While typically silly for Yarmuth to be a lobbying the press instead of legislating, we can 100% get behind this. So can you. Because you know you are having a chuglet or two of Maker’s 46 right now.

Here’s some of John’s “interview” about bourbon in the Washington Post:

EK: So what’s your favorite kind of bourbon?

JY: That would be political suicide. [Laughs.]

EK: Then how about this: Which bourbons are currently in your office?

JY: Right now, we have Maker’s Mark, Woodford Reserve and Elijah Craig.

Your fears can be put aside. John drinks decent bourbon.

The hair of the dog. Does a bit more debt keep the economic recovery on track? [The Economist]

The Indianapolis stadium deal is souring and you can bet it’s only a matter of time until Louisville faces a similar, though smaller, problem with its arena. [Bloomberg]

This failing museum in Lexington – the Explorium – owes money to the city and its director is stepping down. Would you expect less from a joint that bills itself as Kentucky’s only children’s museum? Since, you know, that’s not remotely accurate? [H-L]

The economic impact of the stimulus is unclear and highly debated. But one thing is for sure: it’s done more to promote government transparency than any piece of legislation in recent memory. But that’s still just scratching the surface. [Governing]

Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer today announced his top five finalists to be the new Metro Police chief. [The 'Ville Voice]

Now that Roseanne Barr is running for the presidency as a Green Party candidate, that’s someone you can finally get behind, right? [Politico]

Work on the collapsed bridge at Kentucky Lake is on hold while the Coast Guard awaits a plan of action. [WKYT]

Testimony describes the differences in how states report and review child fatalities as a result of abuse. [H-L]

Jamie Comer finally fired the friend of Richie Farmer’s girlfriend. We’re still waiting on someone to stage a Richie Farmer Intervention, amen. [C-J/AKN]

Donald Trump isn’t just endorsing Mittens Romney for being rich, he’s also starting a cemetery at his fancy golf course or something. [Wonkette]

Don’t miss Comment on Kentucky tonight at 8:00 P.M. Eastern on KET. Scheduled guests: Ronnie Ellis, Roger Alford, Janet Patton. When Ronnie’s on, you know it’s good. [KET]

The Supreme Court is beginning to drop hints about its looming health care reform decision. [HuffPo]

Here are two more stories about the major drug indictment operation in Franklin County. [State-Journal & More State-Journal]

Another grocery store in the poorer end of Bowling Green has closed. The food deserts are growing all over the state. [BGDN]

A bunch of Kentucky’s school districts are run by absolute brainless whackadoos, as we’ve proved here time and again. So leaving the drop-out age up to school districts? Really? Well, you get what you pay for. [CN|2]

How long have we been yelling about Frankfort not doing enough to promote the bourbon industry in Kentucky? [H-L]

Remember William Shackleford? He’s got a documentary coming out about black metal called Out of the Black. [Site & Video]

The more things play out in Frankfort, the less likely a gambling bill that will pass seems realistic. Primarily because Steve Beshear still has not met with legislators. [C-J/AKN]

Do America’s infrastructure problems go beyond crumbling roads and bridges? [HuffPo]

How can a police chief in a city the size of Georgetown be “relieved” of his duties without an explanation? [H-L]

Because it seems this story is about to spiral out of control unless some folks in Georgetown start talking about what went down. [WKYT]

A forum is being held on Monday, February 6 from 10:00 A.M. to noon in Booth Auditorium at the University of Pikeville to discuss its potential move into the state system. [News-Express]

Rick Santorum, the political genius, says you will have health care if you stop buying iPads and such. Because you have money for that and all. [Wonkette]

He really is a genius, warning of America’s demise and scaring meemaw and poppop half to death. [HuffPo]

Publisher of A Kentucky Newspaper, Arnold Garson, is retiring on March 2. You knew this was just a temporary dumping ground for him. Did he even bother putting Kentucky plates on his vehicle? [Deep Newspaper Thoughts]

“We are grateful that this wreck caused no injuries or loss of life. Since that bridge carries 2,800 cars every day, we were very fortunate that no one was on the span at that time,” said Gov. Beshear. “We’ll turn our attention to a full inspection of the bridge and determine what steps we can take next to speed up the replacement of that important artery.”

