When you ask anyone about good food off the Strip, you're definitely going to hear about Thai food. Everyone has a favorite — Komol, Weera, Lotus of Siam. How did the cuisine become popular in Las Vegas, and why does it have such staying power? Turns out clever marketing , government intervention and a glowing Jonathan Gold review go a long way. We talk to Lotus of Siam Chef Saipin Chutima, Asian Studies Professor Mark Padoongpatt and the kind members of Chaiya Meditation Monastery, a hub for Las Vegas' Thai community.

Suzanne Lenglen was about as badass as you could get for a sportswoman in the 1920s. The ‘first diva of tennis’ had a serious temper, she drank from a flask between sets, smoked and had many lovers. She scoffed in the face of customs and traditions, and played to win. And she wanted to look damn good doing it, too.

Lynn Comella, an associate professor of gender and sexuality studies at UNLV, said she doesn’t know details of the interactions between the company and show organizers. But, she said, rescinding the award may suggest not just gender bias, but a lack of awareness by show organizers about what’s happening in the world of sex tech.

In the past 15 years the Thai population in America has doubled in size, and it’s a community that opens a lot of restaurants. In fact, if you’re just looking at the ratio to a community’s population, there are ten times more Thai than Mexican restaurants in the United States. We wanted to know how Thai restaurants first became popular in the U.S. and what fueled their spread across the country. You might be surprised to find the Thai government and Hollywood had a lot to do with it. Francis Lam talked with Padoongpatt, a professor of Asian and Asian American studies at University of Nevada Las Vegas, and the author of Flavors of Empire: Food and the Making of Thai America. Mark also gave us a list of suggested Thai restaurant that we've included below.

Since the 1960s, the right has explained away black Democrats by denying them agency.

New year, new artistic endeavors. What does 2019 have in store for the Las Vegas arts and culture scene? What do our city’s creative folk wish to see in the new year? We polled some of the local movers and shakers, asking them to share their cultural New Year’s resolutions, hopes, plans and wishes. Here’s what they had to say:

President Tsai Ing-wen of Taiwan called on Saturday for domestic and international support of the island’s de facto independence, days after China’s leader, Xi Jinping, warned that unification with China was inevitable.

As Nevada state lawmakers prepare to kick off their annual legislative session next month, they'll be bringing home salaries that are comparatively low for the role that the part-time legislators are reluctant to raise.

Four days, 11 venues, more than 180,000 attendees.

And a whole lot of noise.

University of Nevada, Las Vegas Professor Michael Green taught a class on Abraham Lincoln and the 1860 presidential election. He described the political climate of the antebellum era, background on the other candidates and the deliberations at the party conventions. Lincoln won the presidency over three other candidates with just under 40 percent of the popular vote.

Four days, 11 venues, more than 180,000 attendees.

Nevada lawmakers are paid about $9,000 for their work during the legislative session, a figure that those same lawmakers have been reticent to raise, experts say.