Print edition for October 29, 2007

THE OPENING LINE: Every now and then, when we are sitting around drinking Diet Pepsi and trying to figure out what's wrong with UNLV's football team, the guys who sit next to me on the Sun sports desk start telling "only in Las Vegas" stories.

Drivers aren't the only ones who have to be fast: Drag racing is a sport that is as much about time as speed. In the premier categories of the National Hot Rod Association, the nitromethane-burning Top Fuel and Funny Cars rocket down the quarter-mile strip in less than five seconds.

Ron Kantowski on how the amount of leftover pizza is inversely proportionate to the level of interest in the UNLV basketball team: It's not exactly Krzyzewskiville at Duke, where fanatical Blue Devils fans disguised as students pitch tents the nights before big games to get a front-row seat.

WEEK IN REVIEW: CLARK COUNTY: Certain subjects we write about tend to attract more phone calls from readers than others. Garbage service and massage parlors, for example, seem to stir up in readers an urge to call the newspaper and express themselves. That's just fine with us.

Editorial: Politics and facts collide: But first she had to submit her written testimony to the White House for review.

Las Vegas: Leader in sustainability?: By Charlotte Hsu, Phoebe Sweet; Perhaps the last place you would look for leadership on sustainability: the city that's a monument to consumerism, a model of urban sprawl, a water-guzzling man-made oasis in a desert.

LOOKING IN ON: HIGHER EDUCATION: By Charlotte Hsu; A blog filled with nasty complaints about former College of Southern Nevada President Richard Carpenter and other college officials remains blocked at CSN , though the Texas college where Carpenter now works made the site available late last week.

Letter: It's wrong to make Bush the scapegoat: Of all the misinformed bunch of criticism directed at our president, this one takes the cake.

Letter: President's job entails great responsibility: Of course this president or administration shouldn't be criticized for acts of nature. It's just that they never seem to take responsibility for anything - it is always somebody else's fault.

Letter: Scientific integrity should be an issue: A scientist's job is to find out the facts that explain how some natural system works.

Debate on Yucca turns with politics: WASHINGTON - The Energy Department, rushing before President Bush leaves office to submit its long-delayed application to store nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain, will find itself on the defensive Wednesday as the project is scrutinized at a Senate hearing stacked with Democrats and infused with presidential politics.

Editorial: Lose sleep, lose health: The Washington-based National Sleep Foundation has conducted polls showing that Americans of all ages are susceptible to sleep deprivation.

Separate Nevada accidents claim lives of two Californians: AP; Investigators said Debra Allen, 48, of Petaluma, Calif., was killed on Thursday when her SUV overturned on U.S. 95 48 miles north of Winnemucca. Allen was not wearing a seatbelt and was ejected from the vehicle, the patrol said.

Editorial: Like a bad dream: The legislation, known as the Dream Act, would have given six years of conditional legal status to illegal immigrants who came to the United States when they were younger than 16, provided that they graduated from a U.S. high school with an untarnished record and had lived here for at least five years. Those who spent two years during the conditional status period serving in the U.S. military or attending college would have been eligible for permanent residency.

Gibbons miffed, now invited to hearing: By Lisa Mascaro; WASHINGTON - It was a simple request - Nevada's governor wanted to be invited to testify at this week's Senate hearing on Yucca Mountain.

FLASHPOINT for Oct 29, 2007: Remember that talk when Las Vegas Councilman Steve Ross decided to helm the building trades union about how he might have a conflict of interest? Ross told everyone it wouldn't be a problem. Really? Check out these remarks during the Oct. 9 discussion at the convention authority board meeting about those project labor agreements the unions love. "I certainly want to get the biggest bang for the buck when it comes to projects that are built for the public, Ross said in arguing for PLAs. "You want the best project that your money can buy. And I'm going to stand ...

Letter: Congress turns back on innocent children: Did our wise representatives in Washington, D.C., want more young people hanging out at Star Nursery each day? Do we really need more gardeners, produce pickers, gangbangers, etc., who have no steady employment and no hope of ever advancing their ambitions?

Letter: Wasted water runs through valley daily: As I drive to work in the early morning I am constantly amazed at the small rivers running along the side of the road. There are broken or misdirected sprinkler heads and timers that substantially exceed the recommended watering lengths.

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