Print edition for March 9, 2007

Judge's property gets a look from Metro, county officials: Sam Skolnik; The property of newly elected District Judge Elizabeth Halverson was searched by a team of Metro Police and Clark County employees this week, escalating the county's campaign to force her to clean up her front and back yards.

CONVENTION CRASHING: NIGHTCLUB & BAR TRADESHOW: At the desk for the Nightclub & Bar Tradeshow on Wednesday, there was a stack of little glossy fliers ("Important - Read Information Below") with rules that you're supposed to follow on pain of or else.

Jon Ralston on the sheer ineptitude of Team Gibbons and why more questions are being raised about his legal defense fund: You would be wrong.

Letter: Public health care mired in red tape: So much bureaucracy, so many doctor changes, so many lost forms, and if you perhaps moved, oh no ... not again!

Letter: Congress has power to withdraw troops: The War Powers Act of 1973 was passed over President Richard Nixon's veto by a vote of 284 to 135 in the House and 75 to 18 in the Senate. Could it be that our elected representatives realized something important 34 years ago that our do-nothing Congress of today will not even read - let alone consider?

Editorial: Gibbons' tax pledge: State agencies had wanted to raise the fees they charge hospitals, nursing homes and restaurants, among other businesses regulated by the state, to pay for more inspectors. The governor, however, wants to stop that.

Chips no longer good as cash: By Liz Benston; If $5,000 casino chips could talk, what would this one say? It might explain its recent travels and how it has ended up in the custody of a cashier at the MGM Grand, who questioned whether it really belonged to the gambler who turned it in.

Photos tell stories with a cinematic quality: It's no surprise that Tim Roda gets asked if he has a film background.

Neonopolis operator to get closer look by city: Documents suggesting Rohit Joshi, the owner's representative for Neonopolis, misrepresented his business relationship with a Hong Kong billionaire have prompted Las Vegas officials to take a closer look at Joshi.

Letter: It is a law of physics: Atheists are correct: Atheists are philosophers who believe the universe is eternal, i.e., having no beginning or ending in time. If the universe is eternal, then it has existed forever and does not require and cannot be the work of a creator.

Hospitalist firm says it's on pace for UMC: The out-of-state company hired to provide physicians at University Medical Center says it will be able to step in on schedule - in part by hiring doctors from the University of Nevada School of Medicine, whose proposal to do the job had been rejected by the county.

Jeff Haney offers some tips on baseball betting, such as looking for players in the last year of their contracts: Hilton oddsmakers are offering over/under betting on the number of wins by 20 individual pitchers; home runs by 22 hitters; hits by 10 other batters; and saves by eight closers.

Chips no longer good as cash: By Liz Benston; If $5,000 casino chips could talk, what would this one say? It might explain its recent travels and how it has ended up in the custody of a cashier at the MGM Grand, who questioned whether it really belonged to the gambler who turned it in. The gambler, a poker player, made the mistake of treating the chip like currency. And all he's got to show for it today is a piece of paper - a receipt for the chip he no longer has - and no money.

Editorial: Keeping government open: In the name of fighting terrorism, the Bush administration has clamped down on releasing information and advised agencies to lower the threshold for keeping documents secret. Now, if there's even a hint of a concern about whether a document should be released, the information is considered confidential.

Letter: Kindergarten funds can be better used: A more cost-efficient approach is to enroll all students into the first grade at age 5 and expand student learning time, either by extending the school day or year by one-thirteenth for some or all grades. In addition, consider increasing teacher's salaries by spreading those formerly budgeted kindergarten funds across the board. One additional benefit is that students won't begin driving to school until they are juniors in high school.

Attitude adjustment: Sam Skolnik; By the time Teresa was last arrested, her mental illness had fully taken root.

In their shoes, or their cars: Just to see what might happen when 200-mph race cars collide with 200-proof college basketball fans from Wyoming, Las Vegas is hosting both this weekend, with the Mountain West Conference basketball tournament rocking the Thomas & Mack Center and NASCAR's UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 rolling into Las Vegas Motor Speedway

Letter: History books are written by winners: I question the validity of facts that are not recorded until 50-100 years (or later) after the fact. The books that comprise the current Bible were not compiled into a book until after A.D. 300. They were chosen by a synod of bishops that selected the books that represented their point of view. There are more than 100 other writings from the same time period that were rejected - they disagreed with the opinions of the bishops.

FLASHPOINT for Mar 09, 2007: The spectacle is undeniable. In a state where Democrats are underdogs every time there is a competitive statewide race, the Democrats continue to bark at each other instead of the Republicans. The inane debate over whether to let Fox sponsor a presidential debate here in August has reached a crescendo - and never has the power of the Internet been more evident. The Establishment and most sane Democrats see the utility of a nationally televised debate, even if it is the O'Reilly Network. But the far left and dot.com creations such as MoveOn.org want to show they can mobilize their ...

John Katsilometes checks in on the latest Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign, this one on the Boulder Strip: The Boulder Highway sign follows the Betty Willis-designed original, which since 1959 has stood on the south end of the Strip, and the newer Welcome to Fabulous Downtown Las Vegas sign on Las Vegas Boulevard, a few cartwheels north of the Stratosphere. The latest incarnation of the diamond-shaped sign is a good bit larger and several feet taller than the original, and is best viewed while driving. Its spot on the rocky median, in the middle of a road filled with roaring vehicles, is even less safe for would-be photographers than the original location.

Editorial: The great race: The weekend of racing, which typically attracts more than 160,000 fans who generate an estimated $100 million in nongaming revenue, culminates with Sunday's Nextel Cup race, the UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400. Many fans come back year after year.