Hitachi Automotive Systems Americas in Berea, which recently secured a contract to manufacture components for the Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid vehicle, will soon begin hiring for about 100 new manufacturing jobs. Depending on the success of the contract, that number could eventually increase to 500, Berea Mayor Steve Connelly said. Berea City Administrator Randy Stone said Hitachi is expanding into a former Panasonic plant in an industrial park off Exit 77 near Interstate 75.

Hitachi Automotive Systems Americas in Berea, which recently secured a contract to manufacture components for the Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid vehicle, will soon begin hiring for about 100 new manufacturing jobs. Depending on the success of the contract, that number could eventually increase to 500, Berea Mayor Steve Connelly said. Berea City Administrator Randy Stone said Hitachi is expanding into a former Panasonic plant in an industrial park off Exit 77 near Interstate 75.

Cano, Granderson and Martin aren't a "murderers' row" just yet,

But they did something last night that hadn't been done before, not even by the 1927 Yankees and that team's famed murderers' row of Ruth, Gehrig, Lazzeri and others.

In a 22-9 shellacking of the Oakland A's, the Yankees' Robinson Cano, Curtis Granderson and Russell Martin each hit grand slam home runs. It's the first time any Major League team hit more than two in one game.

The U.S. economy grew at an even slightly slower pace than we thought in the second quarter, the Bureau of Economic Analysis just reported.

Yes, it was Albert Einstein who unified space and time together into a single, coherent whole. As a physicist I can say that was a pretty impressive feat, but as parent — slogging across interstate whatever on the last weekend of the summer — I have to ask: What's the big deal?

Anyone stuck in vacation traffic with kids in tow can tell you that Space and Time have always been unified but not in the wiggly, abstract sense my buddy Al Einstein was talking about.

Good morning. There's a lot going on today, so we'll be quick with the top headlines, including some of the news we've already posted about:

-- "Irene On Track To Soak N.C., Barrel North Toward New York."

-- "Explosion At U.N. Building In Nigeria; Bomb Suspected."

Transcript

DAVID GREENE, host:

That is part of the reason the government is urging people to begin now taking this storm very seriously.

Craig Fugate heads the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and he joins us on the line from Washington, D.C.

Good morning.

Mr. CRAIG FUGATE (Administrator, FEMA): Good morning.

Though "nervous investors" are waiting anxiously to hear what Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has to say later this morning when he speaks at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City's annual economic policy conference in Jackson Hole, Wyo., in reality he "isn't likely to break much new monetary-policy ground," The Wall Street Journal's

As Libya's Transitional National Council prepares to move its leadership from the eastern city of Behghazi to Tripoli, Moammar Gadhafi remains "on the run with his regime in tatters," NPR.org writes this morning.

The oldest form of performance art can be seen this weekend in Lexington.  The Ringling Brothers Circus returns to Rupp Arena. Its Ring Master, who is a trained opera singer, says the circuses of Europe are having a deep impact on that American institution.  Still, he says circuses don't get the respect they deserve. Also, a UK and NBA Basketball standout sings this weekend at the Lexington Opera House.  Rich Copley, who’s an arts and culture reporter for the Lexington Herald Leader, previews both events.