Life Is Beautiful schedule

Schedule of performers, participating chefs, artists, speakers and activities for the Life Is Beautiful festival in downtown Las Vegas.

Nicky Romero promoting upcoming DJ-producers

I love the honesty of DJ-producers. I was talking with Nicky Romero, a star in his own right who was mentored by superstar David Guetta, so I asked him to tell me Guetta’s big secret in creating a hit song.

Kings of Leon channel their turbulence

Caleb Followill still sounds like Bruce Springsteen trying to pass a kidney stone the size of a croquet ball.

Alabama Shakes bring back good ol’ days

They were just here in July, but the Alabama Shakes are like cotton candy and Jagermeister: There is not a single occasion imaginable that their presence does not improve.

Vampire Weekend knows its festivals

Vampire Weekend has become as synonymous with major music festivals in 2013 as strained eyeballs and sore legs from standing in large fields, pining to see bands all day.

Life changes for Imagine Dragons members

Dan Reynolds’ life has changed. The Imagine Dragons frontman just doesn’t know to what extent yet.

For Portugal. The Man, everything up for grabs

Portugal. The Man often sounds like a half-dozen different bands compressed into one, like layers of sediment compacted into a gemstone.

Beck eclectic, forward-thinking

Beck is the rare Life Is Beautiful act who can dip into that “before you were born” stuff, considering it’s been 20 years since “Loser.”

Landscape ravaged for Danny Brown

Danny Brown’s full-length debut, “XXX,” was plenty harrowing, but in a lost-within-himself kind of way, his voice hot-wired with desperation and delirium as he rapped about self-anesthetization through this chemical intoxicant or that.

Take tour of tummy ticklers at Culinary Village

There are likely to be a lot of familiar faces for those who visit the Culinary Village part of the Life Is Beautiful festival this weekend.

School District employees subpoenaed in testing investigation

Seven Clark County School District employees have been subpoenaed in the state’s growing investigation of a Las Vegas school where student test scores rose dramatically in 2011-12, according to a source with knowledge of the investigation.

Henderson man claims woman killed in shooting loaded pistol

Colin Lowrey emptied and cleaned the pistol minutes before he put it to the woman’s temple Tuesday morning. When he pulled the trigger, he fatally shot 23-year-old Cherish Noelle Pincombe, according to a Henderson police report. Lowrey, 22, told police Pincombe must have loaded the gun when he stepped out of the room.

Plenty going on in clubs as Halloween approaches

It’s gonna be one of those long weeks at the clubs, because you’re going to party this weekend, then you’re going to party pre-Halloween on Monday or Tuesday, and then you’re going to party again on Halloween (on Thursday).

Twitter IPO: Expect $17-$20 per share

Twitter has set a price range of $17 to $20 per share for its much-anticipated initial public offering and says it could raise as much as $1.6 billion in the process.

Boy, 5, bitten by bullmastiff

A 5-year-old boy is in serious condition after being bitten by a large dog Wednesday night. A 12-year-old girl was also bitten, and two bullmastiffs were taken from their owner.

EDITORIAL: Delay Obamacare, fire Sebelius

The disastrous launch of healthcare.gov, the federal health insurance exchange, prompted ABC News correspondent Jonathan Karl to ask what passes for a tough question at a White House news conference: “Given all the problems that we’ve seen with people trying to enroll in this program, is the White House going to be delaying the (individual) mandate? If the website’s not fixed, will people still have to pay the fine?”

School officials focus on bullying video; Sparks shooter named

After a deadly campus shooting in Sparks, school district officials were examining an anti-bullying video on Thursday that includes a dramatization of a girl taking a gun on a school bus to scare aggressors and says it’s the wrong way to respond.

Las Vegas man sentenced for killing toddler

A 22-year-old Las Vegas man was sentenced on Thursday to 13 to 40 years in prison for killing a 16-month-old child in September 2009.