“I encourage our citizens to remain calm and patient as our state transportation officials investigate the structure and determine next steps,” said Sen. Ken Winters, of Murray. “I thank the Governor and Transportation Secretary for their immediate attention to this matter, and I hope that they will fully explore many alternatives, even temporary bridges, to best serve the people of western Kentucky.”

Paula the Penguin from the Newport Aquarium.

Maybe now the aquarium can figure out how to make itself affordable for the average Joe to visit.

Nothing will make you more proud to be a Kentuckian than having some of her magic at Jack’s Lounge or Equus in Louisville.

So take a look at the latest show, filmed in part in Louisville:

Kentucky Proud!

It’s irresponsible of Sara Beth Gregory to use this child’s death in a push for requiring prescriptions for pseudoephedrine when she admits it was the Cabinet for Health and Family Services’ fault for not taking warnings seriously or bothering to investigate. [Ryan Alessi]

Misinformation is the name of the game in Frankfort when it comes to proposed prescription-only legislation. Misinformation driven by lobbyists and those paid to shill, no less. [Page One]

Jimbo Ramsey is on a mission to castrate Jack Conway for making one of the only decisions that isn’t suspect in a long time. So here’s Jack explaining his hospital merger position. [FOX41]

The Justice Department says that President Barack Obama’s recess appointments are constitutional. [HuffPo]

You can’t even walk around Richmond these days without getting robbed by two men on the street. [WKYT]

Greg Fischer delivered his State of the City Address from a members-only club in Louisville today. Check out the highlights and keep track of his promises. [The 'Ville Voice]

Kentucky’s bourbon trail netted a record number of tourists in 2011. But Frankfort still fails the industry and allows it to hobble along like a mish-mash of random clubs. [H-L]

Today Steve Hohmann was appointed commissioner of the Department for Natural Resources by the Energy and Environment Cabinet. He’s a former abandoned mine inspector. [Press Release]

Are you as excited as A Kentucky Newspaper that Jerry Abramson will keynote at the St. Matthews Chamber of Commerce gala? Because it’s been running non-stop like it’s the most important news in Kentucky. [C-J/AKN]

Rocky Adkins says he wants to make state schools greener – a good thing. Yes, that’s irony you’re feeling as your eyes roll back in your head. [Bluegrass Politics]

Here comes Judge Irv Maze, running for Court of Appeals. [SoS]

Frankfort is having all kinds of fun speculating about what Adam Edelen’s audit of Richie Farmer’s office will bring to the surface. So far, all of that speculation includes missing automobiles, hookers, more wasted money than you can imagine, sexscapades in the office and all-around stupidity. [Ronnie Ellis]

Thought it’d be a good idea for all the history nerds (come on – it’s a holiday week) to take a look at those eight properties under consideration:

Boone County
John J. Walton House, Belleview vicinity – A log house originally constructed with a single room on top of another, dating to the mid-1840s. Changes to the home from the time of its construction include a rear addition with a porch added in the late 19th century, and the addition of a chimney, electricity and a bathroom in the early- to mid-20th century. It is being nominated under Criterion C, property that embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type, period or method of construction, in the historic context “Log Construction in Boone County, 1789-1900.” According to the author, Margo Warminski, “The house’s two-story, single-pen plan is uncommon in the county, with only three examples recorded. Its ‘stacked’ form represents efficiency in effort and materials, enabling the builder to add space without resorting to complicated construction techniques. As such it represents ingenuity and conscious choice in the design of a building type – the log house – too often misinterpreted as primitive and backward; too often romanticized, too little understood.”

Thomas Zane Roberts House and Workshop, Burlington vicinity – Constructed in 1900, this house is a two-story frame dwelling with a gently pitched, front-gable roof and an inset corner entry porch. It was designed and built by its original owner, a master carpenter as well as a farmer, miller and inventor. The interior was built with wainscoting, carved ceilings and elaborate woodcarvings fashioned by Thomas Roberts from a variety of fine hardwoods, including walnut and white birch. Beside the house stands Roberts’ former workshop, a frame structure built around 1900, where he created many of his inventions. The house is be nominated under Criterion B, property associated with the lives of persons significant in our past, for its association with Roberts (1851-1925), who created useful products for his own use on home and farm during the late-19th and early-20th centuries. It is being nominated in the historic context of “Inventors in Boone County, 1880-1991.”

