The politics of ordering a pizza for Friday's dinner just got significantly more complicated than the usual arguments over toppings.

In response to criticism of Papa John's chief executive John Schnatter's comments criticizing the Affordable Care Act, Freedomworks -- the conservative organization closely tied with the Tea Party -- issued a statement Thursday urging people to make Friday "National Papa John's Appreciation Day."

Ashley Judd is the most discussed potential Democratic candidate to challenge U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell' for his seat in 2014, but not all Kentucky Democratic statewide officers are supporting the idea.

Auditor Adam Edelen said he'll be encouraging and supporting Alison Lundergan Grimes, the Kentucky secretary of state, for the 2014 senate race -- because of Grimes' focus on state, not national, issues.

This week on our audio diary series "The Big Break," Louisville Ballet trainee Claire Horrocks sees the cast list for "The Nutcracker" and learns her new choreography for the familiar show. Actors Theatre apprentice Samantha Beach sits in on rehearsal for "True West," where she discovers a hidden talent, and Kentucky Opera studio artist Brad Raymond takes "Tosca" on the road.

Update at 11:30 a.m. ET: Oil giant BP has agreed to plead guilty to criminal misconduct related to the 2010 Gulf Oil spill and will pay a record $4 billion in criminal penalties, the company just confirmed. And it will pay $525 million in civil penalties in a resolution with the Securities and Exchanges Commission. BP will make the payments over six years.

Kentucky author, farmer and environmentalist Wendell Berry was on The Diane Rehm Show yesterday to talk about his new book “A Place in Time.” It’s a collection of 20 stories about life in the fictional small town of Port William. Besides discussing and reading from the book, Berry also talked about the relationship between a land and people, and his views on energy and the environment.

When President Obama sets off to Asia this weekend to highlight his so-called pivot to the region, he will make a bit of history: Obama will become the first sitting U.S. president to visit Myanmar.

The country, also known as Burma, was a pariah state for decades, ruled by a ruthless military dictatorship. That is changing, and the Obama administration has encouraged a dramatic reform process in the country. But it may be too early for a victory lap.

Buyers are coming back into the housing market after losing their homes during the financial crisis — returning to homeownership more quickly than lenders have typically allowed.

With millions of families with recent foreclosures on their records, some report that they are having luck buying a house — in some cases within three years.

Experts with the Kentucky Geological Survey are beefing up their system for measuring earthquakes, particularly in eastern Kentucky.

Currently, the commonwealth has some 30 monitoring stations, many of them in far western Kentucky near the New Madrid Fault. But state Geologist Jim Cobb says more data would be useful.

State Agriculture Commission James Comer -- a leading advocate for industrial hemp in 

Kentucky -- said growing support will help their initiative in the next legislative session.

The Industrial Hemp Commission, for which Comer is chairman, held its first meeting in a decade on Wednesday.

The commission will work for the next few weeks on crafting -- and the commission will then lobby Kentucky lawmakers to pass it. Comer, who has helped lobby for previous industrial hemp bills, said the commission's proposals will differ from past bills.