Print edition for May 27, 2007

Jack Sheehan notes how we take stars for granted in Las Vegas, then he wines and dines with one: We're far more concerned on a daily basis with meeting the constant challenge of providing the necessities of life, and the occasional special treat for our children, than wondering which professional athletes are hanging out in our casinos or restaurants or nightclubs, or whether the latest "it" girl is seen snuggling with the hot new actor in a corner booth at Pure or Studio 54 at 3 in the morning.

Jeff Simpson tells why Kerkorian's bombshell is one of the biggest to hit Las Vegas' business world: Kerkorian wants to buy Bellagio and CityCenter, and wants to "pursue strategic alternatives" for the rest of MGM Mirage, which is 56 percent owned by the 89-year-old billionaire.

Brothels and strip clubs get customers, cabbies get cash: Detective Jeff Gentry is undercover in Chinatown, waiting for a taxi driver he tapped to negotiate the price for a night in a neighborhood brothel - a plain vanilla apartment with cream leather sofas and soft music piped over a haggling housemother, who tells the driver that she charges $150 for "full service."

Brian Greenspun pays a belated tribute to those wonderful women who have given us all so much: And so goes the punch line of a joke that has been in my family for as long as I can remember. The buildup is too long to repeat, but the wind up says it all. And I haven't been able to get it out of my head since Mother's Day two weeks ago.

COLORADO RIVER AT RISK: Emily Green, Las Vegas Sun; Heading into Memorial Day it would be hard to find a more blissful snapshot of holiday pleasure than boating on the Colorado River between Lake Mead and Lake Havasu.

Editorial: A dead horse rides: The senators are up to an old ruse, saying the Nevada Test Site would be a temporary location for the nation's spent nuclear fuel. The Test Site is adjacent to the government's preferred storage location - Yucca Mountain, which is 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas - so the idea, of course, would be to ultimately make Nevada the nation's permanent toxic graveyard. To that end, the bill also would repeal the 77,000-ton cap in law placed on how much waste could be buried at Yucca Mountain, nearly doubling the dump's potential capacity.

WEEK IN REVIEW: CARSON CITY: By J. Patrick Coolican; There, he worked on technology and commerce only. He developed an expertise, schooled his boss on it, helped create policy.

FLASHPOINT for May 27, 2007: Let's hope the TV cameras are rolling at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday in the state Capitol. That's when the official portrait will be unveiled of ex-Gov. Kenny Guinn, an event announced last week by his successor, Jim Gibbons, who will host the proceedings. That ought to be quite the scene: Guinn, who has utter disdain for Gibbons, being honored by the man he clearly didn't support . Ex-first lady Dema Guinn also is slated to attend. But first lady Dawn Gibbons is not listed as an attendee - you may recall that Dema Guinn had been critical of Dawn Gibbons for ...

Letter: Children's health trumps their privacy: Predictably, there are the American Civil Liberties Union and the "don't hurt their self-esteem" crowd who oppose such testing availability. Those in opposition need to come to grips with reality and sensibility.

He said, she said, he said - that's how a bill gets lost in the shuffle: By Emily Richmond; The legislative process in Carson City can sometimes grow so murky, a bill can drop off the radar into oblivion simply out of confusion.

Letter: Commend Democrats for putting troops first: Every day the American people are buying less and less into Bush's rhetoric concerning the war. Come September, when it is again time to provide financing for the war, the Republicans voting to uphold his veto just may be less inclined to do so.

Letter: Why the American people feel powerless: Only those who are profiting from the war want it to continue, but after a while you learn that you have no control over what the government does and the timetable for withdrawal is simply political posturing anyway.

Editorial: Bush blind to failure: "I hate this agreement," Rep. David Obey, D-Wis., said before Thursday's House vote. Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., said, "Half-measures and equivocations are not going to change our course in Iraq."

Jon Ralston describes lawmakers' last-minute scramble, which makes winners out of various special interests while education and transportation take a backseat: Heck, a Republican, placed the Democratic speaker's legislation to regulate payday loan lenders on the secretary's desk, a purgatory that most often signals a later entombment. Heck had learned a few minutes earlier that the Assembly overseen by Buckley had refused to hear one of his most important bills, a measure to use court assessments to pay for rural medical care.

Editorial: More damning testimony: Her testimony, provided after she received a grant of immunity from prosecution, showed that the leadership of the Justice Department has continued to cover up the real reasons behind the firing of nine U.S. attorneys. For instance:

Letter: Taking care of U.S. should be top priority: Bring all American soldiers home! We need them to fight the effects of wildfires, floods, blizzards, tornadoes, hurricanes, etc. They could come home and rebuild New Orleans. They could have been home to assist police during this year's "May Day" marches.