It’s Thursday, nothing more, nothing less…

Weather: Once more, with sunshine. You may see some patchy fog around this morning, but once that burns off it will be yet another nice day. Highs will be near 80, and nighttime lows near 60. Clouds will move in Friday, with a chance of an isolated shower.

Today’s special: locked door. Kairos Kafe, the highly-regarded Birmingham restaurant which opened a much-anticipated second location in Gardendale, suddenly closed that location on Wednesday after a little over six months. Owner James K. Jones announced the closing on the restaurant’s Facebook page that morning. Well known among downtown diners for its unique takes on Southern food, the Gardendale store’s opening was delayed because of extra work required to bring the space in a Main Street strip shopping center up to date. After opening to much fanfare in April, Kairos struggled to find a balance between the lunchtime meat-and-three crowd and dinnertime dining. In the restaurant’s last few weeks, Jones tried buffet service and cutting back evening hours.

Different picture of Benghazi. Both the Reuters news service and Fox News are reporting that State Department officials were aware that Islamic militant terrorists claimed responsibility for the attacks on the U.S. consulate on Sept. 11, as soon as two hours after the attacks began. The emails obtained by the news organizations show a blow-by-blow account of the incident, and also appear to contradict reports by the Obama administration that the attacks were brought about by protesters angry over an obscure anti-Islam YouTube video. Four people, including the American ambassador to Libya, were killed in the attacks.

Sports: Panda-monium. Third baseman Pablo Sandoval — nicknamed “Kung Fu Panda” by Giants fans because of his rotund build — made the first game of the World Series one to remember, as he hit three home runs on his first three at-bats in San Francisco’s 8-3 win over Detroit. Sandoval is now one of only four players in Major League history to hit three dingers in a Fall Classic game. The others were Albert Pujols, last year for St. Louis; Reggie “Mr. October” Jackson, in 1977 for the Yankees; and Babe Ruth twice, in ’26 and ’28… College Football: The Pensacola News-Journal is reporting that NCAA investigators are looking into Alabama commitment Darius Paige, who played defensive tackle for Washington High School in that city before transferring to Foley High in Alabama. Paige’s controversial transfer was cleared by the Alabama High School Athletic Association, but unnamed “sources close to the investigation” told the PNJ that officials from the NCAA headquarters in Indianapolis were conducting interviews at Paige’s old school.