Print edition for March 23, 2007

Editorial: Open government meetings: Bending over backward to help businesses and large taxpayers, commissioners have taken a skewed view of the law to allow the commission to meet, deliberate and vote on tax refunds behind closed doors.

Sam Angel: 1920-2007: Sam "The Jeweler" Angel loved to tell stories about the good old days of Las Vegas and his friend, famed gambler Nick "The Greek" Dandolos.

Republicans debate merits of moving up their caucus: Michael J. Mishak; Is it worth it?

FLASHPOINT for Mar 23, 2007: These are embarrassing times for those of us in the MSM. That's mainstream media for those of you not savvy to the acronymic insults hurled our way by bloggers. We sit idly by and watch the bloggers do what we so rarely can : Move the political establishment. And now it is on both sides. First, the Democratic blogosphere types pummeled the Nevada party for partnering with Fox. What was just noise eventually catalyzed action and forced the dissolution of the partnership. Now, on the GOP side, led by activist Chuck Muth, the bloggers have forced the party to reconsider ...

Ron Kantowski on Lon Kruger's return to St. Louis, the site of his once-budding baseball career and this year's Sweet 16: UNLV coach Lon Kruger finally made it to Busch Stadium - although not in the way he might have imagined some 30 years ago.

Jon Ralston on how important Nevada, labor are in race for White House: So when Connecticut Sen. Christopher Dodd drops a bill today in Washington that would address a critical issue for nurses right before he leaves for a Nevada forum sponsored by the local union representing nurses, that is not happenstance.

Editorial: Paying tax dodgers?: A report released Tuesday by the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, says "many of these individuals accumulated substantial wealth and assets, including million-dollar houses and luxury vehicles, while failing to pay their federal taxes." One physician, whose hospital privileges had been revoked because of substandard care and who owed nearly $1 million in delinquent taxes, still received more than $100,000 in Medicare reimbursements, the GAO reports.

Letter: Nevada has duty to be an energy leader: Currently we can see links between foreign sources of energy and national security. That was evident in Las Vegas post-9/11. Huge losses followed at our resorts.

Editorial: Beware: Yucca not dead: Our story began in 1978 when federal scientists, responding to complaints from managers of the nation's nuclear power plants, began eyeing Yucca Mountain as a potential burial site for the plants' deadly nuclear waste.

Letter: No honor among president's cronies: If the political cronies that President Bush is so blatantly trying to protect from prosecution had any honor, they'd be champing at the bit to set the record straight, publicly and honorably!

John Katsilometes on how the vision of Siegfried & Roy inspired the union of Criss Angel and Cirque du Soleil: "I think that if you want to do a magic show, you need a character who carries the magic, who can carry the power and who has charisma and credibility," Ste-Croix said after a news conference announcing that the $75 million Criss du Soleil (my working title) show at the old "Hairspray" theater would open in summer 2008. "To me, Criss Angel is the new Siegfried & Roy of Las Vegas."

Letter: Iraq war has sapped our nation's strength: Shortages of manpower to fight the war. Casualties that increase in numbers per month after four years of fighting and thousands of American casualties, rather than decreasing each month. Additional troops sent there instead of a reduction of the troops.

Former clown brings inappropriate act to 'Gazillionaire Show': He sports gold lam shoes, a gold tooth, gold lapels on his white tuxedo and carries wads of cash.

Q+A: Joe Biden: Michael J. Mishak; Joe Biden is not the kind of guy to dodge the public stage.

Jeff Haney sifts through dozens of NCAA tournament propositions to make recommendations on five players: From left, Vanderbilts Derrick Byars, Georgetowns Roy Hibbert, USCs Nick Young, UNLVs Kevin Kruger and Butlers A.J. Graves each offers value at the betting window for those wishing to wager on player propositions.

How are the Runnin' Rebels doing so far?: Rob Miech, Las Vegas Sun; Having learned plenty from a regular season in which it lost consecutive games only once, UNLV aced its first postseason test by winning the Mountain West Conference basketball tournament.

Health care nears tipping point: By J. Patrick Coolican; CARSON CITY - The United States is 26th in the world in life expectancy, and 28th in infant mortality. At the same time, the U.S. spends more every year per capita on health care - $6,100 - than any other country.

Dealing with growth dominates Henderson races: By Mike Trask; As Henderson continues to give the green light to development, the growing number of red brake lights on the city's streets and highways is becoming a major issue in this spring's City Council campaigns.

Letter: Religion not requisite for patriotism: When U.S. Rep. Pete Stark of California revealed that patriotism is marked by love of one's country and loyal government service, not by one's religious beliefs, a new era dawned. This means people who have serious doubts about a supreme being will no longer take a back seat and give up their rightful place as loyal Americans.

Not hip enough?: By Liz Benston; By hiring young, pretty cocktail servers and requiring them to maintain certain sizes, don sexy uniforms and wear high heels even as they age, casinos have long tested the boundaries of discrimination laws.