Print edition for November 18, 2006

Letter: Smokers ignore right to breathe clean air: We nonsmokers agree that the slaves to nicotine have the right and freedom to practice their dirty habit. Since, however, medical science and the tobacco companies state how harmful smoking can be, we just do not want smoking around us.

Letter: Voters were not fooled by GOP's trickery: It's interesting to see now that all the conservative talk show hosts are currently spinning the results as a loss by the Republicans but a win by the conservatives. I guess the fact that the complete loss of the House and Senate didn't happen somehow adds up to a victory for them. Duh! I think that it's really not too hard to understand if you sweep away all the nonsense.

FLASHPOINT for Nov 18, 2006: If the sports books wanted to put up an interesting line, it would be on the date of the death of Harry Ensign. Sure, the presidential sweepstakes might interest more people, but here in Nevada, this is the more provocative bet. You know it's coming. Harry Reid is the next majority leader and John Ensign's new job is to make him the minority leader. How do you stay friendly through that? Not even this beautiful friendship, modeled after Claude and Bogie, can survive Ensign trying to topple his friend from atop the Club of 100. I think it's time for ...

Editorial: Signs, signs, everywhere the signs: The election is over, the seasons have changed, the leaves are falling from the trees - yet campaign signs are still standing, as a recent story in the Las Vegas Sun by Michael J. Mishak attests.

No cap to the bills: By Marshall Allen; Terri and Michael King's son was only 18 months old, but he was already reaching the lifetime limits of his health insurance.

Lawsuits promise headaches for Gibbons: By J. Patrick Coolican; New court filings in a federal civil lawsuit alleging that Rep. Jim Gibbons took unreported gifts from a federal contractor promise to be an ongoing political headache as the governor-elect prepares to take office next year.

Editorial: A polar bear's cold reality: A U.S. Geological Survey study released Wednesday stops short of saying that the decline in sea ice is directly responsible for the 15 percent decline in cubs, and for smaller male cubs overall. But it does say that these occurrences are consistent with other phenomena that are linked with changes in the ice brought on by gradual warming of the oceans.

ALL-STAR SCORECARD: Before you can play matador defense at an NBA All-Star game, you must first hold a battery of official events to call attention to it. That's why you almost need a scorecard to keep track of them all.

On computer, UNLV comes out on top: Ron Kantowski, Las Vegas Sun; Although it would have been impossible for the '83 Houston and '91 UNLV teams to meet in real life, anything is possible in cyberspace. Using Dave Koch's Action PC basketball, a statistical computer basketball simulation that makes it possible to match teams from different eras, we lined up the old Cougars against the old Rebels to see what might have happened had Dick Vitale ever gone back to the future.

Online programs help parents monitor students' progress: By Emily Richmond; Before granting an extra hour's grace on the weekend curfew, Ed Breen can log on to Silverado High School's Web site and find out what his son's teachers have to say.

Letter: Guest-worker program sounds like amnesty: The guest-worker program previously proffered by President Bush and supported to a great degree by Democrats says that those here illegally but seeking the "American dream" must pay a fine and go to the end of the line when applying for citizenship. Just what does end-of-the-line entail? Does this mean, as I suspect, that those here illegally can stay here and continue to work while receiving all the same benefits as those who are here legally?

Audit hits institute's ex-boss: The former executive director of the UNLV Research Foundation and its troubled Institute for Security Studies provided insufficient documentation for nearly $84,000 in travel and business meal expenses during his four years at the helm, a university system audit has found.

Ron Kantowski asks: 1983 Houston or 1991 UNLV - which was the best team to NOT win basketball title?: Ron Kantowski, Las Vegas Sun; Although it would have been impossible for the '83 Houston and '91 UNLV teams to meet in real life, anything is possible in cyberspace. Using Dave Koch's Action PC basketball, a statistical computer basketball simulation that makes it possible to match teams from different eras, we lined up the old Cougars against the old Rebels to see what might have happened had Dick Vitale ever gone back to the future.

Editorial: Support for stem cell study: According to the Associated Press, Swiss researchers have grown human heart valves using stem cells extracted from the amniotic fluid that surrounds babies in the womb. These new heart valves, scientists say, could one day be created in the laboratory as a pregnancy progresses and be ready for implantation in infants who are born with heart defects.