Good morning, Nashville. It’s getting a little toasty outside today and it’s probably going to get toastier over the weekend. We sure don’t envy the folks who will be running the Country Music Marathon tomorrow, but know that your Nashvillest editors will be hanging out along the sidelines with cold drinks cheering you on (especially the hoola hoopers and jugglers!) In all seriousness, though, we’re way proud of our friends who are going to be running tomorrow–stay safe out there and let us know who you are in the comments!

• GM plant closures. GM will be shutting down the Spring Hill plant for five weeks this summer, which we guess is better than the nine weeks that most of the other plants are getting. Still, for the thousands of folks who are going to be out of work for that long, our hearts go out to you.
• More stimulus money. The Natchez Trace Parkway is the latest recipient of more than $4 million in stimulus money that will be used to spruce up parts of the parkway and repaint about 70 miles of lines. Woohoo!
• Bits & pieces. One of the veterans who tested positive for HIV due to some contaminated medical equipment at the VA hospital was retested and found to be negative … Nashville-based Makeout With Violence pretty much cleaned up at the Nashville Film Festival … Everyone loved Miss California at the Dove Awards last night.

Photo by riffsyphon1024.