In brief: GM adding jobs at truck factory
Detroit – General Motors Co. will add a shift and more than 650 jobs at its assembly plant in Flint where it makes the hot-selling GMC Sierra and Chevrolet Silverado pickup trucks, a person familiar with the plan said Saturday. The move is yet another sign that truck sales are on the rise for the recovering automaker.
An announcement is scheduled for Monday and comes as Chevy sales to small businesses have increased for three straight months, which GM says is an indication that small businesses across the country are beginning to reinvest.
The Detroit News reported earlier Saturday about the additional jobs at the factory.
The plant, which employs more than 2,000 hourly and salaried workers, builds the heavy-duty Chevrolet and GMC Sierra crew and regular cab trucks and the light-duty Chevrolet Silverado crew and regular cab trucks.
The additional workers will come from GM’s pool of laid-off workers, so no new employees will be hired, the person briefed on the announcement said. In the fourth quarter of last year, GM had about 3,500 laid-off workers in the pool nationwide.
Gabor going home after amputation
Los Angeles – Zsa Zsa Gabor is going home from the hospital, a week after doctors amputated most of her right leg, her publicist said Saturday.
John Blanchette said doctors were pleased with Gabor’s recovery and she was to be transported by ambulance late Saturday back to her Bel Air mansion.
Doctors at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center decided to amputate Jan. 14 when a persistent infection wouldn’t heal. She had been expected to remain in the hospital for at least two weeks.
Gabor, 93, broke her hip and had replacement surgery in July. She was hospitalized several times for swelling in her legs and blood clots throughout her body.
Los Angeles cedes traffic jam crown
Los Angeles – California’s Los Angeles and Orange counties are no longer the kings of traffic congestion – at least they weren’t in 2009.
A new study shows that motorists in the greater Los Angeles area that year experienced fewer delays from traffic congestion than other parts of the country – a change in reputation that could be short-lived as the region recovers from the worst recession since World War II.
Released last week, the latest annual Urban Mobility Report from the Texas Transportation Institute states that in 2009, Chicago and Washington, D.C., surpassed the Los Angeles area in the amount of time that individual motorists were stuck in traffic during peak travel periods.
Researchers found that the typical motorist in Chicago and the nation’s capitol experienced 70 hours of delay on average each year – almost two full workweeks – compared to 63 hours wasted in the Los Angeles area.