Dr. Libby Hausrath is an assistant professor at the University of Nevada Las Vegas where she studies chemical weathering of basalts and phosphate mobility on Mars.

February is Black History Month, and UNLV is holding a forum looking at how the recession has impacted the African-American community. So how hard was the Vegas community hit? Were ethnic minorities more or less affected when it came to business, education, jobs, and healthcare? Local leaders weigh in.

I’m generally skeptical of and resistant to pom-pom boosterism. So at the Chamber of Commerce’s Preview Las Vegas 2012 on Thursday, I snickered some at the optimism and good cheer, half expecting Gen. Westmoreland or Donald Rumsfeld to emerge and tell us they see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Las Vegas may have taken a powerful body blow when the economy was down for the count, but speakers of Thursday’s Preview Las Vegas 2012 say the city is making a comeback.