Print edition for November 12, 2006

LOOKING IN ON: CITY HALL: A Las Vegas committee on Yucca Mountain agreed Tuesday to launch a public outreach program that will expand on the city's opposition to the planned nuclear waste dump.

Expensive lesson: By Abigail Goldman; In the end, all the political consultants and all the ad men couldn't put Clark County sheriff candidate Jerry Airola back together again.

Having the ear of the governor: Steve Kanigher and J. Patrick Coolican; The power behind the throne is what really matters.

Editorial: Opportunity now abounds for the Democratic Party: Nevada's stake in the outcome was monumental. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, who represented Southern Nevada for two terms in the House before being elected to the Senate in 1986, will now become the majority leader when the new Congress convenes in January.

Another Stardust tale: Ed Koch, Las Vegas Sun; All but forgotten amid the closure of the Stardust Nov. 1 were the brief but colorful roles played at the Strip resort by Al Sachs and Herb Tobman. They as much as anyone oversaw the transition Las Vegas was undergoing at the time.

Jon Ralston on why Democrats serious about winning state races shouldn't waste their time in rural Nevada: Winning four constitutional offices, while it may set the table for the future, hardly eclipses losing the governorship and two competitive congressional contests, not to mention the inevitable U.S. Senate loss. (Could Sen. Harry Reid have been so prescient as to realize he could leave John Ensign alone and still become majority leader? A mad genius, I tell you!)

Plan to split School District loses its champion in election: By Emily Richmond; The most aggressive advocate for breaking up the Clark County School District has lost her soapbox as a state senator, leaving the education community to wonder who - if anyone - will pursue the issue.

Editorial: Crossing generational lines: Although actual numbers of great-grandparents are not being recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau, AARP and the National Institute on Aging - the agencies that typically track demographic information about older Americans - demographers suggest that great-grandparents will increase because of overall growth in the older population and the fact that the average life expectancy is now 78.

Letter: Drug plan structured to contain costs: Likewise the doughnut hole was included again to limit program costs by setting a limit for drug coverage, while still allowing for the catastrophic situation of extremely high drug costs.

FLASHPOINT for Nov 12, 2006: As they look for a silver lining in the Gibbons-Ensign-Heller- Porter cloud, state Democrats rightly point to some potential stars. But history may temper their enthusiasm for the likes of Catherine Cortez Masto, Ross Miller and Tessa Hafen. Twenty years ago, three guaranteed future Democratic stars were born in the Assembly - Matt Callister, Gene Porter and Jim Spinello. We surely were looking at future statewide officeholders. They are all gone from public life now, though, mere footnotes in Nevada political history. It's a funny business. What will we be saying in 2026 about Cortez Masto, Miller and Hafen? Will ...

Letter: Question 5 strips away adult freedoms: Because all of the Clean Air Act supporters won, I guess we are to assume that they will now stop breathing so they can block all of the true pollutants in the air. Right?

Jeff Simpson chips in with some insight on covering big poker tournaments in Las Vegas: I love playing poker, particularly poker tournaments, and the opportunity to cover the best players and the top events was incredibly exciting.

When worlds collide: Just a year ago, Christianity Today magazine was touting Ted Haggard as the new evangelical wunderkind. In his three years at the helm of the National Association of Evangelicals, a Washington, D.C., lobbying group representing 30 million Christians, the Colorado Springs, Colo., megachurch pastor had proved himself capable of defending his movement's conservative stance on homosexuality and abortion while also redirecting energy to issues such as global warming, poverty and the genocide in Darfur.

Nevada to gain from people in high places: WASHINGTON - The Democratic sweep to power in Congress offers new openings on key domestic policy issues for Nevada.

Conservationists see opportunity to regain ground: With postelection Capitol Hill awash with Democrats, environmentalists are expecting to regain their traction nationally, first by reversing federal policies that weakened their movement and then by championing a new domestic energy policy.

Letter: Election results bring Bush back to Earth: The monarchy is dead! The monarchy is dead!

John Katsilometes takes an audio tour of the 'Love' soundtrack, due out Nov. 21: With consultation from his father, Sir George Martin, the younger Martin plowed through the material to create the soundscape for "Love" at the Mirage. On Oct. 26 at the "Love" studio at the Mirage, Martin led a few media types on an audio tour of the new "Love" soundtrack to be released Nov. 21. During the playback, Martin mentioned that, in his younger days, he resisted listening to the Beatles.

Letter: Do we want another Bush appointee?: But beware of a wolf in sheep's clothing. Robert Gates, the man chosen by President Bush (pending Senate confirmation) to succeed Donald Rumsfeld as defense secretary, served Bush's father as deputy national security adviser.