Up and down
Good news for all but gaming: Las Vegas attracted 41.1 million visitors in 2014, breaking its previous best of 40 million. According to Applied Analysis, tourists spent $29.7 billion, up 4 percent from 2013, with expenditures on hotels, shopping and entertainment on the rise. Gaming on the Strip, however, is down 2 percent. Better luck next year? —Kristy Totten
Las Vegan of record
Brittany Bronson is an English instructor at UNLV—where she earned an MFA degree last year—and a part-time server at a Strip restaurant. Now she can add New York Times op-ed writer to her crowded résumé. She and 19 other scribes were recently announced as new contributors to the pub’s expanding opinion section. —Mike Prevatt
Fun for all
Downtown’s new (and only) feminist-geared sex toy store, Toyboxx, has finally received its business license, according to owner Karoline Khamis. The shop will begin selling product as soon as First Friday, including a small assortment of books, lingerie, glass dildos and assorted jewelry for man-parts. Khamis plans to stock latex accessories and fashions; a wide range of lubes; glass, stone, platinum and metal toys; Hitachi and Njoy wands; and portable, USB-friendly goodies in the near future. —Leslie Ventura