The 7-year merge: Remember when Mayor Jerry Abramson told reporters in West Virginia that before merger the city of Louisville was getting “poorer, blacker and older,”? The gaffe sparked a new debate about the reason behind consolidating city and county governments in 2003. And WFPL’s Gabe Bullard has a two-part piece story on the benefits of and drawbacks of that merger, seven years later and with a new mayor on the horizon.

March Madness begins: The NCAA tournament has begun. How far will the Cats and Cards go?

Get out of jail: Joined by city lawmakers, state officials and area residents, Mayor Abramson announced a program aimed at helping released prisoners find housing, transportation and employment that will launch in the Shawnee neighborhood. Funded through federal grants, the program works as a partnership between Metro government and the Kentucky Department of Corrections, which originally launched in the Newburg neighborhood three years ago.

Missing Moxley: The Courier-Journal’s editorial board concluded it’s endorsement interviews, but political observers are wondering why the paper of record didn’t talk with Democratic mayoral candidate Lisa Moxley. I’m not suggesting ulterior motives, but their decision-making process clearly isn’t based on the C-J’s recent mayoral polling, which shows Moxley ahead of Shannon White, who the paper sat down with earlier this week.

Disgusting: If anything demonstrates how mean-spirited the health care debate has gotten then this video of ant-health care protesters accosting a man with Parkinson’s disease should be sufficient evidence. From the video you can see them saying he’s asking for handouts, calling him a communist and throwing money at him.