The holiday season is a time when our thoughts turn to how thankful we are for family and friends, peace and goodwill, and the Official Red Ryder Carbine Action Two Hundred Shot Range Model Air Rifle (with a compass and this thing that tells time built right into the stock).

The NAACP and several other groups released a report yesterday that chronicles the undue burden low-income and minority communities bear from coal-fired power plants.

Joker Phillips will coach the final home game of his University of Kentucky football head coaching tenure tomorrow as the Wildcats host Samford.

Phillips is being let go after three years on the job. He’ll coach UK’s two final games of the season.

He told reporters this week that he hopes his successor will be given plenty of time to build the program into a national contender.

Here is the rundown for today's edition of Byline:

At the top - Analysis of the new health care partnership announced this week between the University of Louisville and Kentucky One Health. WFPL's Devin Katayama speaks with Dr. David Dunn, U of L vice president for health affairs.

Indiana officials have announced the tentative contractor group that will build an East End Bridge in the Louisville region and it includes a Chicago-based business that was conditionally chosen this week by Kentucky to construct its portion of the Ohio River Bridges Project. 

Walsh Construction is part of WVB East End Partners, one of four groups that entered proposals to build the East End Bridge. 

Its $763 million bid received the best score overall to design, build and manage the project after its open, making it Indiana’s best option.

Actors Theatre of Louisville opened Sam Shepard’s “True West” last night. Directed by Obie Award-winning playwright and director Adam Rapp (“Finer Noble Gases,” “The Edge of Our Bodies,”), “True West” is a viciously funny and tragic portrayal of two brothers testing the boundaries of love, resentment and civilization.

Even though there were talks of a ceasefire to coincide with the visit of the Egyptian prime minister to Gaza, today, the fighting has instead escalated.

Avital Leibovich, a spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces confirmed that for the first time, rockets fired from Gaza hit an area outside Jerusalem. The Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas, who leads the West Bank, said that the "escalation is at its peak," both in Gaza and out of Gaza.

Four Kentucky universities will begin using a standardized financial aid letter aimed at helping students and parents better understand the costs of higher education.

The U.S. Department of Education announced Thursday that the University of Kentucky, Eastern Kentucky University, Bellarmine University and Louisville's University of Phoenix campus have agreed to use the “Financial Aid Shopping Sheet.”

The Louisville Metro Council has passed rules that could limit full-council debate on proposed ordinances with a simple majority vote.

Councilman Brent Ackerson, D-26, introduced the change this week.  It was quickly dismissed by Republicans as being restrictive on the minority.  

The change, would allow a majority of council members to call for debate to end after 90 minutes.

Thursday night’s 15 to 9 vote was mainly along party lines in the Democratic controlled council.

Carrying through on its warning about what could happen, the management of Hostess Brands announced this morning that the company is going out of business and laying off its 18,500 employees.

At issue: According to Hostess CEO Gregory Rayburn, "we simply do not have the financial resources to survive an ongoing national strike."