Don’t let our video poker bars and high-end mixology hot spots fool you: The Las Vegas libation scene is surprisingly diverse. For out-of-the-ordinary tastes, you just need to know where to look.

Could it be that Nevada is starting to get a few things right when it comes to health care? Consider: While many Republican governors rejected Medicaid expansion and balked at setting up state health exchanges as laid out in the Affordable Care Act, Gov. Sandoval has both approved Medicaid extension and led the effort to set up what some are calling a model exchange.

October means one thing to thirsty, beer-loving road-trippers: Oktoberfest! Sure, Las Vegas has its share of brew festivals, but if you’re looking to get out of town, a short drive to Southern California, with its thriving brewery scene, can satisfy your lust for suds and adventure. The fest: Lake Elsinore Oktoberfest, Oct.

How the accidental Republican became an infamous party firebrand, learned how to lose and joined the City Council to become ..

M.E.

Sometimes modern life seems upside-down. Our private homes are stocked with the stuff of public amenities: They’re our movie theaters and espresso bars and arcades, spun into cocoons of distraction and stimulating entrapment.

Musing on Nevada from Salt Lake City, novelist, playwright and casino design consultant David Kranes is the neighbor who knows us better than we do.Author David Kranes is drawn to dream spaces, so naturally he writes often about Nevada — its casinos, its nowhere towns, its gamblers, magicians, hit men.

… to a perfectly mixed cocktail enjoyed with friends you had long before your Facebook account. To a glass of wine after a day of conquering the world from your office.

Mad scientist of mixology at RX Boiler RoomNathan Greene’s quiet voice is muffled under the avalanching sound of ice being shoveled into the bar wells. At Rx Boiler Room, and probably at the other bars inside Mandalay Bay, that means it’s about four o’clock.

Meet the Chinelos, raucous ambassadors to a Mexican protest tradition that’s brash, colorful — and very loud. Now jump!The burst of trumpets and trombones punctuated by a haughty tuba and a big bass drum bursts through the flimsy screen of a subwoofer and flirts with cacophony.