The good old days of widespread free parking at casinos ended in 2016. Now, with some properties raising those initial fees beginning Wednesday, it’s enough to make you yearn for the halcyon days of last year when parking was just cheaper.

The William F. Harrah College of Hotel Administration received $24.4 million from the Nevada government in 2015 to construct a new home for its nation-leading hospitality program. But without several of Vegas’ most well-known gaming companies and entrepreneurs, the project wouldn’t have been possible.

You can’t say the new $59 million, 93,500-square-foot building under construction at UNLV’s William F. Harrah College of Hotel Administration signals a coming of age for the program if only because the program has already grown up.

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.

UNLV’s William F. Harrah Hotel College was recently ranked the world’s best for hospitality and leisure. The annual QS World University Rankings highlight top-performing programs in 46 disciplines and this year added Hospitality & Leisure Management as one of four new “by subject” categories. The Harrah Hotel College took the top spot in the inaugural subject ranking and was followed by Switzerland’s Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne and Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

When Bill Murray struggled with the line “For relaxing times, make it Suntory time” in the 2010 film “Lost in Translation,” the very idea his director was so intense over a Japanese whisky was part of the joke. The nation was not, at the time, known for its whisky.

UNLV’s William F. Harrah Hotel College was recently ranked the world’s best for hospitality and leisure.

QS produces a comprehensive ranking of the world's best universities, broken down by region and subject. QS's latest ranking was released on Wednesday, tracking the best schools on the planet in 46 different subject areas, including standard subjects like business and history, all the way to more obscure degrees such as mining.

The good news: If you’re trying to find alternatives to regular wheat pasta, plenty of choices are available.

More than 340,000 people passed on Nevada’s hotel rooms last year and opted instead to book a place to stay using the home-sharing service Airbnb. The growth in the short term rental market is good for homeowners who made money from their residences but it could be a drain on the state’s all-important hospitality industry and eventually drive down room rates, according to an industry expert.

More than 340,000 people passed on Nevada's hotel rooms last year and opted instead to book a place to stay using the home-sharing service Airbnb. The $47 million in revenue that hosts took in is a loss for the state's hospitality industry that one expert says will only increase if not addressed.

University of Nevada Las Vegas students from the colleges of engineering, architecture, hotel management, health sciences, fine arts and construction management will be competing in Solar Decathlon 2017 at Denver this fall to showcase their skills in designing an energy-efficient, solar-powered home that can actively support aging residents.