerned about prices again, however, and dash off to buy a gas-guzzler, they should consider the odds against fuel prices remaining stable.

Take Five: Gaston Essengue: A Cameroon native in his first season at UNLV, Gaston Essengue leads UNLV's reserves with a 53.7-percent touch from the field, and he leads all Rebels with 11 blocked shots, four of which he swatted against Southern Utah.

Columnist John Katsilometes: The opinionated license plates of Penn Jillette: By John Katsilometes; Jillette, who along with partner Teller, organized the third "Penn & Teller's 13 Bloody Days of Xmas" blood drive (which concluded Saturday), owns three Mini Coopers. All are his favorite color, bright pink, and each is fixed with a vanity plate: Jillette's other two plates read "GODLESS" and "NO GOD."

Henderson will try experiment with new urbanism for homes: By Brian Wargo; Grading is scheduled to start in Henderson this month on Inspirada, a community offering dense, pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods interconnected with narrow streets, village squares, parks and open space.

High school sports governing group looks at cheerleader rules: And that has sparked the opposition of longtime Assemblyman John Carpenter, R-Elko, who calls it "over-regulation."

Letter: 'Brokeback Mountain' a compassionate film: I saw the movie on its opening day in Las Vegas and the theater was so crowded we had to come back to the next viewing.

Editorial: Mileage can lull car buyers, too: But the EPA has not changed the way it calculates the mileage for new cars in 20 years. Even back in the mid-1980s buyers of new cars would scoff at the official mileage ratings, as they rarely, if ever, panned out. The way ordinary people drive has always been far different than the EPA's testing standards. An article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that the EPA, in testing new cars, underestimates how much time people spend idling in traffic, assumes that people won't go more than 56 mph in the city and 60 mph on the highway and also assumes ...

Letter: Liberals once again negate positive news: This monumental victory should have been headline news for days, yet the very liberal New York Times once again downplayed a Bush victory. The Times ignored a request by our administration, which feared harm to our intelligence gathering, and on Dec. 16 published classified information that had been held for a year. (The Times writer is about to release a book concerning this.)

Conference debut may help answer questions: By Brian Hilderbrand; The UNLV Lady Rebels will open their seventh Mountain West Conference season Thursday night wondering if they have kept up with the rest of the nine-team league.

Survey cites teen smoking in decline: By Emily Richmond; Megan Phillips doesn't smoke, but if the Silverado High School freshman did, there would be no shortage of ways to get cigarettes.

Debunking myth about suicides and the holidays: David Kihara; The Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania has been debunking the suicide myth lately. Using data from the National Center for Health Statistics, the center found that the lowest number of suicides occurred in November and December and the highest numbers were usually around March and June.

Letter: Kudos to the Coast Guard are well-deserved: The smallest of the armed forces immediately drew people and equipment from all over the country to get the job done. The last count I saw shows that Coast Guard men and women saved over 33,000 people during Katrina.

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