PERRYSBURG, Ohio (AP) - Chrysler Group LLC plans to invest $72 million in a northwest Ohio factory and says it is negotiating with state officials over incentives.

The automaker wants to modernize the Toledo Machining Plant in Perrysburg to produce new-generation torque converters and steering columns. The converters would be paired with new transmissions Chrysler is making in Kokomo, Ind., as part of the automaker's strategy to meet fuel economy requirements.

Hurricane Irene "continues to strengthen as it pounds the southeastern Bahamas," the National Hurricane Center reports, and "will likely become a major hurricane later today."

Irene is a "category two" hurricane at this moment. The Hurricane Center expects it will be upgraded to "category three," with winds of more than 111 mph, today.

PITTSBURGH(AP) - The U. S. Geological Survey says the Marcellus Shale region contains some 84 trillion cubic feet of undiscovered, recoverable natural gas, far more than thought nearly a decade ago.

Tuesday's figure is much higher than the last government assessment in 2002, which suggested about 2 trillion cubic feet of recoverable gas.

The USGS says the estimate came from new information about the gas-rich formation underlying New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia. Technical improvements in how wells are drilled also contributed to the new estimate.

We'll have more on each of these topics shortly, but first we want to quickly pass on the main headlines related to the day's three major stories:

-- Libya: "From Hiding, Gadhafi Tells Libyans To Free Tripoli."

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says it will spend $6 million to hire unemployed people who can work on Great Lakes cleanup projects.

Congress has appropriated $775 million over the past two years for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, a wide-ranging plan to improve the region's environmental health.

Among the priorities are cleaning up toxic pollution, fighting invasive species, improving wildlife habitat and protecting watersheds from contaminated runoff.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Ohioans across the state felt an earthquake centered in Virginia as office buildings swayed near the Statehouse and the press box shook at a Cleveland Indians game.

Some buildings were evacuated briefly Tuesday but no damages or injuries were immediately reported. Tremors were felt in the state's Appalachian region and stretched as far west as Dayton and north to Lake Erie.

Since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the New York Police Department has become one of America's most aggressive gatherers of domestic intelligence. Its intelligence unit, directed by a retired CIA veteran, dispatches undercover officers to keep tabs on ethnic neighborhoods — sometimes in areas far outside their jurisdiction.

Libyan loyalists launched counteroffensives throughout the capital on Wednesday, seemingly taking their cues from leader Moammar Gadhafi, who called on them from hiding to drive the "devils and traitors" from Tripoli.

Clashes erupted in a neighborhood next to Gadhafi's Bab al-Aziziya compound a day after the sprawling command-and-control center was overrun by thousands of rebel fighters. Pro-regime fighters attacked with shells and assault rifles in the Abu Salim area, which is home to a notorious prison and thought to be one of the last remaining regime strongholds in Tripoli.

The dispute over immigration policy is being fought in an Alabama federal court Wednesday.

The state's Republican leaders say they passed the toughest immigration bill in the country to preserve jobs for Alabamians. But critics say the law goes too far, criminalizing all kinds of contact with undocumented residents and putting an extra burden on small business.

At first glance, the Japanese fishing port of Kesennuma looks like it's making a comeback from last March's devastating tsunami. A half-dozen fishing boats arrive one morning in this city of 70,000 and unload tons of bonito onto a partially rebuilt port.

The fish roll down a conveyor, beneath a fresh-water shower, and splash into plastic bins filled with ice water. Mitsuo Iwabuchi, a wholesaler bidding on the catch, says the port is improving, but the infrastructure that drives it, including scores of fish-processing and ice-making factories, still lies in ruins.