May the best woman win.Tattoo artist Ryan Ashley said those words to fellow tattooer Kelly Doty after both women were named to the live, three-finalist Ink Master finale.Ink Master is a competition show on Spike that pits tattoo artists against one another in different challenges involving human canvasses (in other words, people who sign an exhausting amount of paperwork in order to get tattooed on television.) The artists are whittled down week by week, until only the final three remain. This season, the artists were split draft-style into two teams: Team Peck and Team Nu?ez -- named for Chris Nu?ez and Oliver Peck, the shows judges and famed tattooers.Basically, Ink Master is the ring where tattooers come to box.For seven seasons of the reality show, no woman had ever won the title of Ink Master. Only one other woman -- Sarah Miller in Season 2 -- even made it to the finale, making Ashleys win in Season 8 all the more sweet. Heres the winning tattoo she inked (which, by the way, she completed in 24 hours):Ashley grew up in a trailer park in Dallas, Pennsylvania, a small town about 20 miles west of Scranton. She was raised by a single mom who juggled a job at McDonalds with night school, where she eventually earned her degree in accounting.We were really poor for a really long time, Ashley said. We never had cable or the internet. My mom is an artist, and when we were bored she would ask us to draw her things. If I couldnt do it, shed show me how.Always a talented artist, Ashley moved to New York City after high school to study at the Fashion Institute of Technology. She landed at a private-label company, but after nearly five years, she decided she needed to get out of her cube and away from her screen. She found her way into tattooing.Tattoo artists arent made overnight. They do apprenticeships at shops and with other artists. Ashley worked with Nick Malasto at his private studio focusing on custom tattoos, not dissimilar from the ones on Ink Master. She now owns her own private studio nestled within the collectibles shop she co-owns in Kingston, Pennsylvania: The Strange and Unusual Oddities Parlor.Street shops, where people typically walk in to get ink, arent really her style, she says. I had to do a tri-color Rastafarian ankle band on half-off day, Ashley said. It was the worst day of my life, and since that specific tattoo I decided I could never work in a street shop again.Though the finale began with three artists -- Ashley, Doty and Gian Karle -- by the end it was only Ashley and Karle standing. Ashley was awarded the title in a 2-1 split decision by the judges with host Dave Navarro making the final call.One of the more staggering parts of her victory is that Ashley has just entered only her fifth year of tattooing. Her win marks the second consecutive year that a relatively new artist has triumphed over the field, following in the shoes of Season 7 winner, Anthony Michaels.Older tattooers only want to do what they want to do, judge Peck said in a phone interview. Young tattooers are eager. They feel like they have a great opportunity to do something and are willing to jump through any hoops that come their way.Ink Master is hard. The contestants often tattoo for extended periods of time and compete in challenges that require both physical and mental stamina. Tattooing for long amounts of time -- while not classically athletic -- is still physically demanding. The artists hunch over, gripping vibrating machines, while creating permanent art on another person in whatever conditions theyre given.Ashley says she was able to thrive in the competition because of the support given by the other women in the house: Doty, Nikki Simpson and Gia Rose. The four of them formed an alliance that crossed Team Peck and Team Nu?ez and landed two of them in the finale.?We want the best artist to win, Ashley said before the finale. We dont want the easy road, we dont want anything to be handed to us just because were girls. All of us, collectively, had the same hope that it would finally be a girl this season.This season, the best woman did win. She was also just the best. No qualifier needed.DeAndre Hopkins Texans Jersey . The third-ranked Ivanovic, who won the event in 2008 and 10, served five aces and broke Wickmayer, also a former winner in 2009, five times. "The result looked easier than it really was," Ivanovic said. Kahale Warring Texans Jersey . The parade and rally were held to celebrate the Saskatchewan Roughriders 45-23 win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Sunday in the CFLs championship game. http://www.texansrookiestore.com/Texans-Max-Scharping-Jersey/ .J. -- Marty Brodeur beat the Pittsburgh Penguins yet again. J.J. 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Etoo gave Jose Mourinhos team a decisive lead from Oscars back pass in the 34th.CARSON CITY, Nev. -- The Latest on a special session of the Nevada Legislature to consider public financing for a stadium and convention center expansion (all times local):3:08 p.m.Casino executives from Wynn Resorts, Caesars Entertainment and MGM Resorts International are urging Nevada lawmakers to support a convention center expansion and a Las Vegas stadium plan backed by one of their competitors.Steve Wynn said Monday that theres been no single thing in his career that could transform Las Vegas as much as the arrival of professional sports.He said the proposed 65,000-seat stadium, which could house the Raiders of the NFL, would underwrite the employment security of tens of thousands of people in Nevada.MGM Resorts International CEO Jim Murren and Caesars Entertainment Executive Vice President Jan Jones Blackhurst also spoke highly about the project.Lawmakers are meeting in a special session to vet public financing for a stadium supported by Las Vegas Sands casiino owner Sheldon Adelson.dddddddddddd---9:11 a.m.Nevada lawmakers have launched a special session where theyll consider raising hotel taxes to fund an NFL stadium and convention center expansion in Las Vegas.Gov. Brian Sandoval issued a formal proclamation Sunday evening summoning lawmakers to Carson City.Five new lawmakers appointed to fill vacant seats were sworn in Monday morning.Theyll vet a plan that would put $750 million in public money toward a $1.9 billion stadium thats aimed at luring the Raiders from Las Vegas. The Las Vegas Sands casino company is spearheading the effort and plans to put $650 toward the project.Its unclear when the session will end, although official business will be suspended from Tuesday evening to Wednesday evening in observance of Yom Kippur. Recent special sessions have lasted between two and four days. ' ' '