Noel King on the day side with some stories we’re following for tomorrow.

An offshore oil platform exploded in the Gulf of Mexico this morning, injuring one person. It is unclear if the rig has set off an underground leak. We’ll keep you updated as details develop.  

As we await a monthly jobs report that comes amid concerns over prolonged high rates of joblessness, we look at the process of surviving an unexpected layoff. In 1993, the White Furniture Company in Mebane, North Carolina, closed its doors. 203 men and women lost their jobs. Photographer Bill Bamberger documented the closure in a book called “Closing: The Life and Death of an American Factory.” We’ll speak to Bamberger and to Robert Riley, the foreman at the factory.

We started tomorrow's conversation on the national jobs report by asking listeners to share their own jobs reports. You’ll hear from some of them tomorrow.

As Israeli-Palestinian peace talks in D.C. draw to a close, we’ll speak to the Israeli ambassador to the U.S., Michael Oren. We’ll discuss the results of this round of talks – and ask where negotiations go from here.

Hurricane Earl, now a Category 4 storm, is strengthening as it barrels toward the Atlantic Coast. People along the eastern seaboard are preparing for flooding and winds of up to 140 miles an hour. We’ll check in with several people as they make preparations.

Plus George Clooney’s new movie, "The American," hits theaters today. Clooney plays an assassin with a hazy past who holes up in a tiny Italian town.  Takeaway film contributor and Newsday critic Rafer Guzman and Bust Magazine’s Emily Rems discuss Clooney’s career.    

And we’ll talk to actor and artist Leonard Nimoy about his photo exhibition at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art.