Fayette County
Lexington Veterans Administration Hospital, 2250 Leestown Road – Known currently as the Veterans Affairs Medical Center, the Lexington VA Hospital complex includes 135 acres and 34 contributing resources, the majority of which are buildings constructed from 1931 to 1950. Contributing resources include those that retain integrity and were utilized and/or constructed by the hospital during the historic district’s period of significance from 1930 to 1950. The district includes the monumental main building, patient ward/treatment buildings, a recreation building, kitchen/dining hall/boiler house/garage building, residential quarters, and maintenance/utility buildings, loosely grouped by original function. These exhibit Colonial Revival and Classical Revival architectural style and ornamentation to create a cohesive architectural campus. The site is being nominated under Criterion A, property associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of our history, as well as Criterion C for its architectural significance.

Take a look at the rest after the jump…

Jackson County
Annville Institute, 190 Campus Drive, Annville – The campus of the Annville Institute was developed between 1909 and 1960 as a work of the Women’s Board of the Reformed Church in America, to educate children in that part of Jackson County when few other schools were available at that time. Of the property’s 122 acres, 21 acres are proposed for listing, including nine contributing buildings and structures. These include Lincoln Hall, circa 1923, a Colonial Revival building with a cut rock foundation; Tanis Chapel, circa 1916; Lansing Hall, circa 1923, the largest building on campus; Hacker Gym, circa 1930; a farm barn and silo dating to 1914-15; and matching gate pillars at the west entrance of the campus constructed in 1944 of field stone and mortar. It is being nominated under Criterion A, significant for its historic role in local education, and was evaluated within the context “Education in Jackson County, 1900-1960.”

Jefferson County
Charles D. Jacob Elementary School, 3670 Wheeler Ave., Louisville – Located in a residential area, this two-building complex consumes the eastern half of a city block in the Jacobs neighborhood in the city’s South End. The property consists of a school constructed in 1912 with Craftsman and Colonial Revival elements, and a larger second building designed by Louisville architect J. Meyrick Colley, constructed in 1932 in the Moderne style. The two buildings are connected by a small enclosed breezeway. It is being nominated under Criterion C, architecturally significant within Louisville for its presentation of two types of construction, within the historic context of Craftsman and Art Deco styles in Louisville. According to the author, T. Dade Luckett, “While the 1912 building’s architect has not yet been determined, each building is surely the product of an architect’s attempt to use forward-looking design to signal the local school board’s interest in providing updated and progressive educational methods within its walls.”

Lee County
St. Therese Church, 4377 KY 399, Heidelberg vicinity – St. Therese Church and Oratory is a white, wood frame clapboarded church on a concrete block foundation. The building was constructed in 1948 from the original Contrary Creek Settlement School Church, which was located on another site within the larger St. Therese property. The settlement school church was erected in the 1920s before the construction of KY 399 and became the first Catholic Church in eastern Kentucky. Later, lacking funds to build a new church, the local Catholic community disassembled the original church and rebuilt this newer church, with a different form, it in its current location. The residence portion of the building consists of two small bedrooms, a parlor, kitchen and priest’s quarters. It is being nominated under Criterion A and is significant within the historic context Growth of the Roman Catholic Church in Eastern Kentucky, 1808-1961.

McCracken County
Wallace Park Neighborhood District, including Bucker, Maple, Lone Oak and Forest Circle roads, Paducah – The nomination for this historic district consists of 156 contributing structures. The proposed district was originally developed by private investors beginning in 1923 as an affluent residential neighborhood. Incorporated into the city limits by 1926, it evolved into a thriving middle- and upper-class subdivision. The streets are characterized by lots of variable size, with regular setbacks and moderate-to-substantial homes in a variety of early- and mid-20th century architectural styles. The district covers approximately 75 acres and comprises 145 single-family homes, eight multi-family homes, one religious facility and two contributing sites, constructed between 1860 into the early 1960s. The neighborhood developed over a period of 38 years, beginning with the sale of the land that was part of the original Wallace family plantation and subsequently known as Wallace Park. It is being nominated under Criterion A, significant within the historic context “Residential Subdivision Development in Paducah, 1860-1961.”

