Print edition for January 29, 2006

Columnist John Katsilometes: Catching up with new KLAS anchor Denise Valdez, who starts work Monday afternoon: On Friday morning while talking on a cell phone during a drive from L.A. to Las Vegas, new KLAS Channel 8 anchor Denise Valdez was asked if she speaks Spanish. "Enough to get by," she said with a chuckle. "Tex-Mex, they call it."

Editorial: Beware whirlpools of red ink: And Treasury Secretary John Snow has warned that the federal government will reach its debt limit of $8.2 trillion by mid-February, according to The Washington Post.

Columnist Jeff Simpson: On Michael Gaughan's straight talk about start-up glitches at his South Coast casino: By Jeff Simpson; Michael Gaughan may be the most straightforward casino boss in Las Vegas. No $100 haircut, no pinstripe power suit and no pulled punches.

Columnist Jon Ralston: On how too many cooks spoiled the brew in the search for a new Clark County superintendent of schools: The Council for a Better Nevada has accomplished in short order what no one could achieve in decades: Turn the Clark County School Board members into sympathetic figures.

Letter: Briefings shouldn't have been limited: Rep. Jane Harman of California said the briefings did not comply with the National Security Act of 1947. That law requires the House and Senate Intelligence Committees to be "kept fully and currently informed" about the spy agencies' activities.

Columnist Hal Rothman: Wondering how much is too much to pay to see your name in neon lights across the Las Vegas skyline: Hal Rothman; No place makes people's eyes bigger than their stomach than Las Vegas does.

Columnist Jack Sheehan: How one smart girl grasped the difference between celebrities and heroes: The other day my 7-year-old daughter, Lily, asked me a homework question: What is the difference between a celebrity and a hero/ heroine?

Making the grade: Jim Rogers: By Emily Richmond; Rogers has been far from silent on the search for a new Clark County schools superintendent. Early in the process, he offered to supplement the district's salary offer of $290,000 in order to attract a "superstar."

Columnist Jeff German: On the cowardly inaction of the Taxicab Authority: When the cab companies come away smiling from a Nevada Taxicab Authority board meeting, you know something's wrong.

Editorial: There is no nuclear nirvana: Bush is putting $250 million into his fiscal 2007 budget as a startup fund to initiate waste reprocessing, a technology abandoned in the 1970s by President Jimmy Carter. Reprocessing at that time resulted in an end product of pure plutonium, from which nuclear weapons can be made. The fear was that security lapses could result in the plutonium getting into the wrong hands.

Making the grade: Ruth Johnson: By Emily Richmond; In an interview with the Sun, Ruth Johnson, president of the Clark County School Board, discussed the search process and the next step for the district. She also addressed claims by the Council for a Better Nevada's director that referred to the School Board as "anti-reform" and dysfunctional.

Where I Stand -- Brian Greenspun: On why Hamas' history should put the world on alert to the danger posed to Israel: Not long ago I wrote a column about what should keep all of us up nights.

Las Vegas display a big hit with mayors at D.C conference: Benjamin Grove; WASHINGTON -- An eye-grabbing Las Vegas display brought a splash of color to the drab Washington setting for the U.S. Conference of Mayors last week.

Letter: We all have different tastes -- accept it: There have been a slew of letters recently debating the perceived merits and faults of a movie about gay cowboys in the early 1960s compared with movies espousing Christian themes. Some writers have gone so far as to say that box-office take outweighs critical acclaim, and vice versa, as a reflection of a film's "quality."

Seeing things differently: Dan Kulin; When a new Las Vegas City Council member came on board last summer, Councilwoman Lois Tarkanian said, half-jokingly, "maybe now we'll see some five-twos."

NLV looks to charge for false alarms: If your burglar alarm goes off by mistake in North Las Vegas, it might end up costing you some money -- not from what you lose to thieves, but from what you'll owe City Hall.

Columnist Tom Gorman: Getting a wealth of advice to pass along to friend: On Friday I asked what advice I should give a friend -- a single fellow in his 50s -- who is in town this weekend, considering wheter to move to Las Vegas.

Letter: An example of our failing school system: Well, my granddaughter is 7 years old, and I am now in charge of her, so one of the first things that I do is to check her homework every night. When I saw that her homework was just gibberish, I asked her to read it to me.

Letter: Let School Board members do their job: This group certainly has the right to publicly endorse candidates, however its trip to New York and comments regarding the School Board gave the appearance that it was trying to exert an undue amount of influence on the selection process.

Editorial: Assault on malicious software: Spyware, adware, malware, Trojan horses, viruses and worms are some of the terms everyone should be aware of before logging on to networks or the Internet. Even knowing of them and their malicious purposes, and taking such preventive action as loading software and hardware firewalls, often is not enough. A recent study estimated that 59 million people in the United States alone have computers infected with unwanted software.

Flashpoint for Jan. 29, 2006: The King is dead, long live the Queen. That was the sentiment Thursday as Speaker-in-Waiting Barbara Buckley raised $100,000 or so at the MGM Mansion. Quite the spectrum of special interest reps stopped by to honor the woman poised to succeed Richard Perkins. Gaming, epitomized by MGM MIRAGE boss Terry Lanni. Labor. Mining. Teachers union. Lobbyists galore. "Everyone was there," was one insider's commentary. The real question for any lobbyist or important Nevada special interest not in attendance is a simple one: Why not? These shindigs are as much about the ring-kissing as they are the money. And from the ...