Mazel Tov, Peyton!

Peyton Manning broke Dan Marino's record for single-season touchdowns at the end of regulation yesterday. Mike Vanderjact has to be the best kicker out there. He is very accurate and kicked the game-winning field go to win the game for the Indianapolis Colts.

The Cincinnati Enquirer reports that Senator Mitch McConnell has made a bet with the two Idaho Senators--evidently, Sen. Jim Bunning does not gamble on sports as he does not want Pete Rose in the Hall of Fame. The wager?

Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., a University of Louisville fan, has put a bit of a wager on the football team's New Year's Eve showdown with Boise State in the AutoZone Liberty Bowl in Memphis.

McConnell has offered a Kentucky Fried Chicken dinner to Republican Sens. Larry Craig and Mike Crapo if the Broncos win. The Idahoans have countered with a dinner of Idaho trout and baked potatoes if the Cardinals triumph.

Someone will be having trout and potatoes for dinner soon and that person will not be me! GO BRONCOS!

Thanks to retiring Congressman Ken Lucas, the new NKU policy institute will be getting funding. I hope that this place opens soon as I really need an on-campus job badly! I have met Congressman Lucas more times than my own Congresswoman. However, I have met both former Reps. Mazzoli and Ward.

The institute will perform the kind of work being done by Paul Coomes, a professor and research at the University of Louisville who often performs public policy studies for the state of Kentucky.

Coomes' most recent work was widely quoted by elected and business leaders. It showed a disparity in the tax revenue generated by the state's urban areas, including Northern Kentucky, and the amount of money the areas receive back from Frankfort.

The institute will also provide a venue and outlet for difficult public policy debates that aren't always tackled in the political environments of local governments.