Print edition for October 11, 2006

Homeowners resist change: By Mike Trask; Nicole McGeary nearly shed tears as she stood in her dusty back yard speculating about what will happen to the spectacular view.

Letter: Letter writer was right on schools: The education establishment will do its damnedest to try to appease groups like the ACLU. They consider any kind of abridgement of people's "rights" as verboten regardless of how it affects the whole picture, and especially as regards to taking any actual and logical steps to alleviate these major problems in our schools!

INSIDE THE CAMPAIGN: Hafen, in a seemingly overzealous attempt to capitalize on former Rep. Mark Foley's congressional page scandal, sent out a press release Thursday charging in bold print: "Jon Porter calls for Dennis Hastert to resign over GOP coverup of sexual predator e-mails."

Concerns over NTS tests 'premature': The CNN video was ominous. It showed an explosion of dust traveling rapidly from an arid, underground blast - and was being used Monday as a background clip on TV to illustrate the grim announcement by North Korea that it had detonated a nuclear bomb.

Editorial: Institute's new direction: A recent internal audit - prompted by a series of Sun stories over the summer that detailed the institute's shortcomings - showed that the institute's leadership had lost sight of its original goals regarding counterterrorism research. Despite critics' calls for an independent probe, the audit was performed by UNLV and revealed that record keeping was so poor that an outside auditor would have had a difficult time examining the institute's operations anyway.

Letter: Not talking didn't work with N. Korea: His reward? North Korea conducted a nuclear test.

FLASHPOINT for Oct 11, 2006: When DailyKos says you are for real, well ... it really doesn't mean that much. But even though Democratic congressional contender Jill Derby received a nice write-up on the world's largest political blog, she doesn't need that to know. As GOP numbers are taking a Foley-catalyzed nosedive, the race for a district with 48,000 more Republicans may become a national bellwether. If a Democrat can make it there, a Democrat can make it anywhere. National pundits are now shifting the race into the "lean Republican" category, an upgrade from thumbnails that said Dean Heller was a strong favorite. Hard to ...

Editorial: Tracking our teachers: According to a story by Las Vegas Sun reporter Emily Richmond on Tuesday, substitute teacher Robert G. Stevenson pleaded guilty to the charge about two years ago, but the state Board of Education didn't ban him from classrooms until Saturday.

Highlights of August 2006 revenue report on Nevada casinos: AP; -STATEWIDE: $1.06 billion win, up 7.5 percent.

Letter: School safety precautions seem reasonable: In light of recent school incidents and the talk of having armed teachers, these precautions now look reasonable for the safety of the school students and staff. This is required as long as we have irresponsible parents who have unsecured guns at home or don't take the time to monitor their child's activity.

Editorial: Junking the junk food: Just five months after Clinton helped broker a deal with soft drink makers to pull sodas out of schools, five leading junk food manufacturers have made a similar commitment. Clinton, who teamed up with the American Heart Association to negotiate the latest deal, believes childhood obesity ultimately contributes to higher health care costs and hurts the economy.

Letter: Time to genuinely support our troops: Support our troops and support our veterans, particularly our homeless veterans!

Clint Holmes' swan song at Harrah's is 'bittersweet': It rained the day Clint Holmes began moving his possessions out of his dressing room at Harrah's - paintings, pictures and other memorabilia collected over the past 6 1/2 years.

Jeff Haney on how the Ultimate Poker Challenge is betting it can sit at the table with the big boys: While it might not have the glamour of the World Series of Poker or the World Poker Tour, the Ultimate Poker Challenge has planned an ambitious schedule of 156 shows in the next year capped by the organization's signature event, a $10,000 buy in, no-limit Texas hold 'em tournament.

Jon Ralston on the gubernatorial debate that wasn't a debate: After the IAP's gubernatorial hopeful Christopher Hansen was ushered off the stage by security, what happened next was surreal, soporific and staged.

Musical director Fayne has high hopes for all involved with show: Bill Fayne, Clint Holmes' musical director for more than 30 years, probably would have been happy if the show at Harrah's had continued indefinitely.

How did Charles Augustine die?: By Abigail Goldman; Two men in black suits with cigarettes were stationed outside the Davis Funeral Home and Memorial cemetery Tuesday morning, directing television crews to a far corner of the grounds and positioning a golf cart to block the main entrance from gawkers.

CORRECTIONS: A story in Saturday's Sun said that a lawsuit filed by the police and Culinary unions charged that Clark County Commissioner Lynette Boggs McDonald did not live in her district until Labor Day. In their residency challenge, the unions actually contend that Boggs McDonald had occupied a home outside her district since December, including during the 30 days preceding May 1 - the date on which she filed her candidacy papers. The Sun regrets the error.

Bank on it becoming more difficult if Pahrump's anti-immigrant act passes: By Timothy Pratt; Members of Nevada's banking community are worried about a proposed ordinance in Pahrump that would make it illegal for them to do business with undocumented immigrants.