Print edition for March 4, 2007

Letter: No escaping fact of global warming: Unfortunately, many in our country attempt to discredit such scientific reports as fiction. Some like Rush Limbaugh have promoted a false belief that climatic changes are not potentially damaging to the world ecosystems.

A modest approach to health care: By J. Patrick Coolican; Last year Illinois covered all its kids. Proposals on the table this year in Florida and New York would do the same. In California, Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is pushing for universal health insurance.

Jeff Simpson on a good, fair decision made by the Gaming Control Board: As far as I'm concerned, the Control Board made the right call. Sure, Pansy's father, Stanley Ho, has had some unsavory business associations. But Nevada regulators aren't licensing Stanley Ho - or Pansy Ho, for that matter. They are merely deciding whether she will be a suitable business partner for MGM Mirage.

CARSON CITY: THE WEEK IN REVIEW: By J. Patrick Coolican; On the 103rd anniversary of the birth of Dr. Seuss, Assemblyman Bernie Anderson read "I Can Read With My Eyes Shut!" to some children on the floor of the Assembly.

LOOKING IN ON: HIGHER EDUCATION: University system Chancellor Jim Rogers isn't the only employee speaking out in favor of seeing his 13 bosses appointed instead of elected.

Sprawling 2008 election is called a 'race on steroids': Michael J. Mishak; If you wonder why the names McCain and Clinton and Edwards and Giuliani and Obama are already becoming household words, a full 20 months before the 2008 presidential election, consider what presidential historian Robert Dallek says:

Letter: Shameful contract hurts U.S. workers: Recently a French newspaper, Le Figaro Edition Internationale France-Amerique, reported on the 10-year, $1.7 billion contract that the Pentagon negotiated with the French tire company, Michelin, to outfit all American military vehicles - U.S. Army, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy and U.S. Marines - with French tires.

John Katsilometes stamps out a rumor, with the help of the man who put his stamp on Las Vegas: We don't yet know whence all these purported offers have originated, but we do know that Steve Wynn is not interested in booking the onetime King of Pop and recent Las Vegas transplant.

Letter: Documentary defies historical evidence: Belief in the supernatural aspects of Jesus is irrelevant to the discussion of the so-called "Jesus family tomb." The assertions that film maker James Cameron and Simcha Jacobovici are making involve a very bad critical reading of history, regardless of your religious beliefs.

A little boy's wait: Tony Cook, Las Vegas Sun; I met Joey* half an hour ago, but that's all it takes. He is attached to me, literally. His 5-year-old hand is buried in mine as he struts his scrawny frame across the playground.

Light rail option is derailed: By Steve Kanigher, Joe Schoenmann; It takes only a few rush-hour trips along the Las Vegas Valley's clogged interstates and major surface streets - or about 10 minutes anytime on the Strip - to conclude there must be a better, quicker way of getting from almost any here to practically every there.

Editorial: More accountability: But in the wake of stories by The Washington Post that revealed startlingly filthy conditions at the facility's now-infamous Building 18 and disorganized record-keeping that went on for years, Army Maj. Gen. George W. Weightman was fired as commander of Walter Reed on Thursday.

Editorial: Obey law, stop smoking: For instance, George Gatchis, owner of a tavern called Screwballs, said he has done everything the Southern Nevada Health District has asked, such as putting up no-smoking signs, but if customers want to smoke, they can smoke.

FLASHPOINT for Mar 04, 2007: Just imagine the scene: A legislative committee is pondering a dramatic change to how we select our regents, whose internecine squabbles and policy deficits cry out for ... a dramatic change in how we select our regents. The bill would mandate appointment of these stewards of higher education, lessening the chance of loons and pinheads doing the job. And who comes to testify in support of the measure? Who sits side by side at the witness table, telling lawmakers that the current system is unworkable? A pair of chancellors - one current (Jim Rogers) and one former (Jane Nichols). If ...

Letter: It takes more than words to support the troops: By not fully funding the Veterans Affairs Department or investigating the health of our VA medical system before he started his war, President Bush has again shown he can't do anything right. Four long years later we have come full circle with yet another stain on our national honor caused by the shabby treatment of our wounded soldiers returning from war. Pick up your phone and call the White House. Give this guy an earful!

Brian Greenspun on some hard facts from the nation's capital about our situation in Iraq: I just came home from a few days of fact-finding in our nation's capital. What is interesting is that there is no shortage of facts inside that particular part of the Beltway, but there is a dearth of accurate ones!

Editorial: Must fill Gibbons' vacuum: The Assembly got off to a quick start as two committees, Taxation and Transportation, held a joint hearing on the issue shortly after the legislative session began on Feb. 5.

Jon Ralston on how, believe it or not, the legislative session has been even worse for Gov. Jim Gibbons than his first week in office: Across the capital courtyard, Assembly Democrats have lots of ideas that are DOA in the Senate (at least they have proposals such as full-day kindergarten and health care for the uninsured), the Republican minority in the Assembly led by Garn Mabey has podcasts (coming soon the Gang of 15 sings its rendition of the awful Little River Band hit, "Lonesome Loser") and state Sen. Bob Beers has TASCed himself with being de facto governor, issuing news releases and blogging so someone is speaking for the GOP (like many beleaguered teams, this one needs beers).