Print edition for May 16, 2007

Editorial: A telling hospital visit: Frustrated that Ashcroft deputy James Comey, who was serving as acting attorney general, refused to sign off on a domestic spying program, then-White House counsel Alberto Gonzales and chief of staff Andrew Card went to pressure the ailing attorney general.

Letter: Military action won't bring peace to Iraq: Mr. Heeman does not identify the polls to which he refers, nor does he indicate the wording of them, but most of us would oppose chaos, slaughter and a humiliating national defeat, and most of us would also favor stability in Iraq.

Editorial: Remedy is needed: According to a story by The Washington Post on Saturday, a congressional investigation shows that prices for the 10 brand-name drugs that are prescribed most often rose 7 percent from December to April. Federal officials had expected drug prices to increase by that amount over the course of 2007 - not in the first four months of the year.

Editorial: Case of clouded judgment: The Agriculture Department's Rural Utilities Services gives low-interest loans to rural electric cooperatives across the country. These cooperatives plan to spend $35 billion over the next 10 years to build conventional coal-fired plants, The Washington Post reported in a story on Monday.

Jon Ralston guides readers through the crazy maze that is the Legislature: I began this guided tour about two weeks ago, but I would not blame anyone who feels like a frozen and lost Jack Nicholson in that maze at the end of "The Shining." Follow along as I show you how a bill becomes law, gets exploited by moneyed interests through the regulatory process and is repealed by panicked, pork-hungry lawmakers, which causes the moneyed interests to wail, which helps induce the governor to veto the repeal with one hand but reinstate it with the other - temporarily, that is.

Constitutional clash: By J. Patrick Coolican; CARSON CITY - Tax breaks on environmentally friendly, or so-called "green , " buildings have created what amounts to a minor constitutional crisis.

Jeff Haney on how 'High Stakes Poker' is a good bet to become poker's most popular television program: Haralabosa Voulgaris

Coyotes come to grips with loss: Community College of Southern Nevada baseball coach Tim Chambers admitted late Friday it stung watching Western Nevada celebrate on his field.

Registry answers question: Who's your daddy?: Cy Ryan and Ed Koch; CARSON CITY - Here's a twist on the old saying "Mommy's baby. Daddy's? Maybe."

With arrests, police lose Hispanics' trust: By Timothy Pratt; Hours after a pipe bomb killed Willebaldo Dorante Antonio in the Luxor's parking garage in the early morning hours of May 7, Metro Police officers were knocking at the door of the immigrant's east Las Vegas house.

Letter: Let's be wiser when picking next president: Soon we will be facing another cycle of elections, the presidential primaries and general election. We will again have to tolerate another round of " Swift Boat" and "Rovian" smear ads toward one candidate or other.

FLASHPOINT for May 16, 2007: It is beautiful when people who don't like or trust each other come together and bond - in this case, over bonds. There was no more bitter separation than the one between the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce and the gaming industry after the 2003 legislative session. The gamers wanted to tax business; business didn't want to be taxed the way the gamers wanted to do it. The fight and the recriminations were ugly. Now comes word that the chamber is siding with the gamers, minus Sheldon Adelson, on the Adelson-Jim Gibbons room tax diversion plan that the convention authority ...

THE ELEVATOR: Who's headed toward the penthouse on the local sports scene - and who's getting the shaft.

Letter: Bush ruins exercise for some people: I wonder whether he ever thinks about all the young men and women who are joining him every day on those "rides." No, they are not out on the bike paths like he is. They are in rehab centers on exercise machines trying to regain the use of their lost limbs after being sent into his war that has been a fiasco from Day One, with no end in sight.

Bogden bewildered by Justice complaint: By Lisa Mascaro; WASHINGTON - Daniel Bogden says he does not recall receiving any substantial voter fraud complaints during his five years as Nevada's U.S. attorney, a statement at odds with those of some Justice Department officials.