Here are five things worth knowing today: 1. General Motors plans to spend $877 million to build a new body shop and assembly equipment at its Flint, Mich., Truck Assembly Plant, The Detroit Free Press reports. According to the report, Cathy Clegg, GM’s vice president for North America manufacturing and labor relations, said the investment will allow the company to “use a more innovative approach to deliver material between two critical facilities, reducing handling and the time it takes to ship parts.” Work on the body shop is expected to begin in the first half of 2016, with completion slated for 2018, according to the Press.2. Truckers Against Trafficking will meet to educate those who work in West Virginia’s trucking industry about sex trafficking. According to the Herald-Dispatch, the goal is to educate industry leaders, including managers of West Virginia truck stops, about how to identify and stop sexual exploitation and human trafficking around their businesses. Attorney General Patrick Morrisey explained that the three major interstates running through Charleston and major highways running through panhandles make the state as vulnerable as any other to trafficking, according to the report.3. The Toughest Monster Truck Tour will return to the Bicentennial Center in Salina, Kansas, Feb. 5 and 6, according to the Salina Post. The event will feature five of the nation’s “toughest monster trucks” – including Bigfoot, Over Bored, Quad Chaos and the new Dirt Crew truck – the Post said. The Post has more on tickets and information. 4. Roberts Trucking Company’s plan to build a brand new 300,000-sq.-ft. warehouse is raising some concerns among residents in North East Township, Penn. According to WICU 12, the company plans to purchase residential land adjacent to its property and rezone it as commercial. The company says the expansion would allow it to expand its business; however, some residents believe the proposal would turn the area “into a congested truck route,” according to WICU’s report. WICU has more.5. Three state Departments of Transportation – Missouri, North Carolina and Virginia – each won National Awards of Merit in the Design Build Institute of America’s 2015 Design-Build Project/Team Awards program, Equipment World’s Better Roads reports. According to the report, to win the award, projects must achieve budget and schedule goals, as well as demonstrate advanced and innovative application of design-build practices. Equipment World has more on the three winning DOT projects.
