Before the Bobby Petrino era begins at Western Kentucky, there's a bowl game to play — the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl against Central Michigan tonight.

The game is at Ford Field in Detroit, not far from the campus of the Chippewas (6-6). The Hilltoppers (7-5) will be led by interim coach Lance Guidry.

Petrino's hiring has almost overshadowed the play of the Hilltoppers. They are in their first bowl since becoming a top-tier college football school in 2009.

From scrappy upstarts to established cornerstones of our community, 2012 offered up more intriguing and exciting arts events than one person can even count. Here is my admittedly incomplete, with apologies to what I missed,  in no certain order or rank, list of the year's memorable arts events: 

Kentucky state government officials say jobless rates improved in 99 counties in November but worsened in 20 others.

The Kentucky Office of Employment and Training reports that Woodford County kept its status as the place with the lowest jobless rate in the state at 5.4 percent. Scott County had the second lowest rate at 5.9 percent. And Fayette, Franklin, Oldham and Union counties were at 6 percent.

Magoffin County had the worst unemployment at 15.1 percent. Fulton County was a close second at 15 percent.

The Louisville Metro area remains under a winter weather advisory until 7:00 this evening, with about an inch of snow and sleet accumulation expected.

Louisville sits on the southern edge of a huge winter storm system moving across the upper Midwest.

Now that the Christmas feast is over, you may be looking at all the extra food you made, or the food that you brought home from the store that never even got opened.

And you may be wondering: How long can I keep this? What if it's past its expiration date? Who even comes up with those dates on food, anyway, and what do they mean?

Here's the short answer: Those "sell by" dates are there to protect the reputation of the food. They have very little to do with food safety. If you're worried whether food is still OK to eat, just smell it.

A Louisville lawmaker says she plans to re-introduce a bill during the upcoming legislative session to institute a statewide energy portfolio standard.

This will be the third year Representative Mary Lou Marzian has introduced some version of the Clean Energy Opportunity Act. Last year, the bill would have offered incentives for in-state renewable energy production, and mandated that utilities get at least 12.5 percent of their energy from renewable sources by 2023.

The new majority floor leader in the Kentucky Senate is optimistic more will be accomplished when the politically divided legislature convenes this winter. Republican Sen. Damon Thayer takes over for Robert Stivers, who will likely be the Senate’s next president.

Thayer said the aim is to work through differing political views.

Forecasters are keeping a close eye on a storm system moving through the region.  It's expected to bring heavy snow and other winter weather to sections of Kentucky and Indiana.

Blizzard warnings are in effect for parts of western Kentucky and southwestern Indiana, along with the southcentral Indiana counties of Dubois, Orange, Washington, Jefferson and Scott.