Print edition for November 16, 2007

Thursday's College Basketball: AP; Fairfield 60, American U. 52

For some reporters, it's just like watching TV: By Brendan Buhler; To spend a day with the media covering the debate is to watch candidates go up in flames — at least on screen-savers — and a 12-year-old kid reporter learning about free lunches and economic policy. But first, reporters had to get past the UNLV parking guy in the orange vest.

Religion Scholars Meet Pasta Monster: The appearance of the Flying Spaghetti Monster on the agenda of the American Academy of Religion's annual meeting gives a kind of scholarly imprimatur to a phenomenon that first emerged in 2005, during the debate in Kansas over whether intelligent design should be taught in public school sciences classes.

Scholarships could fatten UNLV's win column: By Brian Hilderbrand; To those who don't follow college football that closely, and even to some who do, it might have sounded like a hollow excuse from a beleaguered football coach who was desperate to save his job.

LOOKING IN ON: ENTERTAINMENT: By Jerry Fink; Fans of the Great American Songbook shouldn't miss the annual "Night of 1000 Stars Variety Show" on Sunday at the Las Vegas Hilton.

Philharmonic wants to know a little about you, too: By Kristen Peterson; A little while ago the Las Vegas Philharmonic started posting tidbits about its staff and musicians. Oboist Joan McGee is a certified diamontologist and a guild gemologist, Executive Director Phil Koslow was a billiards champ, and Keith Neel is an avid golfer and a Buckeye ...

Dorsey Leads Memphis Past Oklahoma: AP; Dorsey, who missed the first two games of the season with a shoulder injury, had nine points, 12 rebounds and five blocks to lead No. 3 Memphis to a 63-53 victory over Oklahoma in the semifinals of the 2K Sports College Hoop Classic on Thursday night.

Product Recalls: Halloween Baskets: AP; - About 10,000 Halloween-themed baskets, imported by Hobby Lobby Stores Inc. and made in China, because surface paint on the bat, pumpkin and witch emblems attached to the baskets contain excess levels of lead, which is toxic if ingested by young children. The recall involves all 2007 Halloween-themed baskets with the item number 5464201. The plastic baskets, sold at Hobby Lobby stores nationwide from August 2007 through this month, are either black or orange with two carrying handles. Details: by phone at 800-326-7931; by Web at http://www.hobbylobby.com or http://www.cpsc.gov.

Rangers Hand Flyers First Home Loss: AP; Lundqvist stopped all three shots in the shootout. He's stopped eight of nine shots he's faced in three shootouts, all Rangers wins.

CNN in it for sound bites over actual debate: By J. Patrick Coolican; Wolf Blitzer and CNN’s other public faces were focused on questions intended to create news events, put the candidates on the wrong side of public opinion or fry up salty sound bites for replay during the network’s never-ending news cycle.

Ron Kantowski evaluates Chancellor Jim Rogers' ideas for stopping the program from killing itself: By Ron Kantowski; Chancellor Jim Rogers' five-page memo to the Nevada System of Higher Education Board of Regents sort of read like the NCAA handbook. There were a lot of numbered points followed by a lot of lettered points. Its focus, at least in theory, was the football and basketball programs at UNLV and UNR. In reality, the memo and all its itemization were meant for the UNLV football team, which was headed toward another two-win season and/or oblivion, the chief byproduct of too many two-win seasons.

Nevada takes center stage: By Michael Mishak; The latest stage in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination effectively ended in a draw Thursday night as Sen. Barack Obama and former Sen. John Edwards came out aggressively against front-runner Sen. Hillary Clinton.

FOR LOVE OF THE GAME: Sam Morris, Las Vegas Sun; It wasn't supposed to be like this.

US Military Deaths in Iraq at 3,866: AP; The AP count is five higher than the Defense Department's tally, last updated Thursday at 10 a.m. EST.

Dorsey Leads No. 3 Memphis Past Oklahoma: AP; "I was just happy to be out on the floor. I was so amped up for this game. I couldn't wait to start playing," Dorsey said. "I'll try to get rest and get ready for a physical game, football game tomorrow."

566674516.html: To those who don't follow college football that closely, and even to some who do, it might have sounded like a hollow excuse from a beleaguered football coach who was desperate to save his job.

For some reporters, it's just like watching TV: To spend a day with the media covering the debate is to watch candidates go up in flames - at least on screen-savers - and a 12-year-old kid reporter learning about free lunches and economic policy. But first, reporters had to get past the UNLV parking guy in the orange vest.

