Anytime heavy rains douse this region, many eyes are cast upwards to the multi-million dollar homes precariously perched on hillsides towering over Hollywood and Malibu.

As hype mounted and the money poured in for Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s so-called "Fight of the Century" in Las Vegas, a national conversation began about the undefeated boxer's behavior outside the ring.

This week, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas is starting a three-year, $600,000 research project to interview human trafficking victims ages 18 to 24.

They're, collectively, an all-seeing eye, catching people in places they shouldn't be and doing things they probably shouldn't be doing and then showing it to the entire world. Forget Big Brother. Smartphone cameras make all of us big brothers, turning us into equal parts private detective, nanny, snitch and busybody.

As an assistant professor of emerging media at UNLV, Benjamin Burroughs is no stranger to the world of tweets, snaps and vines.

Tuesday night may not have been an evening in paradise for the nine Republican presidential candidates who took the national debate stage at the Venetian Hotel-Casino on the Strip. Hosted by CNN and moderated by Wolf Blitzer, this was the last debate of 2015 before the election year begins.

One by one, they entered a UNLV auditorium, escaping the chilly December air. They had come to discuss the mental health of Southern Nevada’s children.

The most important of the four states conducting early caucus and primary elections leading to the White House is Nevada. We reflect such a cross section of America — despite what most outsiders might think of us — that we are a genuine swing state politically, and demographically so balanced that the state is a popular test market for many products.

Parenting is the most demanding job in the world. What other role requires you to be on call 24/7? What other job has higher stakes?

About 70 people clad in various shades of orange braved brisk winds and chilly temperatures Sunday night to participate in a downtown Las Vegas walk commemorating the third anniversary of the Sandy Hook school shooting in Newtown, Conn., and honoring survivors and victims of gun violence.

Mark Jacobsen leads me through a maze of children's toys in his little apartment a few miles from Stanford University. We head to a small patio out back. And here, sitting on folding tables, within earshot of kids playing and mothers pushing strollers, are the technological wonders that could save the lives of thousands of Syrian people.

It's either a masterpiece of Yuletide warmth or the most morbid TV commercial ever.