On a chalky, windblown mound about 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, researchers brush and chisel away dirt surrounding a pair of curved tusks sticking straight down into the ground.

The Raiders deal in las vegas has just been approved, and already there are critics.

The Colorado River system supplies water to more than 36 million people, but it is being threatened by overuse, long-term drought, and climate change.

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority spends millions of taxpayer dollars on high-end entertainment, including top-shelf liquor and $300 steaks, as well as gifts for employees and first-class trips for board members. The agency’s lavish purchases at times have little or no business purpose and routinely violate its own vague expense policies, a Las Vegas Review-Journal investigation found.

Finally today, the sports lead as March Madness continues as the final four begins tomorrow. Big betting is sure to continue in Las Vegas and this week the city of Las Vegas won a big bet of their own.

In 1976, when I was twenty-one, I spent the summer living in a rented house in Colorado Springs and working on the grounds crew of an apartment complex on what was then the outskirts of the city. During most of day, my co-workers and I moved hoses and sprinklers around the property, to keep the grass green; then we mowed what we had grown. Watering was like a race.

From helping pass legislation prohibiting sports betting in all but a few states to threatening casinos for using the words “Super Bowl” to promote their, um, “big game” parties, the NFL has a long-contentious history with Las Vegas.

It’s a tradition unlike other and the unofficial start of spring for golf fans nationwide. But the beauty of April flowers at Augusta National Golf Club, once a plant nursery, belies the danger lurking for the 94 participants in the 81st Masters Tournament. Plenty of prayers will be made around Amen Corner, to be sure. And we may even see some showers from the eyes of those who overcome and succumb to the pressure alike.