Bishop Gorman High rising senior quarterback Anu Solomon verbally committed Sunday to the University of Arizona football team. Solomon also had offers from Arizona State, UCLA, Utah and UNLV.

I read with great interest Peter Goldmark’s column, “End corporate tax avoidance,” on May 17.

From the fictional Corleone family to real-life casino kingpins, Nevada has always been a storied land of big power players. Politics is no exception. This year, the state’s political lions are poised to dwarf even the most awesome paragons of local lore, as control of the White House and Congress may very well come down to a face-off between two powerful Nevada patriarchs: Harry Reid and Sheldon Adelson.

Last year, when Congress pushed the country to the brink of financial calamity over the federal debt ceiling, Sen. Harry Reid crafted a solution that rescued the nation from an emergency — but kicked a long-term fix further down the road.

Lots of people imagine elected officials smoking cigars and holding secret meetings with big monied companies, laughing at the plight of the little people.

Nevada’s unemployment rate dropped to 11.7 percent in April, the lowest it has been since July 2009.

Ron Paul supporters are in the midst of a hostile takeover of the state Republican Party. Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is fed up with the filibuster. Congress is heading for another deadlock over raising the debt ceiling.

Pat Hickey is about to become a pariah. And unless you are a member of the Carson City club, you should applaud what the Reno Republican Assembly leader is preparing to do. This week, as campaign contribution reports are due, Hickey, sources confirm, will propose the most sweeping and potentially effective reform package this state has seen.

I think civility has been lacking in American political discourse for 240 years.

The pros and cons of debate. It was just a few years ago — remember the university budget meltdown of 2008-09 and the redux in 2011? — that an up-and-coming debate program at UNLV found itself, along with many other excellent programs, on the chopping block.

To hear some Republicans tell it, the disarray of their state party apparatus isn’t much to worry about. After all, they’ve got the cavalry coming in the form of nearly unlimited spending from outside political nonprofit groups, which can blanket the airwaves with ads and even pinch hit in the all-important ground game.

In the early hours of Saturday morning, something unusual happened outside the Smith Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Las Vegas. More than 60 people lined up near the building’s front door shortly before 7 a.m., each anxiously awaiting the chance to buy tickets for thesmash-hit Broadway musical “Wicked,” which begins its six-week stay at the Smith Center in late August.

The pilot of a jet fighter plane that crashed near Boulder City Friday has been identified as Douglas Gilliss by members of the Red Steel Jet Team, of which Gilliss was a member.

Burlesque is back big time thanks to Dita Von Teese and her spectacular, diamond-studded costumes that cost a cool $100,000 a piece, and she ...

Actress Kirsten Dunst partied at Hyde Bellagio early today -- from 1 to 4 a.m. -- with friends. Upon arrival at the Bellagio hotspot, the “Spider-Man” ...

An airplane headed from Duluth to Las Vegas had to turn around and make an emergency landing after running into engine trouble.

Authorities arrested UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones early Saturday morning, according to TMZ.com, on suspicion of DUI after the 24-year old allegedly wrecked his Bentley in Binghamton, N.Y. His management confirmed the report by releasing a statement Saturday.

Our neighbor to the south has been fighting an awful war.

A legal battle is under way over complaints that students and instructors in a "Stripper 101" class were secretly videotaped ''performing very personal and private acts.'' The producer denies the allegations.

It’s not unusual to hear Brian “Paco” Alvarez on KNPR one day, run into him at the Beat the next and then find him at a Fremont East watering hole later that week or at a Fifth Street School forum or lecture.

I had to give Paul Jarrett props. For a guy who sells cars to rich people, he had cajones. Even though he probably didn't realize he'd need them when he agreed to let CityLife test drive one of his 2012 Fisker Karmas, a luxury hybrid sedan that goes 0 to 60 in 6.3 seconds. He probably also thought the driver would be a beacon of State Farmsian maturity. Not a breathing lead foot with the insurance quotes to prove it.

Interview by SCOTT DICKENSHEETS Let's begin with a big-picture, parking 101 question. Why shouldn't downtown parking be free, the way it is in the suburbs?

How do you license a driverless car? Does the automobile have to enroll in driver's ed, sit through shock films from the 1960s, take a number at the DMV and park itself between two orange cones?

