The Great Recession has laid bare, with vivid and wrenching clarity, the problem with a state economy too dependent on housing and construction, tourism and population growth.

Gov. Scott Walker's proposal to destroy most of the public-employee unions in Wisconsin is being presented as a way to cut state budget deficits.

This newspaper produced a fascinating piece of research last week: a compendium of 14 arenas and stadiums proposed for the Las Vegas area since 1996. Nine of those plans are dead; five remain alive.

An eerie, disturbingly uncomfortable hush fell over the audience Friday at Preview Las Vegas 2011 after speaker Jeremy Aguero finished his tale about the rise and fall of a great economy.

Rebecca Winthrop has studied education in some of the world's most violent and conflicted hot spots. The former head of education for the International Rescue Committee (IRC) has studied how girls and refugees learn in places like Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kosovo, Sierra Leone, and Sudan. Can education cut down on militant extremism?

Nevada, like many states and countries, has always suffered from a flight of human capital, or “brain drain,” as it’s often called.

It’s pretty common knowledge by now that many states are drowning in red ink. Most notably, the weak economy has created operating gaps ranging from the hundreds of millions of dollars in Arizona to the tens of billions in California, Illinois, and New Jersey.

Gov. Brian Sandoval is right to declare himself “proudly optimistic” about Nevada’s prospects as he formulates his first budget.

For many American cities, the decade after 2000 played out in two starkly different scenes: Years of euphoric growth and prosperity followed by a crushing reversal.