Nevada

"Oh, you mean the guy with the 70-year-old head and the 20-year-old body-builder body? That picture has got to be Photoshopped." Dr. Jeffry Life smiles when I tell him about the general reaction I get about the famous picture of him with his shirt off, the shot that turned a mild-mannered doctor in his mid-60s into a poster boy for super-fit aging and controversial hormone replacement Appearing in medical-clinic ads in airline magazines and...

More than 360 firefighters on Wednesday battled to contain a Nevada wildfire that has burned through nearly 3,500 acres near the border with California, officials said. The blaze, known as the Topaz Ranch Estates fire, started about 2 p.m. on Tuesday and quickly spread through the rural Topaz Lake area, about 60 miles south of Reno. Fed by cheat grass, sagebrush, pinyon pine and juniper, the fire is roughly north of Nevada Highway 208 and three miles east of U.S. 395.

RENO -- Although the announcement on same-sex marriage became the focus the week after President Obama officially kicked off his reelection campaign, his trip to Nevada was a reminder of the pocketbook issues that are more likely to swing voter attitudes.  And so Obama visited with a middle-class family in one of the battlegrounds that will determine his fate to highlight what his administration sees as a success in its attempts to subdue a...

A 6,600-acre Nevada wildfire burning near the California border was caused by people, fire officials announced Wednesday. Though the exact cause of the Topaz Ranch Estates fire is under investigation, it was ignited by humans, said Rita Ayers, Sierra Front Interagency Dispatch Center's fire information officer. “It was a private residence burning that exceeded the regulatory standards,” Ayers said, suggesting that a bonfire may have been the trigger.

CINCINNATI - The Rev. Chris Beard is a theological conservative, make no mistake about it. He believes the Bible is the word of God. He believes the Holy Spirit speaks to him directly. He believes, as an article of faith, that abortion and same-sex marriage are wrong. Still, when a group of religious leaders in Ohio held two days of meetings in Cincinnati recently to talk about economic and racial justice, issues usually associated with the political left, there was Beard, a fourth-generation Pentecostal preacher with a disarming smile, a shaved head and a set of convictions that knock holes in the stereotypes about white evangelical Protestants.

The 68-year-old man accused of snatching 10-year-old Nichole Taylor Timmons from her bedroom Monday night waived extradition from Nevada on Wednesday and is expected to return here by week's end to face a battery of state charges. Riverside Deputy Dist. Atty. Mike Soccio said suspect Glenn MacArthur Park was "answering questions well and cooperating with the investigation" being conducted by authorities in Reno.

The women at Donna's Ranch are crowded around the kitchen table on a warm summer night, dining on stir fry, tugging at thigh-high dresses, griping about depleted bank accounts. At this northeastern Nevada bordello, which marks a gravel road's end, they woo grizzled truckers and weary travelers for a single reason: money. Lately, the women don't go home with much. Amy, 58, once bought a $32,000 Toyota Tacoma in cash; now her $1,200 mortgage saps her dwindling pay.

Brothel owner Bobbi Davis got the go-ahead Tuesday to hire what her website cheekily calls "a few good men." Her Shady Lady Ranch is searching for "service-oriented" guys willing to become Nevada's first legal male sex workers. "I personally feel, as do the many other women who have made contact with me since I started this, that this is a service whose time has come," Davis said in a letter to Nye County officials. A county board's vote Tuesday affirming that Davis could offer "shady men" to her clientele followed months of rancorous debate among the state's legal brothel community.

Mitt Romney's strength in Nevada is due in large part to the power of the state's sizable Mormon population. In 2008, Romney won more than 50% of the caucus vote in Nevada, easily defeating second-place finisher Ron Paul, eventual GOP nominee John McCain and four other Republican hopefuls. It was one of 11 states he won before conceding. Mormons make up about 7% of Nevada's population. But entrance polls conducted before the vote showed that Mormons made up 26% of the total Republican turnout.

The Nevada caucuses didn't match up to the Super Bowl. While the Giants and Patriots tussled in a tight contest decided in the final few minutes, Mitt Romney blew out his competition the previous evening. The final numbers, released Monday morning, showed the extent of Romney's dominance. Romney took one out of every two votes. Remember when the talk was that the former Massachusetts governor couldn't get above 25% anywhere? His rivals never drew close: Newt Gingrich finished second at 21%, Ron Paul garnered 19%, and Rick Santorum just 10%. The GOP presidential frontrunner had long expected to do well in the state, with its strong Mormon vote and urbanized Las Vegas core.

