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Steve Wynn was still a couple of years shy of becoming a teenager in 1952 when he stood on a dusty patch of desert highway called the Strip and listened intently as his father, a Maryland bingo parlor operator, told him of his dream of expanding his business there. Michael Wynn died in 1963 but his dream - and then some - never left the mind of his innovative son. It would take 26 years but Steve Wynn would realize his father

AUGUSTA, Georgia: The 93 players who have qualified and are expected to compete in the 72nd Masters, to be played April 10-13 at Augusta National Golf Club (players listed in only one category). One more spot is available to the winner of the Shell Houston Open:
Masters champions: Zach Johnson, Phil Mickelson, Tiger Woods, Mike Weir, Vijay Singh, Jose Maria Olazabal, Mark O'Meara, Ben Crenshaw, Bernhard Langer, Fred Couples, Ian Woosnam, Sandy Lyle, Larry Mize, Craig Stadler, Tom Watson, Fuzzy Zoeller, Gary Player, Raymond Floyd.
U.S. Open champions (five years): Angel Cabrera, Geoff Ogilvy, Michael Campbell, Retief Goosen, Jim Furyk.
British Open champions (five years): Padraig Harrington,Todd Hamilton, Ben Curtis.
PGA champions (five years): Shaun Micheel.
Players Championship (three years): Stephen Ames.
U.S. Amateur champion and runner-up: Michael Thompson.
British Amateur champion: Drew Weaver.
U.S. Mid-Amateur champion: Trip Kuehne.
Top 16 players and ties from 2007 Masters: Rory Sabbatini, Jerry Kelly, Justin Rose, Stuart Appleby, David Toms, Paul Casey, Luke Donald, Vaughn Taylor, Ian Poulter, Tim Clark.
Top eight players and ties from 2007 U.S. Open: Niclas Fasth, Bubba Watson, Nick Dougherty, Scott Verplank.
Top four players and ties from 2007 British Open: Sergio Garcia, Andres Romero, Richard Green, Ernie Els.
Top four players and ties from 2007 PGA Championship: Arron Oberholser, John Senden.
Top 30 players from the 2007 PGA Tour money list: Steve Stricker, K.J. Choi, Aaron Baddeley, Adam Scott, Mark Calcavecchia, Woody Austin, Hunter Mahan, Brandt Snedeker, Charles Howell III, Boo Weekley, John Rollins, Stewart Cink, Steve Flesch, Robert Allenby, Brett Wetterich, Heath Slocum.
Winners of PGA Tour events that award full FedEx Cup points since the 2007 Masters: Nick Watney, Brian Batemen, Jonathan Byrd, Daniel Chopra, D.J. Trahan, J.B. Holmes, Steve Lowery, Sean O'Hair.
The field from the 2007 Tour Championship: Camilo Villegas.
Top 50 players from the final 2007 world ranking: Henrik Stenson, Trevor Immelman, Lee Westwood, Toru Taniguchi, Nick O'Hern, Miguel Angel Jimenez, Shingo Katayama, Robert Karlsson, Richard Sterne, Soren Hansen, Anders Hansen.

iht.com

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MANHATTAN. Despite financial market slowdowns and brokerage house bailouts, the Armory Show was in town, bringing high-end galleries from around the world to set up booths inside Pier 94 along the Hudson River, hoping to exceed its $85 million worth of sales from last year.
Several other art fairs, including Pulse, Bridge and Volta, also hoped to make sales this weekend. But at Scope New York, there was one piece for which no money was exchanged: Carrissa Carman

My friends at PRNewswire sent these statistics out Friday regarding the difference in size between Davidson and Wisconsin.
Davidson has 1,700 students, 162 full-time faculty, 600 staff members and 18,723 active alumni. Wisconsin’s total enrollment is 42,041, double the number of Davidson’s students, faculty, staff and alumni combined.
But no matter what, both teams can only put five players on the court at one time.
Who knew? Bobby Knight, responding to a question from fellow college basketball talking head Dick Vitale, confirmed on ESPN on Friday that he was almost hired years ago as head coach at Davidson. Knight didn’t offer further information as to how long ago or who got the job.
They just showed Kansas assistant coach and former Jayhawk star Danny Manning watching the Davidson game.
He was the source of considerable friction between the Kansas and UNC programs more than 20 years ago.
Manning had been playing high school basketball in North Carolina, when then-Kansas head coach Larry Brown hired Danny’s father, Ed, as an assistant coach. Manning was thought to be a sure thing to play at UNC for Dean Smith, but wound up at Kansas, leading the Jayhawks to the 1988 national championship.
So he started it. Len Elmore said his former college coach, Maryland’s Lefty Driesell, was among the first coaches in the ACC to get student sections moved close to the floor. “He was a marketing genius,” said Elmore.
The more I watch Stephen Curry of Davidson, the more he reminds me of another North Carolina kid who was slightly built yet managed to get loose over and over again to make shots from everywhere.
His name was Pete Maravich.
Curry isn’t the ballhandler the Pistol was. There may never be another ballhandler as good as Maravich. But he’s definitely got the shooting part down.

