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Can Reno hotels hold onto last year’s gains in room rates? In 2013, the average daily room rate rose 9.6 percent to $83.66, the largest jump since 2007, according to the Reno-Sparks Convention and Visitors Authority. Occupancy jumped, too, from 63.7 percent in 2012 to 66.6 percent last year.

James Mah, DDS, MSc, DMSc, has been appointed as chief technology officer to help develop improved treatment protocols, training resources, and brand-new products to be unveiled in 2014.

Persuading tech companies to move to Las Vegas can be a tough sell.

As resorts fight for customers on the Strip in the flashiest ways imaginable, a different sort of competition quietly unfolds on loading docks at the back of the house.

That UNLV students were selected to compete in the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon against teams from elite private institutions such as Stanford University, the University of Southern California and the California Institute of Technology was an accomplishment by itself.

Then UNLV went and beat them all.

In the ultracompetitive energy drink category, Las Vegas-based Xyience is battling with the big boys for market share. The drinkmaker ranks sixth behind Red Bull, Monster Energy and Rock Star.

The UNLV debate team is nationally ranked. It turns out the Rebels know how to hold their own in an argument. This week the university debate group is hosting two dozen area high school students to help them fine-tune their debate skills. We're joined by three of the UNLV debate team members to learn more about the art of debate, and how it's been shown to help kids, especially at-risk kids, to better perform in high school.

UNLV Boyd School of Law Professor Bret Birdsong will put theory into practice in his new role as senior lawyer at the Bureau of Land Management, giving advice to the Secretary of the Interior and members of the BLM. Birdsong says he won’t directly make policy, but in his role as a lawyer, he will directly influence it.