Mercer County
Forsythe-Shewmaker House, 603 Vanarsdall Road, Harrodsburg vicinity – A two-story, L-shaped brick house on a mortared cut-stone foundation, featuring a two-story addition to the side and a 1½-story kitchen. The house dates to the early 1830s and is constructed in Federal and Greek Revival styles, with an asphalt shingle roof and gable-end brick chimneys. According to the author, the interior fabric of the house is remarkably intact. The nomination includes a two-room brick slave quarters located northeast of the dwelling, heated by interior gable end brick chimneys, with a dry-laid stone foundation and asphalt shingle roof. It is being nominated under Criterion C, noted for embodying the distinctive characteristics of domestic architecture in the second quarter of the 19th century in rural Mercer County, when houses were turning from settlement-era Georgian and Federal styles toward Greek Revival expressions.

And just like that, heads started to roll at Louisville’s Metro Sewer District. Funny how that works. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer bunch of people. [The 'Ville Voice]

It’s time for the real work to begin in Frankfort but don’t hold your breath that anything is actually going to happen. [Ronnie Ellis]

Don’t miss Comment on Kentucky tonight at 8:00 P.M. Eastern. Scheduled guests: Bill Bryant, Joe Gerth, Jamie Lucke. It’ll be rather boring because they’re not having Dan Klepal on to discuss the scathing MSD audit. [KET]

A winter adventure weekend has been planned at Carter Caves State Resort Park for January 27 through January 29. Trust us when we say you should get on that like white on rice. It’s only $25 for adults. [CLICK THE CLICKY]

Yet another we-told-you-so moment: Kentucky has been denied – yet again – Race to the Top funding. [Toni Konz]

Corn dogs are not safe around Rick Perry. And he sure is askeerd of the gays for some reason. [Wonkette]

Woah, it’s always the closet case Republicans who get caught buying sexytime toys at gay sex shops when they get audited. [HuffPo]

Jefferson County Public Schools just can’t catch a break. Teddy Gordon has filed another suit – this time over alleged bullying. [FOX41]

Law enforcement folks are reacting negatively to Steve Beshear’s latest move. Particularly in Bell County. [WKYT]

A year of living pigheadedly? America will apparently be a tad more cheery than Europe in 2012. But that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be woah better. [The Economist]

Let’s be sure to kill all the Sandhill Cranes this weekend. Can’t be having any wildlife in Kentucky. [WFPL]

Changes in the economy leave workers scrambling. You can’t count on Warshington to try to improve the situation at all. [NPR]

The specifics:

• City of LaCenter – Ballard Co – LaCenter Park Revitalization – $25,000
• Christian County Fiscal Court – Pennyrile Mountain Bike Skills Training Area – $60,000
• City of Manchester – Clay County – Bert T. Combs & Governor RV Park Improvements – $24,828
• City of Marion – Crittenden Co – Marion/Crittenden County Park Track Project – $15,050
• City of Frankfort – Cove Springs II Pavilion and Archery Facilities – $30,000
• Henderson County Fiscal Court – Sandy Lee Watkins County Park Lake – $50,000
• City of Dawson Springs – Hopkins Co – Dawson Springs City Park Upgrades – $13,834
• City of MIddletown – Jefferson Co – Cross Cree Park Phase II – $20,356
• City of Paintsville – Johnson Co – Paintsville Playground Project – $23,267
• City of Barbourville – Knox Co – Thompson Park Splash Area – $19,202
• City of Richmond – Madison Co – Lake Reba Handicap Accessible Playground – $50,000
• City of Calvert City – Marshall Co – Calvert City Tennis Court Project – $50,000
• City of Dover – Mason Co – Dover City Park Improvements – $7,000
• City of Livermore – McLean Co – Jerry Zuehl Memorial Skate Park – $20,000
• City of Pikeville – Pikeville Handicap Accessible Horseback Riding Area – $60,000
• Russell County Fiscal Court – Lake Cumberland Recreational Center Restroom Project – $10,000
• City of Russell Springs – Leroy Rowe Memorial Park Improvements – $30,000
• Shelby County Fiscal Court – Shelby Trails Equestrian Park – $50,000

“Improving Kentucky parks and recreational facilities visibly enhances our communities, helps increase tourism and boosts local economies during these still difficult times,” Gov. Beshear said. “This funding will also add to local residents’ quality of life – giving them excellent spaces to play sports, go hiking or camping, and to live overall healthier and more active lifestyles.”

That’s quite a bit of cash to dole out.