Print edition for February 23, 2007

MGM Mirage is undergoing huge identity transformation: By Liz Benston; What's in a name? For MGM Mirage, Nevada's largest employer and owner of some of the world's biggest hotels, the answer may guide its future.

Pupil-counselor ratio stuns Reid: By Emily Richmond; It's not easy to startle Sen. Harry Reid, but being told Thursday that Clark County's 300,000 K-12 students are served by only 600 guidance counselors managed to do it.

Marching to new tune: Facing heavy financial losses and teetering on the verge of canceling its annual St. Patrick's Day Parade two years ago, the Las Vegas Sons of Erin believes it has turned the corner in dramatic fashion.

John Katsilometes on the unshakable faith of a Neonopolis tenant at the end of his rope: Del Prado is clinging, no question. The family business, Del Prado Jewelers, is losing money as one of four businesses operating in the tomb known as Neonopolis. His six-month lease expires March 1 and he can only afford to pay the power and phone bills. He can't likely move because that would cost $60,000 in money he doesn't have. A conversation Thursday afternoon with property developer Rohit Joshi, whose history of defaulting on projects has shaken Las Vegas' confidence in his plans for reviving Neonopolis, has not changed the landscape: Potential customers approach the latent retail center, take note of ...

Editorial: Whose records?: Care's bill, Senate Bill 123, would require that government agencies respond in two days to requests for public records. What is sadly so important about this measure is that under current law a government agency can completely ignore you. Your only remedy is to sue an agency that likely has a staff of lawyers and deeper pockets than you.

Letter: There's no escaping global warming facts: I wonder how the children of future generations are going to "acclimatize" to every coastal city (plus thousands more on lowlands) in the world being submerged under the sea level that he is not worried about.

Letter: Clinton, Congress could have stopped war: The assumption that Congress was fooled by Bush is incorrect. In 2002 I knew there was no evidence that Saddam was tied to al-Qaida or possessed WMDs. I further knew that if Bush got war powers from Congress, he would use them. I knew that, and the 1,500 people who marched with me on the Strip early in 2003 knew it, and the millions of people around the world who protested the war before it started also knew that Bush was a liar and a warmonger. How could Congress not know it?

Letter: Man can't change 'order of the universe': Changes have occurred since time began and will continue since that's the "order of the universe." He, and others, would do well by channeling their efforts to the last sentence in Mr. Harrell's letter that we should "clean up the air and water that we have mucked-up and focus our hysteria on some other bogeyman"... Amen!

City Council sees flip side of 'flipper' argument: Two weeks ago there had been strong words at Las Vegas City Hall about getting tough with property "flippers" trying to make a quick buck at the city's expense.

Downtown galleries get synchronized: Kristen Peterson, Las Vegas Sun; Anyone who has meandered the Arts District during the daytime has probably walked away wondering, "Why isn't anything open?"

Bloggers don't want Dems in Fox's house: By J. Patrick Coolican; Last month several Fox News anchors parroted a thinly sourced article in a right-wing magazine that claimed Sen. Hillary Clinton was getting ready to leak damaging information about her Democratic rival, Sen. Barack Obama. Specifically, they reported that Obama had enrolled in a madrassa as a child in Indonesia and studied a radical form of Islam there.

Editorial: Negotiations on the Strip: It was a difficult time. The casinos were trying to recoup losses while the union saw thousands of members laid off.

FLASHPOINT for Feb 23, 2007: I have this friend who works in politics who occasionally will try to use a sports metaphor in his rhetoric, even though he knows very little about sports. He is always fretting he will talk about a field goal for baseball or a home run for football. So he would often test his metaphors before going with them. Seems that Gary Reese's political guy, Gary Gray, needs someone who knows sports, too, because in his zeal to be cute Thursday, he managed to misspell a Hall of Famer's name. "Councilman Reese is the Cal Ripkin of public figures, never missing ...

Letter: Drivers, be on the lookout for riders: Until motorists are prosecuted the same for killing a rider as another motorist, the problem will not change. I'm just as tired of people who don't ride thinking they know something on the subject as I am of hearing, "I didn't see him." Shut up and look!

LOOKING IN ON: LAS VEGAS GLADIATORS: You truly won't be able to tell the players without a scorecard when the Las Vegas Gladiators open the home portion of the 2007 Arena Football League season in three weeks.

Editorial: Real cooling-off needed: That would tighten the current law, which mandates a one-year cooling off period, although it does have a loophole, allowing former members to immediately work with lobbyists and clients to plot strategy.

Letter: Don't emulate life of Anna Nicole Smith: Was Anna Nicole Smith a nurse in an operating room, assisting doctors in saving lives? Was she part of a medical team on the verge of finding a cure for cancer? Was she a teacher of young children, helping them through education to make for themselves good, productive lives? Was she a spokeswoman against the use of illegal drugs? What were her opinions on global warming? Was superficial beauty her main goal in life?

Jeff Haney on how Ultimate Blackjack Tour backers are betting that television exposure will raise their game to the level of televised poker: Einiger, a Brooklyn native and a Summerlin resident since 2003, has established himself as one of the game's most accomplished players since taking up tournament blackjack nearly 17 years ago.

Jon Ralston on the many obstacles Democrats still face on the road to the 2008 presidential election, despite a smooth first ride through Nevada: Eight White House hopefuls with varying degrees of viability - ranging from front-runner status to snowball's chance - packed into a community center in the hamlet of Carson City to hawk their wares not just to the locals and AFSCME delegates, but also to the world, thanks to ABC, C-SPAN and a flock of national media types.