Print edition for October 18, 2006

CONVENTION CRASHING: SCRAPBOOKING: Welcome to the seventh annual Memory Trends scrapbooking convention, last week at the Sands.

LOOKING IN ON: HIGHER EDUCATION: For most scholars, the doctoral dissertation is the gateway to a career in academia, the last big push to earn the right to call yourself a professor.

Radio ad implores Hispanics to get out and vote: By Timothy Pratt; "Our community is under attack," a male voice intones in the radio ad.

Target practice on the streets: By Mike Trask; Some kids in Boulder City appear to have a new weekend hobby - using a pellet gun to shoot out streetlights with sniperlike precision.

THE ELEVATOR: Who's headed toward the penthouse in the world of local sports (and occasionally beyond) - and who's getting the shaft:

FOR THE LOVE OF THE GAME: Sam Morris, Las Vegas Sun; Palo Verde High School football kicker Ashleigh Shoughro watches the ball split the uprights during practice Tuesday afternoon.

FLASHPOINT for Oct 18, 2006: Now that we are at 300 million people, what happens when we get to 400 million? The Wall Street Journal mused about that this week and mentioned what might happen here: "The shift of corporate headquarters and key industries to new cities could catapult more affordable, business-friendly cities such as Houston (energy, inter-American trade and medical care) and even Las Vegas (the global fantasy-factory) into true global centers." Global fantasy-factory? You know Oscar Goodman had to love that description of Las Vegas. The question is as the country grows and Southern Nevada continues to explode, what other businesses might actually ...

Jon Ralston on a poll that should worry Republicans: They need Tip O'Neill to be proven right when he created a campaign shibboleth - "all politics is local."

Composer to bring a bit of Broadway to Las Vegas: What: "Hello, Jerry!: Celebrating the Music and Lyrics of Jerry Herman"

Letter: 'Torture Indemnity Act' unconstitutional: "Section 6(3) Interpretation by the president ...

Letter: Voters: Cut GOP ties, run to Democrats: Just watch the voters cutting and running from the Republican candidates in November.

Editorial: Protect your own privacy: Some unknown number of men bit on a devious hoax, answering a personal ad on Craigslist offering a quick and easy tryst with a young woman, 18-20 years old, only to find out later that she was really a man in New York intent to shame them. And that he did. Among other public mockings, he plastered their responses and photos they sent, some in the Full Monty, on a Web site. For all of the men, married or not, that was quite a turn of events.

Editorial: 300 million and growing: The population milestone passed rather quietly Tuesday compared to 1967, when the U.S. population hit the 200 million mark. President Lyndon B. Johnson conducted a Commerce Department news conference celebrating the nation's accomplishments and looking toward the future. Then, the son of a Chinese immigrant born in Atlanta was heralded as the 200 millionth American.

Editorial: No need for bookmarks: But that just hasn't happened, a recent story by The New York Times shows. In fact, many companies - including book giant Barnes & Noble - closed the cover on the whole e-book genre when the dot-com bubble burst in 2003. Still, the Times reports, Sony officials are hanging onto the idea that e-books are destined for popularity.

Jeff Haney on the third season taping of the event at South Coast, described by some pros as the toughest table: Miles from the bustle of the center Strip, in an otherwise desolate section of a convention area at the South Coast, several dozen of the game's top players gathered to compete in perhaps the richest - and most rigorous - cash poker game ever recorded.

Letter: Clarifying Quran's take on jihad, Allah: "Jihad" means (Sura 2:190): "Fight in the cause of Allah those who fight you, but do not transgress limits; for Allah loves not transgressors." Repel attackers (in Saudi Arabia; Iraq; Afghanistan) within attack limits. With time, "aggressors" expand globally (oil). This answers the first question. The answer to the second (Must followers kill all nonbelievers?) is then no (also to the third: Are all infidels combatants?) Quran mentions Israel: "O Children of Israel: Remember the favor I have bestowed upon you and that I exalted you above the nations" (122) (answer to fourth). Finally, Quran states: "We believe in Allah ...

Police to release Gibbons information: Sam Skolnik, J. Patrick Coolican and Jeff German; Click here for a printable graphic.

Question of braking progress: Rare is the ballot initiative that strikes so much fear in Southern Nevada politicians that they would call a press conference on the rooftop of a casino parking garage just feet away from U.S. 95.