The song’s opening line tells the story of Las Vegas — then and today. “Bright light city, gonna set my soul, gonna set my soul on fire.” “It showed you there was more to Las Vegas than mobsters and the Rat Pack. That message had value,” Las Vegas historian Michael Greene says of the titular tune from the 1964 film “Viva Las Vegas.”

Modern downtown Las Vegas’ origin can be traced back to 119 years ago Wednesday, when a land auction made history by making the desert settlement into a town.

All eyes will be on Nevada in November as a swing state likely to determine who will be the next president. After all, the Silver State has a long-standing reputation for picking the candidate who will head to the White House.

Las Vegas is no stranger to worker walkouts. Pickets have appeared in front of our hotel casinos throughout recent gaming history. Workers at Virgin Las Vegas told News 3 they had hoped it wouldn't come to this, but the Culinary Union is not afraid to stand up for better pay and benefits.

It’s a question that puzzles long-time residents and new transplants alike: What do you mean, I don’t live in Las Vegas? That isn’t an unreasonable question. After all, Las Vegas is what’s listed on mail, Amazon packages, drivers’ licenses and leases for most Clark County residents who don’t live in North Las Vegas or Henderson.

More than 3.5 million pounds of highly radioactive nuclear waste is buried on a coastal bluff just south of Orange County, near an idyllic beach name-checked in the Beach Boys’ iconic “Surfin’ U.S.A.” Spent fuel rods from the shuttered San Onofre nuclear power plant were supposed to be sent to a long-planned federal repository in Yucca Mountain, located in Nevada about 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

More than 3.5 million pounds of highly radioactive nuclear waste is buried on a coastal bluff just south of Orange County, near an idyllic beach name-checked in the Beach Boys’ iconic “Surfin’ U.S.A.” Spent fuel rods from the shuttered San Onofre nuclear power plant were supposed to be sent to a long-planned federal repository in Yucca Mountain, located in Nevada about 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

Nevada’s US Senator Key Pittman died a few days before the November 1940 reelection that he was favored to win in a landslide. But his body was preserved in a bathtub full of ice so his seat could remain Democratic. Or so the story goes.