fayobserver.com

LAS VEGAS — "Beat the Dealer" did it nearly a half century ago. So have other books and TV shows since. Now this week's release of "21" - a movie about a team of MIT students who used their blackjack card-counting strategies to win millions - once again might draw to Las Vegas countless wannabes convinced they can bring down the house.
Today card counting - or even suspected card counting - can earn you a hasty exit from the blackjack tables. But some blackjack experts think casinos should be rolling out the red carpet rather than tossing counters.
"Nevada casinos have probably lost money by turning away card counters," said Ed Thorp, whose 1962 book "Beat the Dealer" created a cottage industry of blackjack players who make a living counting cards. "I'd make a sales tool out of it. I'd show that people can come to the casino and win."
The casino bosses listening to Thorp in a packed ballroom during a conference last month nodded in unison. But they aren't likely to take his advice anytime soon - even though they know it to be true.
Thorp's card-counting secrets so upset Las Vegas casinos that they changed blackjack rules weeks after the book's publication to improve the house edge. Just as quickly, the casinos restored the old rules when blackjack customers stopped playing.
In the years since, Nevada casinos have reaped the rewards of the book, which inspired hordes of players to test their luck at blackjack. What the casinos have lost to skilled players they have made back tenfold from those who unsuccessfully tried to emulate them.
"People will buy a book, read it halfway through and think they can beat the game - and they lose," said Anthony Curtis, a blackjack aficionado and publisher of the Las Vegas Advisor newsletter.

scrippsnews.com

Above is a view of downtown Orlando, Florida from the Citrus Bowl Stadium. This will be the home of WrestleMania XXIV in just four days. I flew in, and am now in town. If any of our readers are out here and going to the event, feel free to let us know in the comments, and we will hook up. I’ve been here in Florida for three days now, just taking in the sights. In a few days, you may even be able to find our WrestleMania thoughts here.

sports.gearlive.com

It has been four years since the Blue Angels last visited Meridian. Before that, their last visit was in 1998. Another scheduled visit in September 2001 had to be canceled after 9/11.
Because the visits don’t occur that often, officials are very excited that the Navy’s flight demonstration squadron is returning to the Queen City.
“We get this opportunity once every four years. So the opportunity to have the Blues come in here and perform for the local people of Meridian is, for a lot of people who are only in this town for a short time, is a once in a lifetime chance to see them here,” said show coordinator, Commander Andy Neal. “So this is a great opportunity for us.”
And while it will be loud, Neal says it will be fun. In addition to the Blue Angels, there will be plenty of other aircraft for visitors to look at, both in the air and on the ground.
“We’re going to have Warbirds, World War II airplanes,” said Neal. “We’re going to have the latest and greatest fighter aircraft, local aircraft, the T-45, the Chinooks from in town, and the KC-135 out here for statics. We’ve got Coast Guard, Air Force, Army, virtual reality tents, some play areas for the kids. There’s going to be something for everybody.”
It has taken many months to prepare for this weekend’s ‘Wings over Meridian’, and the work is starting to be felt on base.
“Crunch time started today. We’re actually laying out our show center plastic that is required so the pilots can identify where they’re supposed to fly, where they can’t fly,” said Neal. “Aircraft operations will be going on here at the base until Wednesday evening and then we’ll really get started. Thursday and Friday are just going to be set up.”

