Arizona could be a key member of a regional clean-energy research network proposed in a report released today.

The report from Brookings Mountain West calls for an expanded network of federally funded research and innovation centers focused on solar, biofuels, geothermal and other alternative-energy sources, with the centers to be established in Arizona or five nearby states.

In 19th-century America, the government awarded land grants to start what would become the transcontinental railroad and establish universities such as Rutgers and Michigan State.

Tom Skancke, president of The Skancke Company and transportation consultant to the LVCVA says now is the time to focus on building Interstate 11. The proposed freeway would connect Phoenix and Las Vegas and be part of a redesigned Boulder City bypass. But who would benefit from this highway? And how will it be funded? Tom Skancke joins us to discuss how and why we should build the I-11.

If Las Vegas hopes to recharge its sputtering economy, the city should increase exports to other countries by developing an international trade center where business deals “get done” and encouraging more consultants to set up shop in Southern Nevada.

Southern Nevada has long struggled to build a sense of community, and now a crossroads of sorts is approaching.

A new federal grant program appears to be tailor-made for the Las Vegas Valley — hundreds of millions of dollars to help at-risk children succeed in school and life, with a cradle-to-college approach.

LOS ANGELES — The West may not be the geographic center of the country, but these days it sits at the heart of its political culture.

The upside of 21st century life? The dizzying array of cool electronic gadgets we have that let us do just about anything anytime and anywhere we want. The downside of 21st century life? Having to wade through that dizzying array of cool electronic gadgets whenever the ones we already have go on the fritz.

Strobe Talbott and William Antholis of the Brookings Institution are in Las Vegas Wednesday at UNLV's Brookings Mountain West to speak about their new book Fast Forward: Ethics and Politics in the Age of Global Warming. They join us to talk about the increasing threat of climate change.

Strobe Talbott has been tracking — and making — international news for decades.

He was Time magazine’s principal correspondent on Soviet-American relations through the 1980s. Then he became deputy secretary of state for his college buddy and fellow Rhodes Scholar, Bill Clinton, from 1994-2001.