Print edition for July 4, 2007

Poker players stay in, reach out: By Liz Benston; The town's commercial poker rooms shouldn't feel threatened, but Clyde Ernaga is thinking about going up against them in his own small way.

Letter: Commutation keeps truth locked up: Taking away the threat of jail time ensures that Libby will remain quiet about who ordered the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame, whose husband had debunked the false information that the president knowingly used to lead us into the ill-fated invasion of Iraq.

Letter: Pessimism won't help us reach goal in Iraq: We all know what the bad news is from Iraq. No one deplores this violence more than the president, I am certain.

Lucky sevens line up: If there is anything to lucky numbers, maybe Las Vegas musician Bill Trujillo should shoot craps, play the ponies and spin the roulette wheel on Saturday.

Editorial: What's in a label?: A story by The New York Times on Monday says the meat and grocery industries have been the most vocal and stalwart foes of the labeling requirement, which was part of the 2002 Farm Bill. These industries say that such labeling is cumbersome and expensive, and that it creates an unfair advantage for American farmers and ranchers because such a requirement could effectively block foreign competitors that sell meat at lower prices.

Letter: Bush picks bad time to come to Libby's aid: But what has gone unnoticed is the timing of the commutation. He was not going to jail in the next couple of days. Yet Bush commuted his jail time on the day of a very important meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Boulder City spends away, beckons visitors to play: By Mike Trask; Dick Bravo is one of the retirees who makes Boulder City Golf Course his home away from home.

Jeff Haney wonders when viewers will cry 'Fold!' on plethora of poker tournaments on television: So we've grown accustomed to watching - again and again - as, say, poor Fredo meets his demise in the rowboat. Or as Ralph unceremoniously ejects Carlos the mambo instructor from that Brooklyn flat on Chauncey Street. Or as Phoebe Cates climbs out of the swimming pool to the strains of the Cars' "Moving in Stereo."

If you can stand the heat, well then, stay in Las Vegas: Maybe we're learning how to cope with extreme heat.

Editorial: Self-evident truths: So begins the document declaring that the United States of America was a free and self-governing nation in which all people were to be equal and allowed to pursue their lives without interference from a monarchy.

Editorial: Freedom to wait, and wait: That person is still waiting for the request to be processed, a study released Monday revealed. Many other requests, still unanswered, date back almost as far, according to the study by George Washington University's National Security Archive, a private research group.