By JOE SCHOENMANN, Las Vegas Sun

LAS VEGAS - It's a sunny morning and John Milburn is out again collecting the possessions of the dead.

Milburn is one of the few little-known investigators working for the Clark County public administrator's office. They enter the homes of the recently deceased, take inventory and cart away possessions until next of kin is located and any legal issues are resolved among the living.

LAS VEGAS - For 60 years, Jerry Lewis has led the charge against an insidious children's disease that slowly kills muscle-controlling nerves, then takes the life.

In those years, he said he has raised $2.4 billion ("that's with a B, kid") for research and therapy and aid for those stricken with muscular dystrophy and other neuromuscular diseases.

LAS VEGAS - Birth-control pills are often hailed as a key to the women's liberation movement. Now, parks workers in Nevada's Clark County -- home to Las Vegas -- are hoping the same approach will free them from constantly cleaning up after pigeons.

LAS VEGAS - During Las Vegas' boom years, plentiful jobs were enough to keep the masses moving here.

Now that the boom has gone bust, a new survey by University of Nevada, Las Vegas researchers suggests a large share of valley residents see little reason to stay.

The Las Vegas Metropolitan Area Social Survey found 40 percent of locals want to leave the state.

LAS VEGAS - As a professional poker player, Steve Graham is no stranger to the idiosyncrasies of Las Vegas. But he couldn't believe it when, during a December visit, he was told cabdrivers would pay passengers for the privilege of dropping them off at the cabbie's topless club of choice.

Then he and four friends discovered for themselves that such deals could be had.

LAS VEGAS - Even the men who hand out "nude girls direct to your room" cards stopped their hawking long enough to do some gawking at the "stripper-mobile" as it rolled down the Las Vegas Strip on this week.

The rolling billboards that have become so prevalent on the Las Vegas Strip are unpopular with some parents because of the questions the signs prompt from children who want to know what "girls direct to your room" means.

LAS VEGAS -- McCarran International Airport chief Randy Walker publicly aired his worries recently about an empty patch of desert 25 miles away that one day is expected to become a major airport.

LAS VEGAS -- When New Year's resolution time comes around, dozens, if not hundreds, of couples around the world will be promising themselves to tell as many couples as possible not to get marr