Print edition for April 30, 2007

FLASHPOINT for Apr 30, 2007: I have been saying for some time that the old North-South wars are about to be fought again. Not since before the millennium have Southern lawmakers fought for Clark County's "fair share" of state money. Now, with dozens of plans circulating to fund the transportation-funding shortfall, most acute down here, you are seeing signs of the North-South schism. Just look what happened when a Washoe County schools tax bill was defeated last week in the state Senate - mostly thanks to Southern lawmakers. That was a shot across the bow and a signal that Clark County wants its money, too. ...

Editorial: Guilty or innocent?: It was in September of that year that a woman was attacked in a Chicago parking garage. She was raped and thrown into the trunk of her car before attendants appeared and chased away the attacker.

Editorial: Time to go to school: Last week Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, a fellow Republican and someone who certainly is a fiscal conservative, sensibly voted in favor of raising a state fee to pay for increased regulation of private postsecondary schools and of letting some rural counties and the Washoe County School District raise taxes.

TAKE FIVE: Pat Green: Who: Kenny Chesney's Flip Flop Stadium Tour 2007, featuring Sugarland and Pat Green

Letter: Incompetence on Iraq reaching new levels: Blunder after blunder is constantly being made by this administration. One of the biggest was made by President Bush on April 10 when he said, "The bottom line is this: Congress' failure to fund our troops will mean that some of our military families could wait longer for their loved ones to return from the front lines." The very next day, Defense Secretary Robert Gates made the announcement he would be lengthening the tours of duty by an extra three months (from 12 to 15 months). Seems there is some inconsistency and a lack of communication within the Oval Office.

John Katsilometes on how Wayne Brady draws inspiration from his daughter, one of the more vocal fans at his show: In an interview published in Jet magazine from February 2003, just before Maile's delivery, Brady said he wants his daughter to have the self-confidence he lacked as a youth.

Letter: GOP candidates can concede election now: I fail to see however, why the Republican candidates think they need to do the same thing. For the past six years we have gotten nothing but lies from every Republican who opened his mouth.

Letter: Bush should walk a mile in troops' shoes: In the last six years, members of both houses of Congress have not worked as many days in a year as they should, the president runs to his ranch in Texas, and the vice president goes hunting. With all that free time, why don't they go to Iraq and live with the troops? I ask you, how long will they stay there?

Vegas an unattractive option for corporate home base: Las Vegas can easily draw tens of millions of tourists to town every year, but luring a corporate headquarters to Southern Nevada is a whole other matter.

Editorial: Health care's new dimension: Five years ago when fundraising began, not many people in the Las Vegas Valley had even heard of the idea for a new cancer center. Word quickly spread and the Nevada Cancer Institute celebrated its opening in Summerlin in September 2005. Today it has 262 employees and a national reputation that is certain to generate continued growth.

Hopeful's address crosses bounds: By Mark Hansel; Ward 5 Las Vegas City Council candidate Ricki Barlow has campaigned as an insider who has lived in the ward for most of his life.

Empowerment schools forced to take a turn: By Emily Richmond; A central tenet to Clark County's fledgling empowerment school program may be cast aside.

If the chair doesn't get them, the polygraph will: It's a skeletal metal chair shoved up against a low white wall in a long unlit hallway in a crumbling government building.