Good morning, Nashville. We’re running a little behind this morning, so here’s your abbreviated edition of Bright & Early:

• A guy  who was cruising down I-24 yesterday when the sinkhole opened up tells a harrowing tale about saving some lives by jumping out of his car and into oncoming traffic to warn them about the hole. He saw a truck driver nearly fall in and immediately pulled over and started flagging down other cars. As if our phobia of sinkholes could get any worse, this one measured 25 feet deep by 40 feet wide and happened right in the middle of a busy interstate. [Tennessean]
• The deadline for claiming lost pets at the Metro Animal Shelter is up today, which means they’ll start giving them up for adoption to those who will take them. And if someone doesn’t adopt the poor dog who was rescued along with a teddy bear he wouldn’t let go of, we might cry. [WKRN]
• An abandoned Germantown house caught fire this morning and investigators are calling the fire “highly suspicious.” [WTVF]
• A third-grader from Nashville is one of 40 kids in the running for Google’s Doodle 4 Google contest, which could win her the honor of having her illustration featured as their logo for one day in addition to a $25,000 technology grant for her school. [City Paper]
• As they say, you probably won’t want to buy a used car in Nashville for a very long time. [WKRN]
• Our city’s big July 4th shindig will be led by one Mr. Trace Adkins. [Tennessean]

Photo by PR9000.