Angle: Guinn the culprit in ' 03 tax hike, not SandovalOn the campaign trail, Republican Senate candidate Sharron Angle has been trumpeting her appeal of a 2003 Nevada Supreme Court decision that cleared the way for the Legislature to pass a tax increase without the constitutionally mandated two-thirds vote.

In 2003, Angle was one of 15 Assembly members who temporarily blocked a tax hike until one member changed his vote. Angle was so angry over the court' s decision to invalidate the constitutional amendment requiring the two-thirds vote that she recruited a constitutional lawyer to appeal the case in federal court.

Angle says voters punished the Supreme Court justices who made the initial ruling by voting them out. So how much should voters hold Republican gubernatorial candidate Brian Sandoval responsible for his role as attorney general in bringing the lawsuit on behalf of Gov. Kenny Guinn in the first place?

Angle laughed nervously for a good 30 seconds before saying she holds the governor more responsible for initiating it.

Sandoval "has said he felt that was his job as attorney general to do what the governor had asked him to do because he was the governor' s attorney," Angle said.

Should Sandoval have just said no?

"I think there was an opportunity probably for him to say no, but I don' t know," she said. "That' s difficult for me to answer."

She quickly noted, however, that Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto recently told Gov. Jim Gibbons no when he asked her to join other states in suing to halt the federal health care legislation.

"I certainly would have liked to see her (join that suit)," Angle said.

— Anjeanette DamonAdelson appeals jury' s

$43.8 million judgmentGaming mogul Sheldon Adelson said a Las Vegas jury relied on "wishful thinking" in awarding $43.8 million to a Hong Kong businessman who claimed that he used his influence to help Adelson gain approval for two casinos in Macau.

Adelson argues that no evidence presented during a 29-day trial should have merited the award to Richard Suen, who claimed he was offered $100 million at one point. Adelson will present his appeal to the Nevada Supreme Court on Thursday.

Suen argues that he brought the casino idea to Adelson, facilitated meetings with Chinese officials and rescued Adelson' s bid when the proposal was in trouble.

Las Vegas Sands opened the Sands Macau in 2003 and the Venetian Macau in 2007. Adelson is chairman and CEO of the company.

Adelson met Suen on a trip to Macau in July 2000, and Suen said he arranged for several meetings with Chinese officials on behalf of Adelson and Sands officials.

— Cy RyanNevada called a Ôpioneer'

in energy efficiencyAs energy officials prepare to convene in Las Vegas next week for the third National Clean Energy Summit, a new report says Nevada is in a good position to benefit from clean energy development.

Nevada is the No. 5 state with "high market potential for future energy efficiency development," according to the report.

Issued Tuesday by the Center for American Progress and Energy Resource Management Corp., the report ranks states it says have the most energy-efficient markets. Nevada placed 15th on the list, but took a top spot for its potential.

The report acknowledges Nevada' s policies that promote renewable energy and encourage businesses to be energy efficient. Clear policies from lawmakers at the state and federal levels are required before companies will invest in and use renewable energy, said Bracken Hendricks, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress and one of the report' s authors.

"Nevada is actually quite a pioneer in this," said Bill Campbell, chair of Energy Resources Management and another report author. "In some of the key policy invocations that we think will help drive this market forward, Nevada has been a real pioneer."

— Kyle Hansen