By the year 2030, for the first time in history, a majority of the world's population will be out of poverty. Middle classes will be the most important social and economic sector. Asia will enjoy the global power status it last had in the Middle Ages, while the 350-year rise of the West will be largely reversed. Global leadership may be shared, and the world is likely to be democratizing.

Lines of communication remain open in an effort to avert the automatic tax hikes and spending cuts known as the "fiscal cliff," according to the White House and House Speaker John Boehner.

If no deal is reached between now and the end of the year, would the consequences be that drastic?

To answer that question, let's imagine it's January and the nation has gone off the "fiscal cliff." You don't really feel any different and things don't look different, either. That's because, according to former congressional budget staffer Stan Collender, the cliff isn't really a cliff.

A new analysis by the federal government shows that coal-fired electricity is losing ground in a former stronghold: the Southeast.

Coal's share of the nation's electricity generation has been slipping over the past few years; in July, preliminary data suggested for the first time, natural gas and coal both provided the same amount (32 percent) of the U.S.'s electricity. But coal usage has typically been higher in the Southeast.

Louisville will have a new chief prosecutor in January, and his name is Tom Wine.

After longtime Jefferson County Commonwealth's Attorney Dave Stengel announced he was retiring, Wine stepped down as a state appeals court judge to run.

A coalition supporting charter school legislation rallied before the Jefferson County Board of Education meeting Monday night and released a second report focusing on achievement gaps in the district.

The group is calling itself the Community/Parental Choice Coalition and includes members of the Black Alliance of Educational Opportunities (BAEO). Also rallying with the group was the conservative-leaning policy group Bluegrass Institute, which released a report being used to support charter school legislation.

After years of defeat, Kentucky lawmakers believe an expanded gambling bill could become law next year. 

At the Kentucky Chamber’s annual policy day, House Speaker Greg Stumbo and new Senate Majority Floor Leader Damon Thayer discussed the prospects of such a bill in the upcoming session. Both leaders suggested the opposing chamber take up the bill first when they get to Frankfort next month. 

Western Kentucky University has introduced Bobby Petrino as the school’s 18th football coach.

Petrino returns to the college game eight months after his firing from Arkansas for lying about an extramarital affair he had with a woman on his staff.

"I'm honored to sit in front of you as the head coach of Western Kentucky University," Petrino said at a late afternoon news conference.

Louisville's Theatre [502] has one eye on the end times and the other on next year. 

On Wednesday, the company will present their last Small Batch event of the year, a staged reading of Eric Pfeffinger’s “Accidental Rapture."

The Small Batch Series is Theatre [502]’s roving side stage—their opportunity to produce events that don’t quite find a place in the company’s mainstage season.

A year after a scathing audit exposed numerous managerial problems, Louisville’s Metropolitan Sewer District has finished addressing the deficiencies. Mayor Greg Fischer has also appointed Louisville Water CEO Greg Heitzman as permanent executive director of the agency.