Shut out, he gets his licks in: Joe Schoenmann, Las Vegas Sun; Democratic candidate Mike Gravel gave 20 people in a small room at Paris Las Vegas a clinic in rebuttal by TiVo on Thursday night.

U.S. Deaths in Afghanistan, Region: AP; Of those, the military reports 269 were killed by hostile action.

Product Recalls: Candles: AP; - About 1,200 birch bark wrapped candles, made in China and imported by Gate Five Group LLC doing business as Roost, because the bark wrapping of the candle can ignite when the candle burns down, posing a fire hazard. The company has received three reports of the birch bark wrapping igniting as the candle burned down but no reports of injuries or property damage. The candles were sold at specialty retailers nationwide from September through October. Details: by phone at 415-339-9500, ext. 212; by Web at http://www.roostco.com or http://www.cpsc.gov.

BULLETIN KILL: AP; The AP

Opinions swayed but open to being swayed again: David McGrath Schwartz; Many in the TV-watching audience rooted for their candidates, holding up signs and passing out campaign-emblazoned coffee mugs. But there were some at the Democratic Party's Jefferson Jackson Dinner on the Strip who were still struggling to make up their minds.

Text of Bush and Fukuda's Conference: AP; BUSH: Mr. Prime Minister, welcome to the White House. I really appreciate the opportunity to get to know you better. I'm looking forward to our lunch.

(Correction: Marines Haditha Story): AP; The AP

Poll: in Michigan, Clinton Leads Dems: AP; THE NUMBERS - DEMOCRATS

Politics in Paris: A world apart: By Andy Samuelson; The initial stroll down the cobblestone streets of Paris Las Vegas do not hint to the casino ready to spring up from the fork in the path ahead. No, not with a polka band playing in the background, or quaint shops and cafes stretching to the top of the faux sky ceiling overhead of Le Boulevard. The scene lends itself more to a trip on the Champs-Elysees in France’s capital, rather than a tour of a replica casino on the heart of the Las Vegas Strip. And nothing — at least yet — could reveal the presidential pandemonium about to ...

Indictment Won't Keep Bonds Off Field: AP; Here's something we do know: His indictment Thursday may not keep baseball's greatest home run hitter off the field next season.

Quotes From the Democratic Debate: AP; ---

Letter: Prescription for our next president: In other words, our next president needs to be the antithesis of G.W. Bush.

Letter: Immigration woes need hard-nosed fix: A massive flood of protesting letters to Congress precipitated the recent defeat of "amnesty" through immigration reform legislation, followed by defeat of the "Dream Act." The youths of this country must realize that their recent acts of sedition were defiant - parading of the Mexican flag through our city streets was unwarranted. We may weep and sympathize with the youngsters caught up in this morass, but only hard-nosed law enforcement will normalize our immigration.

Letter: Let's determine extent of 'pork' in military: Although we, the residents of Nevada, are delighted there is money in the budget for specific educational programs that benefit Nevada, others across the nation might consider this a waste of money, or pork. And their requests seem needless to us, I guess.

How Clinton regained momentum in the Democratic race: By Jon Ralston; Who would have guessed that this debate would be about Clinton lamenting the throwing of mud and Obama giving an answer as clear as mud?

Editorial: Creating an illusion: Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, and Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the oversight and investigations subcommittee, since June have been inquiring about the process of treating meat with carbon monoxide gas. The gas can allow old meat - even meat more than two years old - to retain its color and appear fresh, the lawmakers said.

Editorial: Don't give away the store: Nearly everyone agrees the upper middle class should be exempt from the tax, which was passed in 1969 to make sure the wealthy didn't escape paying taxes. But because the tax was not indexed to account for inflation, millions of people and families, including some making less than $100,000, could be forced to pay the tax.

Editorial: Test for attorney general: Employed by Blackwater Worldwide, a North Carolina company, the guards' indiscriminate shooting in a Baghdad square enraged the Iraqi government.

Of all the interviews of locals done while the Democratic debate mania has brought the national media here, my favorite was the one CNN's Wolf Blitzer did with Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman...: By Jon Ralston; Of all the interviews of locals done while the Democratic debate mania has brought the national media here, my favorite was the one CNN's Wolf Blitzer did with Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman. CNN, like everyone else, sees Goodman as colorful and funny. What they don't know is what he doesn't know - and in the interview Goodman proved he doesn't know a lot. For instance: He said the Culinary has 70,000 members - that's a 10,000 or so exaggeration. He said Hispanics make up a third of the population - it's about a quarter. And then he corrected Blitzer's ...