Print edition for June 17, 2007

Editorial: Enough is enough: In a pleading filed in the state Supreme Court this month, the commission's private attorney, Thomas "Spike" Wilson, said Assembly Bill 433 allows the commission to continue holding its secret meetings and deliberations. The law, he said, allows the commission "to take straw votes in closed session, which is a process that is vital to the deliberations of the commission."

Letter: Don't let 'Summer of Love' go to waste: I was there 40 years ago. It is without exaggeration to say I am still recovering. Yet, it is such a sweet malady!

Nevada's bumper crop: Lobbyists: CARSON CITY - A day before the end of the 2007 legislative session, a raven-haired lobbyist stood in the cool breeze of a Carson City spring day in the Lobbyist Pose - cell phone glued to her ear and a thousand-yard stare right through anybody coming her way.

Letter: Creative thinking can solve flight path issue: Ms. Langley's ad hominem attack on the "children" of "the Republic of Summerlin" is based on the false premise of "either-or." Either it's the old way or it's the new way. There are alternatives, ones that can address the needs of all the stakeholders. We need to get past the petty name-calling and begin to think creatively.

No doubt, special interests dominate: By J. Patrick Coolican; On a recent crisp spring morning in Carson City, a limousine driver decided the parking area wasn't for him and drove right onto the sidewalk of the Legislature Building.

Want something done locally? That gets decided in Carson City: Tony Cook; During the four months of the 2007 legislative session, state lawmakers dealt with some of the most pressing issues of the day - such as allowing Clark County to tow cars from its parking lots and permitting McCarran International Airport officials to give refunds at airport parking garages.

Jeff Simpson says good times make a strike unlikely, at least in one set of Culinary negotiations: But the pressure is not as great as it was when Harrah's and Park Place Entertainment were the first to reach deals in 2002, when MGM Mirage and Mandalay Resort Group bristled at the deals' terms yet fell into line and signed their own deals.

Editorial: Hope for the future: USA Today reported on Wednesday that the federal program AmeriCorps has seen a 77 percent increase in applications since 1999. More than 13,000 graduates applied this year. Teach for America, which puts graduates in public schools in low-income areas, received 19,000 applications in 2006, a 40 percent increase in two years. The federal Peace Corps, which sends volunteers across the globe, received 12,242 applicants last year, an increase of 37 percent from 2001.

How to give yourself a raise without taking flak: Rare is the job that allows you to set your own salary.

Suddenly, hospital says she's a mental patient: By Marshall Allen; At her insurance company's suggestion, Michelle McCutchen dropped by Montevista Hospital to get the name of a therapist in the community to treat her for depression. Nobody mentioned, she says, that Montevista is a private mental hospital. She never got the name of a therapist. She didn't even make it back to her car.

Brian Greenspun notes how we need fathers, not selfish sheep: Since July 22, 1989, I, like so many other Americans who no longer have their fathers with them, have had to be content with the sweet and warm and meaningful and wonderful memories of the man who raised me, taught me and took some pride in the man I had become. For so many of us, memories are all we have.

Letter: What are Bush's real motives in Iraq?: So, too, was Alexander the Great eager to carry out his father's plan to invade the Persian empire when he inherited the mission in 336 B.C., and almost succeeded in doing so. Alexander was 19, and had been brought up to believe the Macedonians were really Greeks - Philip II said they were descended from Heracles, or Hercules, the hero. But at age 32, in 323 B.C., Alexander died of a fever after conquering the known world.

Editorial: Our schools, our budget: David Boshko, whose skill at teaching history earned him a place in the district's Education Hall of Fame, will instead inspire students as a part-time teacher at the private Foothills Montessori School.

One vote at a time: Michael J. Mishak; Bill Richardson arrived in a riot of flashing lights from a law enforcement escort.

WEEK IN REVIEW: WASHINGTON, D.C.: WASHINGTON - For a freshman congressman, Nevada Rep. Dean Heller had a busy week making news, but did so in a way that tested the adage that any publicity is good publicity.