This week, Maryland and Rutgers bolted from the ACC and the Big East, respectively, to the Big Ten (or B1G, as they call it now).

Just like that, the appearance of a fragile peace among college athletics conferences shattered.

The re-arranging again jolted the University of Louisville -- not that the last round of conference realignment ended ideally for the Cardinals, stuck in a Big East whose football membership spanned from San Diego to Annapolis.

So where does this leave UofL? Searching still, it seems.

Kentucky should do away with its requirement that anesthesiologist assistants also be certified as primary care physicians’ assistants.

That’s what the president of the Kentucky Society of Anesthesiologists told a legislative panel in Frankfort today.

Doctor Heidi Koenig is a University of Louisville physician. She says the dual requirement is a mystery to her. She compares it to how the legal profession would work if Kentucky established different tracks for lawyers.

Indiana state lawmakers held their organizational session today in preparation for the 2013 General Assembly.

The House and Senate meetings were largely ceremonial.

Brian Bosma was sworn in for a second term as Speaker of the House, where Republicans now hold a supermajority.

Bosma pledged to work closely with the Democratic minority, saying everyone needs to deal with critical issues like fiscal stability, job creation and education.

Enrollment in the Indiana school voucher program, the nation’s largest, has more than doubled since last year.

The Indiana Department of Education says more than 9,300 families have signed up for vouchers for the 2012-2013 school year. That compares with about 3,900 who took part in the program's first year.

The 2012 football season has not gone as planned for both the University of Kentucky and University of Tennessee. Both will end the season with losing records and fired coaches. But pride is still on the line as the Wildcats and Vols prepare to square off on Saturday.

UK junior linebacker Avery Williamson says players have tried to avoid the rumor mill about who could succeed Joker Phillips as head coach next year, but Williamson says a win on Saturday would be a big boost going into next season.

Louisville-based Papa John's founder and CEO John Schnatter is backpedaling on criticism of President Obama's health care law, and says his company has no plans to cut jobs as a result of the Affordable Care Act.

Last week, Schnatter told the Naples Daily News that President Obama's health care law would force him to reduce employees' hours. The comments ignited a backlash and support, with the conservative Super PAC Freedomworks urging people to take part in "National Papa John's Appreciation Day" last Friday.

But now Schnatter says those remarks were taken out of context by reporters.

From The Huffington Post:

Many in the media reported that I said Papa John's is going to close stores and cut jobs because of Obamacare. I never said that. The fact is we are going to open over hundreds of stores this year and next and increase employment by over 5,000 jobs worldwide. And, we have no plans to cut team hours as a result of the Affordable Care Act.

Kentucky's state pension plans have problems, and a bipartisan legislative task force has approved sweeping recommendations to overhaul them -- including putting new employees in a hybrid plans akin to 401Ks.

The task force -- with an 11-1 vote -- is recommending that the General Assembly start fully funding their pension contributions starting with the next budget in 2014. Lawmakers’ inability to do that is part of the pension plans problems. 

In a stinging editorial, Louisville Courier-Journal columnist John David Dyche rips Democratic Congressman John Yarmuth for his recent attacks on Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell.

Yarmuth made a recent television appearance on MSNBC, saying McConnell will do what's in his best interest in the face of the looming fiscal cliff. Dyche is a Louisville attorney and McConnell biographer, who is considered by man to be the Senator's unofficial spokesman in the city.

From The C-J:

It must also gall Yarmuth that McConnell ignores him. Yarmuth is to McConnell as a yapping toy poodle is to an oblivious Great Dane.

So why doesn’t Yarmuth put his practically infinite money where his practically incessant mouth is and channel his jealousy of McConnell into his own race against him? He might then get the debate with McConnell for which he mewls. Meanwhile, McConnell negotiates directly with the president, not insignificant congressmen.

Ouch!

You've got questions about the health law? The Obama administration has some answers. Finally.

Now that the Supreme Court has found the Affordable Care Act constitutional and the president's re-election made clear that big chunks of the law will take effect Jan. 1, 2014, the administration is finally releasing rules of the road that states and insurance companies have been clamoring for.

Leaders with the Louisville Affordable Housing Trust Fund have secured about $500,000, but the fund's advocates are urging Mayor Greg Fischer to do more to secure annual funding.

The trust fund is meant to give grants and loans for affordable housing activities, such as new construction, home rehabilitation, payment assistance and emergency repair.