The other day, Nevada's recent law against using a hand-held phone to call or text while you drive prompted the CityLife staff to sit around and gripe-slash-wax wise about it. Scott Dickensheets, Mike Prevatt, Kristy Totten and Max Plenke were present. Someone recorded the conversation:

IN ORDER TO GET around the five square miles of the Black Rock Desert playa, attendees at the annual Burning Man festival have to be creative with regards to transportation. And while bicycles remain the most popular and convenient choice, more than 600 artistically modified mutant vehicles, or art cars, roam the temporary, sprawling Black Rock City.

As told to KRISTY TOTTEN I WORKED IN so many productions in film and television and live shows as a pirate that it just became natural that people started saying, "Oh, it's the Pirate. It's the Pirate." As we started getting into car culture and building stuff, my friend Kelly Humphries and I, we used to go to the junkyard a lot just to rebuilt the cars that we were driving at the moment. If we broke something and we needed to get a new one, instead of going to the auto-parts store, we'd go to the junkyard first. Then someone said something about, "Wow, the pirate's going to the junkyard." I listened to those two words and I put them together in line and it just kind of stuck -- the Junkyard Pirates.

LAW SCHOOL COSTS more than $100,000, and you're not even guaranteed a job at the end. Who has the time or money? Law firms aren't hiring. Yet law schools keep churning out graduates like widgets in an economy textbook.

Deep cuts and budget shortfalls sent shock waves through the nation's fifth largest school district and Nevada's third largest city, as scores of teachers, firefighters and police officers were warned that layoffs are imminent.

WASHINGTON - The Senate rejected five proposed federal budgets last week during a debate that confirmed the deep philosophical chasm dividing Democrats and Republicans over how to manage the federal books.

Who's the richest? Who's most in debt? Whose husband was out of work? Who's bringing home a hefty six-figure salary? Who reported no income during the past year? A look at financial disclosure statements filed with the U.S. House from the leading candidates for Nevada's new 4th Congressional District provides the answers. And just in time. Early voting starts Saturday in the race for the Southern Nevada seat. Primary election day is June 12.

The four pebbles are smaller than peppercorns, but make no mistake: They are troublesome stones.

At the time of his March 16 arrest, Tyrus Williams was no stranger to Clark County School District police.

First came the sighting of Las Vegas entertainment legend Siegfried Fischbacher sporting an eye patch in public. Now comes confirmation that Fischbacher, who turns 72 next month, has put his Spanish Trail home up for sale.

Prom never entered his mind, not even when he rolled to the ledge and saw rose petals strewn over the school's wheelchair ramp, down to her. Ben Bunker instinctively turned the other way.

In the 1990s, Danny Tarkanian's name began appearing as a registered agent or partner for Nevada real estate investment companies filing paperwork with the secretary of state's office.

The summaries of movies in the May 13-19 edition of TV Week were from a previous week. The daily program grids in the magazine are correct. We have taken steps to make sure this does not happen again.

It's never a good idea to look directly at the sun, and today's annular eclipse is no exception. You can cause real and permanent damage to your eyes without the proper protection.

RENO - Open burning has been banned in Washoe County for the entire summer season in response to extremely dry conditions that are contributing to a rising threat of wildfires across much of Nevada.

Officials say Sophia and Anthony were the top baby name picks among Nevada parents in 2011.

The College of Southern Nevada Foundation Board of Trustees has named Henderson Municipal Judge Diana Hampton a recipient of the 2012 Legacy of Achievement award.

DULUTH, Minn. - An airplane headed from Duluth to Las Vegas had to turn around and make an emergency landing after running into engine trouble.

The pilot of an Aero Vodochody L39 that crashed after takeoff from the Boulder City airport Friday afternoon has been identified as Douglas E. Gilliss, 65, of Solano Beach, Calif., according to the Clark County coroner's office.

To promote its annual postseason awards show at Wynn Las Vegas in June, the National Hockey League sent the Stanley Cup to the Review-Journal office for a brief visit.

It's probably not textbook financial planning to open a new business when the address is on a road littered with construction equipment topped off with a critical bridge that was destroyed long ago.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal has received a number of honors recently, including first-place awards for editorial writing and headline writing in the Best of the West 2012 journalism contest.