Jobs, Jobs, Jobs – Will Fischer Deliver?

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No tie, so John Schnatter didn't have to give away millions of pizzas

I know, the post-Super Bowl malaise. And we’ve got the dank, gray weather to go with it.  At least the good guys won, though all of us at the annual Gilderbloom Game Fest were pulling for a tie, which for a moment seemed possible. The Steelers made that 2-point conversion to cut the Packers’ lead to 3, and there was some faint hope the Steelers would get the ball back and score a field goal.  Maybe it made John Schnatter a bit nervous, but there would be no free Papa John’s pizza for the masses.

The rest of the show was pretty disappointing. Did you see even one commercial worth talking about? I did recall the Doritos spot where the dog comes through the glass – created by a consumer – which got at least one vote as the best in the game, along with a dog-related Bud spot. And of course, Christina Aguilera’s flubbed national anthem, and the sound problems at halftime — not good.

So let’s reluctantly get back to business, starting with…

Fischer’s Jobs Thing: This morning the Mayor is holding a press conference to announce that he’s come up with 1,000 summer jobs for youths to offer at a job fair.  He will mention Churchill Downs, Home Depot and Metro Parks and other employers. Give him credit it this is true — he mentioned in a speech a few weeks back that it was a priority, pressuring Rotarians to come up with summer offers.

Frankfort to Diss Nurses: My source in Frankfort says the bill that would allow nurse practitioners to prescribe basic medicines, without having to consult with physicians, isn’t going to make it through the Senate. Not because it’s not a good bill that would improve health care in the sticks of the state, but because of the stodgy Kentucky Medical Association and election-year politics.

Judging Teachers: The big question WHAS is using to attract viewers tonight for Sweeps? It is too hard to get rid of bad teachers? RAchel Platt teased the story asking just that question – and apparently some think it is.

Nudity News: Tomorrow is the day Metro government is scheduled to start enforcing the idiotic new No Nudity ordinance in the city, just in time for the nation’s largest farm-related convention, the Naitonal Farm Machinery Show, which starts next week.  I interviewed attorney Frank Mascagni about what this means, and will have a full story here later.

And in that nice little burg of Jeffersontown: I also spent some time over the weekend gathering some interesting data about what taxpayers are spending to operate local government in J-town, and will have some shocking numbers later today.

HuffPo/AOL: In the media world, everyone’s going to be talking about the AOL/Huffington Post deal, signed at the Super Bowl yesterday.  From the release: “The transaction will create a premier global, national, local, and hyper-local content group for the digital age – leveraged across online, mobile, tablet, and video platforms. The combination of AOL’s infrastructure and scale with The Huffington Post’s pioneering approach to news and innovative community building among a broad and sophisticated audience will mark a seminal moment in the evolution of digital journalism and online engagement.” If mainstream media aren’t threatened by this development, then they’re not paying attention.