wtok.com

ASBURY SACRED ARTS SERIES will present “Stations of the Cross: The Weight of Dust,” an offering of 14 clay tiles and poetry by Kathryn Cramer Brown, Asbury artist in residence, through April 4 at Asbury United Methodist Church, 205 S. Main St., Harrisonburg. Exhibit will be open 8:30-10 a.m. and 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. on Sundays, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. on Monday-Friday and other times by appointment. 434-2836 or www.asburyumc.cc.
SPRING MUSEUM AND GALLERY WALK will be held from 4-8 p.m. on April 4 and will feature more than 28 venues. Venues in and around Court S quare and along Market and Main streets, Harrisonburg, will open their doors for special arts activities and serve refreshments; some offer special discounts. Free. Held rain or shine with outdoor activities weather permitting. Some of the activities planned are “Altered Books” exhibit at the Massanutten Regional Library, the HHS National Art Honor Society exhibits in the Cally’s hallway, Scott Murray will perform at the Smith House Gallery, “Wearable Art” exhibit at OASIS Gallery, Trash to Treasure art activities at the Harrisonburg Children’s Museum and much more. 801-8779.
SOUP AND ARTS FEST, sponsored by the Parent Teacher Fellowship at Eastern Mennonite High School, will be held from 5-7:30 p.m. on March 29 at the school. An all-you-can-eat gourmet soup buffet, with soups provided by 14 local restaurants, will be served in the EMHS dining hall and will accompany student art displays, a gift shop, artisan demonstrations and vocal music by the EMHS Chamber Choir. Tickets are $8 for adults, $5 for ages 6-12, and children younger than 6 for free. Tickets will be available at the door. Proceeds will benefit the Eastern Mennonite School Fine Arts Department.
150 FRANKLIN STREET GALLERY will reopen for 2008 with the First Friday Art Walk from 4-8 p.m. on April 4. New shows include sculpture by SukJin Choi, detailed colored-pencil drawings by Walter Bradshaw and new Panama-style needlework designs by Bib Ferrenbach. Refreshments available. The gallery is open 5-8 p.m. Wednesday-Friday and 10 a.m.-2 p.m. on Saturday. 434-3824 or visit www.150franklinstreetgallery.com.

rocktownweekly.com

VENDING ON the streets is an old, but growing problem in Jamaica. In most urban and emerging urbanised communities, public spaces, especially sidewalks, are littered with vendors.
The problem is so acute that several parish councils are moving to curtail its growth. Apart from the aesthetics, sidewalk vending is a menace, hindering both pedestrian and vehicular traffic flow.
On any given day, city streets and towns are cluttered with vendors trying to take advantage of the large consumerist appetite of the Jamaican public.
But many are not selling on the streets for the sheer love of being there. For several, there is nothing else to do. Employment opportunities are scarce, and with the high price of food, there is a need, others say, to supplement the income of their households.
A Half-Way Tree vendor, who does not wish to disclose her name, tells The Sunday Gleaner she is on the sidewalk to make ends meet. After business at her hair-dressing parlour got slow last year, she marked a spot in the square and started selling women’s accessories and jewellery. It pays, she says.
“Me mek like $20,000-$25,000 per week,” she admits.
But not everyone else is so lucky. Higglering is a pain for 65-year-old Myris Murray, an itinerant vendor in downtown Kingston. She lives with three children and grand-children and sells to support the family’s income.
Murray walks the streets of Parade selling kitchen towels and other small household items.
“It a stress me out. Me sick and me have to go doctor. Me have (high) blood pressure, it a gimme stress. Look how me hair white; all arthritis,” she sighs, hurrying away from the police who are combing the area for illegal vendors.
Another elderly vendor, 73-year-old Merl Powell, identifies with Murray’s problems. She is the sole provider for her three grandchildren who were left in her care after their father was killed by gunmen. She travels to Coronation Market from Grants Pen to buy ground produce which she then sells in Grants Pen on the street corner.

jamaica-gleaner.com

Q You recently wrote about that tragic crash on the Bay Bridge in which a good Samaritan was killed trying to aid a woman who suffered a flat tire and was stalled in one of the traffic lanes. This death might not have happened had there been shoulders on the bridge where she could have pulled over. Will the new bridge include shoulders?
A Yes, thankfully. There will be 10-foot-wide shoulders on each side of the new span and also on the western approach to San Francisco. This will help by allowing breakdowns to get out of traffic.
Q Why do drivers have to finish in the same lane when making a right turn, but can finish in any lane making a left? It would make more sense to have drivers finish left turns in the same lane that they started from. That would cause the least confusion and be the safest. It also would move traffic faster, since you can make a right while an oncoming car is making a left onto the same street because you know they’re supposed to stay in the far left lane.
A There is a valid reason for allowing left turning cars to turn into any lane while cars making right turns at the same intersection must turn into the far right lane - better vision. Think about it. A guy turning left has a clear view of the road ahead, but the person turning right would have to crane his neck back to his left to monitor oncoming traffic.
that the Prius ban is over, I have a question. We have had a large van that was very useful in pulling our tent trailer and hauling Boy Scouts to various activities. However, our kids have grown and we’re ready for a smaller, more fuel-efficient car. The problem? We’ll still need to haul a harp around. While a Prius would be wonderful, it won’t fit a harp. Can your readers help?

mercurynews.com