Print edition for July 1, 2007

Letter: A decision best left to the individual: First, the Internet is loaded with one-sided, slanted and error-prone Web sites. Not a good source of facts about stem cell research. With the Internet, you can pick an answer then look up all the Web sites that support your position.

Jeff Simpson on why Wynn's tip-sharing plan is both the fair and the right thing to do: Wynn hasn't spoken to the news media about his dealers' vote seven weeks ago to have the Transport Workers Union represent them in contract negotiations with Wynn Las Vegas.

Nevadans live hard, risk lives: By Marshall Allen, Alex Richards; Nevadans and Clark County residents die younger and at higher rates of suicide, substance abuse and certain chronic illnesses compared with the rates nationally and in other large counties.

Letter: Higher gas tax tough to take, but best option: Alternate fuels do not have the energy efficiency and portability of gasoline and diesel fuel, and they will be limited in their availability and will cost more. And declining gasoline supplies will continue to push up prices.

Editorial: Cooler heads must prevail: The final collapse was Thursday in the Senate, when 37 Republicans, 15 Democrats and one independent voted against allowing the bill to proceed.

Editorial: Global growth crisis: "The poor settle in the worst living space, on steep hillsides or river banks that will be flooded, where nobody else wants to live and speculators haven't taken control of the land," the report's lead author, George Martine, told The New York Times. "They have no water and sanitation and the housing is terrible. And this situation threatens the environmental quality of the city."

Letter: Health care coverage in need of transparency: I believe one way to get the public and our elected representatives behind this movement is full disclosure.

Letter: Enforcing laws in place is a good start: What next? I suggest that we try something novel and entirely new for the next year while proponents of amnesty regroup. Let's try enforcing the perfectly good immigration laws that are already on the books and stop building ridiculous, ineffective fences with our money.

LOOKING IN ON: CLARK COUNTY: In a cost-cutting move, University Medical Center administrators will ask Clark County commissioners Tuesday to shut down the McCarran Quick Care Center.

WEEK IN REVIEW: WASHINGTON, D.C.: WASHINGTON - Nevada's Republican members of Congress dodged a little friendly fi re last week in their efforts to bring the bacon home to their districts.

Will someone please pick up?: If you have ever wondered why some officials at Las Vegas City Hall seem more accessible than others, you are not alone.

Keeping 'em in stitches for 7/7/07: Seamstress Cindy Dennis has been busy getting ready for the crush of Las Vegas weddings on "lucky Saturday." Dennis and co-workers at Celebrations Bridal and Fashion are outfitting 28 of the 7/7/07 brides.

Letter: Bush must recognize mess he's gotten us in: Wake up, Mr. President, and smell the coffee. Take a good look at the region. Clashes in Lebanon, Turkey lurking over Kurdistan, the Hamas/Fatah conflict in Palestine including the Gaza strip/Israel confrontation. The region is a mess.

Brian Greenspun on how the R-J shortchanges the very people it should be serving: I am talking about the folks at the Las Vegas Review-Journal who, for some reason, love to pick on me. Admittedly, I like to take a shot or two of my own, but not when it comes to matters of such seriousness as how we get to and from work without wasting hours and hours of our lives sitting in traffic, how we get 40 million tourists to and from Las Vegas without causing them to think twice because it is so difficult getting here, and how we provide parks, schools, health care and other quality-of-life services to our residents ...

Editorial: No balance in this power: A four-part series by The Washington Post last week shows in extraordinary detail how Cheney has, with Bush's blessing, changed the scope and political reach of the vice presidency in a way that has given him powers unlike that of any of his predecessors.

Lobbyists paid by Clark County sometimes work against it: By Tony Cook; When the need to curb tax breaks intended to encourage "green" building projects arose late in this year's legislative session, it not only sent lawmakers into a tizzy - it also drove a wedge between Clark County and its lobbyists.

KISSED OFF BY CSN: By Christina Littlefield; Nearly 12,000 students taking union apprenticeship courses through the College of Southern Nevada will now receive their degrees from Elko because the administrators involved could not work out personnel and personality differences.