Print edition for January 11, 2007

TAKE FIVE: RED, WHITE & BLUE BALLOON FESTIVAL: What: Red, White & Blue Balloon Festival

Zebra mussel's arrival threatens Lake Mead's ecosystem: By Launce Rake; Zebra mussel's arrival threatens Lake Mead's ecosystem

Editorial: Hardly the way forward: The president did admit that his administration has made mistakes in prosecuting the war, the type of acknowledgement rarely made by this White House. "There were not enough Iraqi and American troops to secure neighborhoods that had been cleared of terrorists and insurgents," Bush said. "And there were too many restrictions on the troops we did have."

Letter: True champions are proven on the field: The irony of this year's Bowl Championship Series outcome is that the victory by Florida proves this point, since conventional wisdom had Ohio State clearly superior. Last year's playoff resurgence by the Pittsburgh Steelers to win the Super Bowl punctuates this point.

Early buzz for caucus eludes Nevada: By J. Patrick Coolican; If only the national media would recognize all the great restaurants that call Las Vegas home.

Ron Kantowski on a Rebel who was particularly bummed about the cancellation of Las Vegas All-American Classic: I speak of UNLV safety Jay Staggs, who endured consecutive seasons of 2-9, 2-9 and 2-10 as a Rebel, then learned the Las Vegas All-American Classic, the only postseason college football game he had been selected for, the last chance to show NFL scouts that he was much better than his team, had been canceled.

Letter: Wage hike will not work as expected: Look up the word minimum. Regardless of what figure the minimum wage is set at, these workers will still be at the bottom of the pay scale. All this adjustment will do is move the poverty line, an artificial number created by government-employed economists, higher.

Letter: The real lesson of Vietnam and Iraq: To write that "Muslims have been attacking the U.S. for about 20 years" and "that only Republican presidents had the guts to do something about it" is a shallow and foolish statement. To blame Muslims in general panders to blind hate and handicaps a reasoned, intelligent response to the attacks by a small group of fanatics.

Union, hospital return to table but neither side caving: Marshall Allen and Michael J. Mishak; A new mediator will guide talks for the next 30 days between a nurses union and Valley Health System, and both sides say for the record that they're hoping for a resolution.

Critics urge more Divine Strake study: Two federal agencies planning to detonate 700 tons of explosives at the Nevada Test Site rolled out their proposal for the public this week, but the effort has failed to calm critics who are asking for more debate over the test.

FLASHPOINT for Jan 11, 2007: Being new is one thing. But being a zero - or four zeroes - is quite another. Visitors to rookie Rep. Dean Heller's homepage this week are greeted with comical information. His new D.C. office is at 0000 Longworth House Office Building. His district office has a similar address: 0000 District Drive in an unknown city and state. That must be a tough address to get in both places - wherever the city might be. His new phone number - (202) 555-1212. Really? I bet constituents get a lot of information that way. For a guy who was a secretary ...

Pro gamers lure fans by getting cyber-killed: Amy Brady, professional video gamer, has just lost two rounds, lost them to amateurs, to people who practically walked in off the street and into the World Series of Video Games tent at the International Consumer Electronics Show.

John Katsilometes talks with Rita Rudner about her not-so-funny copyright case: The Harrah's headliner has joined friend and fellow veteran comic Jay Leno in a copyright infringement lawsuit against Judy Brown, a writer and comedy teacher who has edited 19 joke books over the past several years (she has culled material for such titles as "The Comedy Thesaurus," "Joke Stew," "Squeaky Clean Comedy" and "Mom - This Joke's for You").

Editorial: Leave behind a bad law: Democrats, who now have assumed control of Congress, say that major changes are afoot for this law that sets strict penalties, calls for vague academic improvements and, under Republican rule, has been underfinanced by $56 billion, The New York Times reports.

Editorial: Consumer agency in flux: What Gibbons does with the rest of the consumer affairs division will say a lot about his plans for state government and whether his small-government philosophy will trump a legitimate and needed public service.