The Fremont Street Experience is marking a major milestone this weekend, celebrating 30 years since the unveiling of "The Canopy" — what was once the largest LED screen in the world. But the history of Fremont Street runs far deeper than its famous light show. The street has served as the heart of Las Vegas since the city's earliest days.

Notorious Boston kingpin James “Whitey” Bulger’s reign over the city’s criminal underworld has proven one few gangsters could emulate in real life. But in Hollywood, the high-profile, Irish American mob boss has served as a blueprint for loathsome and complex characters in several blockbuster movies and television story lines. The late Bulger’s astonishing double life as an infamous, ruthless gang leader who simultaneously served as a top-level FBI informant is considered by some to be cinema gold.

It's been 45 years since one of the most significant and tragic moments in Las Vegas history. A fire at the MGM Grand on Nov. 21, 1980 led to 85 people dying and hundreds more getting injured.

Humans have been building cities for centuries, but they don't always last. In some cases, nature has reclaimed them. Other times, people simply built on top of older structures.

The House and Senate have voted to release the Jeffrey Epstein files, though not all documents will be made public. Dr. Michael Green, chair of the history department at UNLV, explained that an ongoing investigation into Epstein and his crimes is the reason for the limited release.

When John F. Miller was building a hotel in Las Vegas, a local paper reported he was sparing no expense. The rooms were large, well-lit and ventilated, and electric lights and a telephone system were being installed. All told, the hotel would be a “credit to Las Vegas and as comfortable a hostelry as can be found anywhere,” the Las Vegas Age declared in 1906.

Selma Frances Abdallah spent her early childhood in New York City, and the family moved to Oklahoma when the Depression destroyed her parents’ jobs in the garment industry. Going to school in Oklahoma she met Troy Bartlett, who was in the Army Air Corps and later the air force. In 1945, they married, and Selma Bartlett earned her degree from Hill Business College in Oklahoma City. She worked at a bank there until Troy was transferred at Nellis Air Force Base in 1954.

Eight U.S. Senators crossed party lines on Sunday night in a deal to reopen the government. UNLV Historian and department chair Dr. Michael Green is questioning whether the efforts to expand healthcare subsidies will happen.