HealthCare Partners, the Torrance owner of physician groups in Southern California, Nevada and Florida, agreed to be acquired in a $4.42-billion deal by dialysis chain DaVita Inc., as large healthcare companies continue snapping up doctor groups and clinics. HealthCare Partners, a privately held company led by founding physician and Chief Executive Robert Margolis, is becoming the latest big medical group swept up in a consolidation wave triggered by federal government efforts to tame rising healthcare costs.

A crucial phase of President Obama's endangered reelection bid is now underway: the effort to define Mitt Romney in negative terms before voters can form a more positive image of the Republican challenger. The president's campaign has just released a new attack ad that portrays Romney as "a job destroyer. " The two-minute spot is part of an effort to disqualify Romney in the minds of a key group of swing voters -- working-class white men. As a result, it departs from the usual diverse mix of ad subjects that characterizes the president's politics.

RENO - President Obama, standing with a middle-class couple he said has benefited from a refinancing plan he pushed last fall, sought to draw attention to his efforts to solve the housing crisis. Although Obama's support for same-sex marriage became the focus the week after he officially kicked off his reelection campaign, his trip here was a reminder that pocketbook issues are most important to swing voters. Nevada, a key battleground, suffered acutely in the housing market collapse.

LAS VEGAS - It sits along a stretch of median on the less-glamorous south end of this city's glitzy gambling Strip, a stubborn holdover from another era. Yet, as the days turn to night and back into day, it beckons as many tourists, human tumbleweeds and adventure-seekers as any newfangled casino. They come to see, touch and photograph the iconic "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas Nevada" sign, a 1959 scramble of colors, typefaces and flashing light bulbs. They come in droves, as if on some obligatory Vegas pilgrimage, arriving in taxis, rental cars, stretch limos, golf carts, pickup trucks, motorcycles, double-decker tour buses.

RENO -- Although the announcement on same-sex marriage became the focus the week after President Obama officially kicked off his reelection campaign, his trip to Nevada was a reminder of the pocketbook issues that are more likely to swing voter attitudes.  And so Obama visited with a middle-class family in one of the battlegrounds that will determine his fate to highlight what his administration sees as a success in its attempts to subdue a...

Imagine flying into Las Vegas and renting a self-driving car that zips you around the Strip and anywhere else you want to go? That fantasy may not be so far off. Nevada just issued the first autonomous vehicle testing license in the U.S. to Google. The state's  Department of Motor Vehicles announced Monday that the adapted Prius developed by Google in 2010 was tested on freeways, in neighborhoods around Carson City and even on the Las Vegas Strip before the license was granted.

GOP presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann said she would boycott the Nevada caucuses because of the Silver State's plan to hold its contest in mid-January, a move that could force New Hampshire to hold its first-in-the-nation primary in December. “We're supporting New Hampshire's effort to be the first primary in the nation,” Bachmann said Thursday after speaking to students at Morningside College. An aide later clarified that the Minnesota congresswoman meant that she would not take part in the caucuses, but would be at Tuesday's debate in Las Vegas.

at Nevada 71, UC Riverside 47: Kareem Nitoto scored 11 points for the Highlanders (4-6), but Phil Martin, who had 25 points in each of his previous two games, was held to nine. Malik Story and Olek Czyz scored 15 points each for the Wolf Pack (8-3), which extended its winning streak to five games. at Cal State Fullerton 86, La Verne 44: Orane Chin and Kwame Vaughn scored 18 points apiece, Isiah Umipig had 17 and the Titans (7-3) won their fourth in a row. Trevor Woodland scored 23 points for the Leopards but missed 17 of 25 field-goal attempts.

This post has been corrected. See the note at the bottom for details. WASHINGTON -- Intent on taking his presidential campaign all the way to the GOP convention this summer, Texas Rep. Ron Paul has mounted an offensive in key caucus states, swiping would-be delegates from presumed nominee Mitt Romney in an effort to gain relevance in a race that is generally considered over. While there does not appear to be a path for Paul to win the nomination -- or to halt Romney from gaining the delegates he would need to clinch it -- that isn't stopping the Texas congressman's fervent supporters, who see the state delegate selection processes as a do-over opportunity to load state delegations with Paul supporters who could give voice to his message at the convention.

After it happened, Megan Beza was consumed with figuring out why. Did her husband's struggle with painkillers play a role? His months of fruitless job-hunting? But with suicide, there are rarely tidy answers. What is known is that southern Nevada's unusually high suicide rate spiked with the recession, and Megan thinks that must explain, at least in part, what happened the morning of Oct. 25, 2010. John Beza had just returned from dropping off their 4-year-old son, Jacob, at preschool.