Adele Morris is a fellow and policy director at the Brookings Institution, which, in partnership with UNLV, runs the Brookings Mountain West think tank.

Her work focuses on energy and natural resource policies related to the economics of climate change. Brookings Mountain West brought her to the university last week.

Regionalism is too often thought to require government initiative. As a result, progress is associated with full-on structural reform--and so the controversy (and usually frustration) begins.

A report last week that more than half of samples of brand-name canned tuna contained more mercury than deemed safe by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) raised concern among tuna lovers everywhere.

One week ago marked the true beginning of America’s recommitment to passenger rail service. For Nevada, however, the restart will have to wait.

And because it must, using the requisite wait time well will now be crucial. Essential now is going to be total focus, strong coordination and a full-court press to marry a powerful case for high-speed rail in the Mountain West to top-flight organizing.

There has understandably been plenty of doom and gloom about Nevada’s economy — the indicators are sluggish, from unemployment to foreclosures. However, at the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce’s annual meeting to look ahead, there was some tempered optimism.

Several speakers offered some hope.

Here we go again — time to crank up the outrage machine.

For the second time in less than a year, President Barack Obama made an offhand swipe at Las Vegas.

Watching Southern Nevada these past 30 months or so has been like watching a sick loved one wither and worsen, or like watching a continuous loop of an Ingmar Bergman film with dry, unsalted popcorn to snack on — endlessly depressing.

More than half of canned tuna samples from a local grocery store failed to meet the strict Environmental Protection Agency safety level for mercury in fish, according to a new study by University of Nevada, Las Vegas researchers.

For Las Vegas, the end of the 2000s has been the equivalent of the housekeeper walking into a Strip hotel suite midmorning, cranking some Christian rock, and then Tasing the bedridden guest who is nursing a bad hangover.

A painful awakening.