Print edition for April 4, 2007

Jon Ralston on how the governor and first lady used their political positions to benefit a private interest: By Jon Ralston; Then-Assemblywoman Dawn Gibbons sent the invitation to many on the front lines of emergency response and followed up with phone calls. The invite for the hyped "Force 4" system declared the March 10 event at the Jean Airfield was hosted by Sierra Nevada principals Fatih and Eren Ozmen and "Dawn Gibbons - state assemblywoman."

FLASHPOINT for Apr 04, 2007: As Lois Tarkanian fought to hold onto her City Council seat Tuesday, Rep. Jon Porter was trying to help the family - and took heat for it. Porter was given the National Journal's "Breakfast Flake" award for comments he made about the Tarkanians . The San Francisco Examiner quoted Porter's remarks on the floor: "Their dedication to education and the community are truly commendable and have enriched countless lives," Porter said. The Examiner reminded its readers of Tark the Shark's run-ins with the NCAA and his teams' poor graduation rates. And, oh yes, Lois Tarkanian was a "longtime teacher and ...

Editorial: Changing education: Senate Bill 540, sponsored by the Senate Committee on Legislative Operations and Elections, would give the governor power to appoint a superintendent to oversee the state's 17 school districts. The elected 10-member board, which now appoints the superintendent, would become an advisory panel.

Editorial: Shortchanging nation's kids: The federal Children's Health Insurance Program, also called CHIPS, gives money to states that provide coverage for children in low-income families. The program will expire Sept. 30 unless Congress renews it. Rather than simply renewing the law, Democrats seek to expand the program and triple its funding to $75 billion over the next five years.

THE ELEVATOR: Who's headed toward the penthouse on the local sports scene - and who's getting the shaft.

Major League Soccer vibe stronger on field than off: The pitch was bumpy, the lighting was high schoolish, and hundreds of people, mostly kids, sat dangerously within a step of the north touchline Saturday night at Peter Johann Memorial Field.

Q+A: FREDDY ADU: He's been called the next Pele and been dubbed the face of soccer in the United States, a wunderkind who came to this country from Ghana when he was 8 and his mother won a "green card" lottery.

Letter: Seat belts, helmets save more than lives: They had found that when an accident occurred, the people inside a vehicle not wearing seat belts were frequently ejected and suffered serious injury or death.

Editorial: Judging a heinous crime: "When I say that, it's my understanding that most men are sexually attracted to young women," Maddox said, according to a transcript of a sentencing hearing posted online by the Nevada Appeal, Carson City's newspaper. "When I say young women, I don't just mean women that ... you should be attracted to. I mean women from the time they're 1 all the way up until they're 100."

Letter: Scandal of the day is a Las Vegas tradition: The public officials in this city who have their hands in the cookie jar are legion. It is astounding that Las Vegans continue to put up with this rampant money grabbing. Don't they know it is their tax dollars and contributions that finance it?

Letter: Kucinich's campaign being unfairly ignored: Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, offered a very detailed plan for a totally different direction for health care in America. Kucinich's plan is a single-payer, not-for-profit health care system that removes insurance companies from the picture in health care.

Detours ahead downtown: Although their task may not be as challenging as navigating downtown Las Vegas streets at 180 mph, hotel guests and race fans are in for some fast twists and turns of their own during this weekend's Vegas Grand Prix.

Impatient Culinary puts screws to MGM Mirage: Michael J. Mishak; Negotiations between MGM Mirage and the Culinary Union have not exactly burst out of the gates , as the two sides had hoped when they agreed last month to start bargaining early.

BOILING OVER: Two things move water in the West: gravity and politics. This week, both things felt a downward pull.

Contracts show conflict of interest: By Christina Littlefield; When Community College of Southern Nevada construction chief Bob Gilbert was questioned by the Sun in late February about the appropriateness of hiring college contractors to help build his home, he said there was no conflict of interest because he had no influence over the awarding or execution of their contracts at the college.The contracts tell a different story.

Irate NLV leaders: Leave our poor to us: By Mike Trask; Frustrated by North Las Vegas' lack of progress in aiding some of its poorer neighborhoods, state Sen. Steven Horsford has proposed a bill that would force the City Council to answer to a state commission in an effort to speed improvements.