Cresent Hardy hasn’t prepared a speech, so the characteristically blunt congressman just shoots from the hip.

Looking back at his five months in office and the whirlwind of lessons he's learned from a big new job that once seemed unattainable, he offers this summary:

The Clinton Foundation on Thursday night disclosed that it earned $12 million to $26 million for speeches given by Hillary, Bill and Chelsea Clinton. The speeches given by Hillary herself were largely at two types of organizations — universities and financial institutions — and have already created headaches for the candidate in the lead-up to the 2016 race.

A push to expand rights to carry guns on public-college campuses has largely fizzled.

Backers of a new international center for gaming regulation at UNLV are seeking $500,000 in annual state money.

Nevada’s underperforming K-12 schools aren’t the only campuses stuck with low ratings. Higher education has its problems, too, particularly when it comes to free speech at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and the University of Nevada, Reno.

Nevada will play a crucial role in the presidential primary next year, as the fourth state to nominate a candidate and the first heavily Latino state to vote. In an effort to win support of the growing minority, Republican lawmakers in the state are trying something new — expanding voting rights for minorities instead of restricting them.

He wrote the most-read story in the history of The Atlantic’s website, he advises The Moth storytelling podcast, he champions mental health, he has webbed toes, and now Joshua Wolf Shenk is the director of the Black Mountain Institute at UNLV. The author/journalist/activist has penned New York Times-acclaimed books and contributed to all the impressive national magazines, and now he’s bringing literary journalism to BMI, which outgoing leader Carol Harter hopes will one day rival the Iowa Writer’s Workshop. –KT

Unexpectedly, longtime resort executive John Ceriale shares a time-honored garment with famed frat boy John Blutarsky from the movie “Animal House.”

Hard work, dedication and long nights are how many UNLV graduates described their collegiate journey.