Print edition for November 26, 2007

Ron Kantowski offers some advice for tournament organizers on how to get more bottoms in the seats: A cheap ticket to watch George Carlin perform at the Orleans Showroom that same evening cost $55.

THE OPENING LINE: Snow flurries flutter to the Shea Stadium grass, the lights have glowed for an hour or so and fans inch through rows and aisles to their seats.

Jeff Haney on how a replacement fighter has tightened the line: Georges St. Pierre will step in to fight Matt Hughes for the interim welterweight title Dec. 29 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center, replacing reigning champion Matt Serra, who withdrew with a herniated disc in his back.

Irv Gordon: 1933-2007: The last time I saw saxophonist Irv Gordon was five or six years ago at Pogo's, where he got together and jammed every Friday night with drummer Irv Kluger and an ensemble of other old-time jazz musicians.

Letter: Internet gambling not worth the risk: Playing at a poker table or a blackjack table (single deck only) presents somewhat of a challenge - if you know what you are doing. Sitting in your computer room and "gambling" with an amorphous dealer/computer and not knowing what the odds are - remember, that is the basis of gambling - sounds ridiculous.

Letter: Another damning account of president: McClellan states that he received assurances from the president, the vice president and presidential advisers Karl Rove, Scooter Libby and Andrew Card that none of them had revealed the identity of undercover CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson. Contrary to their denials, McClellan writes in his upcoming book that "he had unknowingly passed along false information," and that "five of the highest ranking officials in the administration were involved in my doing so," regarding the outing of Plame Wilson's "covert" status, a fact that has now been confirmed by recent court documents and CIA reports.

Letter: Tobacco industry has done enough damage: The industry ignores the overall hazard of tobacco smoking to the public health. When is the tobacco industry going to start paying for the hospitalization and funeral expenses of their victims?

Editorial: This land is their land: That's the amount the service says it needs to buy pockets of private land within the parks from willing sellers.

Editorial: Honoring Maude Frazier: Opinions among people who knew her and among people who have read about her are divided.

Editorial: A need for openness: Las Vegas Sun reporters Jeff German and Steve Kanigher highlighted the policy in August, after they had requested external-income forms at UNLV that professors are required by the university system to file.

Contractors group prepares for war: Jeff German and Steve Kanigher; Warren Hardy is digging in for a fight.

LOOKING IN ON: CLARK COUNTY: We're still reeling from turkey overdose, so let's get right to it.

Big dinner could have gone better for Dems: By J. Patrick Coolican; For the Clark County Democratic Party, its annual Jefferson Jackson Dinner is the headline event of the year.

Flags raised as Bush's brother racks up sales: By Emily Richmond; Clark County school administrators and teachers deny that they were pressured to buy a classroom teaching program from a company founded by a brother of President Bush, as alleged by a Washington, D.C., watchdog group.

AIRPORT'S ART ZONE: The D gates concourse at McCarran International Airport is a contemporary wonderland of international travel and slot machine folly. Natural light pours onto glossy floors and metallic accents. A glorious stroll through spacious high-ceilinged walkways leads you into a slick, cavernous rotunda that features an artist's terrazzo floor design - a colorful rendition of the Las Vegas Valley as seen in aeronautical maps. It is here that four young tourists discuss sculpture.