Print edition for April 8, 2007

Editorial: Higher education at risk: It is already embarrassing enough that Nevada's universities rank low, according to the annual college surveys published by U.S. News & World Report. Yet the governor's budget proposal for the next biennium would ensure that we need not expect higher rankings in the foreseeable future.

WEEK IN REVIEW: CARSON CITY: By Joe Schoenmann; Your week in Carson City, dear reader: A challenge to the system for investigating police shootings, a dispute with Roe v. Wade echoes, and a call for ethics education of newly elected public officials and lobbyists.

Manhandled baggage wears on travelers, no matter who's to blame: Frequent flier and Henderson resident Marian Nebriaga is down three locks and one $65 bag this year.

Sahara to get some L.A. glitz: By Liz Benston; Independent casino operators are a dying breed on the Strip, a playing field controlled by growing chains with billions of dollars at their disposal.

Fatih Ozmen: Mystery man behind Sierra Nevada: By Jeff German; When the Sierra Nevada Corp. drew unflattering publicity last month over its close ties to Gov. Jim Gibbons and his wife, Dawn, the Reno-area defense contractor fought back by touting its "lifesaving" contributions to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

LOOKING IN ON: GAMING: By Liz Benston; When the topmost girders of high-rise buildings are fitted into place, construction companies often have "topping off" ceremonies by hoisting American flags and pine trees atop the structures.

Letter: Health care subject to inequality, as well: He is right in saying that the taxpayers pick up the bill where insurance leaves off or where the patient simply can't pay. My question is: Why? University Medical Center, the valley's public hospital, is again in debt, with the taxpayers picking up the bill.

Jon Ralston on the likelihood that Gov. Jim Gibbons might face the same fate as Gray Davis in California: Six months later, Gray Davis no longer was governor of California. Arnold Schwarzenegger was sworn in five weeks after the election.

Hot on kids' tracks: By Emily Richmond; He's barely inside McDonald's when an elderly woman looks up from her Egg McMuffin and tells him, "They ran out the door. They saw you coming."

Gibbons' staff keeps many in capital in the dark: By J. Patrick Coolican; Assemblywoman Sheila Leslie, vice chairwoman of the powerful Ways and Means Committee, met almost daily with former Republican Gov. Kenny Guinn's staff when he was in office.

Letter: Veterans Affairs health care is top notch: I went to my 10 a.m. appointment at the VA and was in the room with the doctor at 10 a.m. The doctor did a thorough exam during the 50 minutes I spent with her and she asked me to do some follow-up tests. She helped me arrange them and all down the line everything was accomplished very efficiently and on schedule.

Editorial: A history of waste: And as USA Today reported last week, even a company hired to account for such losses has failed to fulfill its obligations. Reviewer Management International of New York was hired by a U.S. contracting office in Baghdad to track more than $7.3 billion in lost Iraqi reconstruction funding and create a database that would help investigators track fraud. Stuart Bowen, Iraq reconstruction special investigator, had recommended developing such a database in the wake of an $8.6 million bid-rigging scheme in Iraq, USA Today reports.

Editorial: How many more conflicts?: Details have emerged in the past few weeks showing how Gibbons and his wife, Dawn, cozied up to political donors seeking government contracts.

Jack Sheehan remembers connecting to America's pastime in a wonderful place and wonderful time: And so it's started up once again, major league baseball, this tranquil game that occupies a slice of my attention for seven months a year and for the first 10 minutes of every morning as I pore over box scores before the kids wake up.

Jeff Simpson on why Trop workers are not in partying mood as resort marks 50th: They are suffering from the job insecurity that accompanies new Trop owner Columbia Sussex Corp.'s meat-ax approach to staffing, which has resulted in the loss of hundreds of jobs in Las Vegas, almost 1,000 at the Tropicana in Atlantic City and a couple of hundred at its riverboat casino in Evansville, Ind.

Letter: Bush reminiscent of Mencken's 'Stonehead': Mr. Mencken's Monday morning columns were said to instill fear in the minds of politicians everywhere because of his powerful, incisive and scathing prose.

FLASHPOINT for Apr 08, 2007: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has called the pres- ident a loser and incompetent. He has accused him of committing the worst foreign policy blunder in the history of our country. And almost daily, his war room issues news releases with pointed criticisms of the White House. And yet ... Reid likes him. He really likes him. Or so he says. Reid told the Associated Press, "On a personal basis, I really like him. ... He and I have a cordial relationship. We still have civil meetings when we get together." I can imagine how those meetings go. Reid: "George, ...

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