GM to Restart Several Factories Idled by Computer-Chip

said Thursday it is restarting production at a handful of factories that were previously idled because of a global shortage of semiconductors.

The Detroit-based auto maker plans to resume some production at a factory in Michigan next month, after halting work at the facility in early May. It also plans to restart several auto factories in Canada, Mexico and South Korea within the next several weeks that make models such as the Chevrolet Equinox and GMC Terrain crossover vehicles.
Despite the reopening of these facilities, GM Chief Executive Mary Barra has said the company expects the second quarter to be the auto maker’s weakest of 2021 in terms of reduced production before some recovery occurs in the back half of the year.

The computer-chip shortage continues to cloud an otherwise robust new-vehicle market, more than a year after the Covid-19 health crisis led to a collapse in U.S. auto sales and production last spring.

The lack of semiconductors, used in engines, braking systems and other vehicle components, has led to factory disruptions across the auto industry and left dealers with nearly bare new-car lots. It is also prompting companies to reduce their manufacturing and earnings forecasts for the year.
“I am shocked and appalled to learn of the historical allegations made by a number of women against Charlie Hanson. The decision was made to immediately remove him from production and I am confident the matter is being handled thoroughly,” said Gervais in a statement on Saturday.

Hanson produced two seasons of Gervais and Stephen Merchant’s BBC and HBO comedy “Extras” as well as the pair’s film “Cemetery Junction.” He was also behind Gervais and Merchant’s series “Life’s Too Short” and “Derek,” which starred Gervais.
One of the coolest camera features on the iPhone is portrait mode. It makes your subject pop and can give your pictures a dramatic look. Basically, when you take a photo, it keeps the subject in focus while making the background of the picture look artistically out of focus. This popular effect replicates photos taken on a mirrorless or DSLR camera with a long lens and a shallow depth of field. Depending on the model of iPhone you have, portrait mode can be used on people, pets and even certain objects. 
The Kremlin said on Friday it regretted Washington’s decision not to rejoin the Open Skies arms control pact, which allows unarmed surveillance flights over member countries.

The original U.S. decision to quit the pact was taken by the administration of U.S. president Donald Trump last year, but Moscow had hoped that Joe Biden would reverse it.

But on Thursday the United States informed Russia it would not rejoin the pact, accusing Russia of violating it, something Moscow denied.

Speaking to reporters on a conference call, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the pact would lose much of its utility without the participation of Russia and the United States.

Russia in January announced its own plans to leave the pact, and the government submitted legislation to parliament this month to formalize its departure. 
INDIANAPOLIS — Every May at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Gasoline Alley looks and feels like the world’s coolest high school cafeteria, a sociological hierarchy that is visibly obvious to anyone lucky enough to stroll these most hallowed of motorsports grounds.

The freshmen — or in this case, rookies — travel in packs, saying yes to whatever is asked of them, overwhelmed and for the most part simply happy to be there. The upperclassmen have what look like party people always lounging around the entrance to their garage stalls, laughing at every joke and just waiting on the next good time to start.
Bretto Jackson runs a program called Leaders Become Legends in Portland, Ore. He and a partner mentor people involved in gun violence and help them get jobs in green energy.
Unlike minimum wage or fast food gigs, this work pays well. Starting wages can be close to $20 an hour. A living wage, says Jackson, is critical to finding a way out of gun violence.

Damien Rouse is in the program. He went to jail time for the first time at the age of 14 and spent much of his late adolescence and early adulthood incarcerated. Last year, Rouse's brother was shot and killed. The two were close, just a year apart, the middle kids in a family of six.
Through Leaders Become Legends, Rouse has been working with a local energy company to assemble and install solar panels. He says the most important skill he's gained in this program is not technical; it's how to compartmentalize. The work can be scary at times, installing panels 45- or 60-feet in the air. He can't be distracted.

"When I go to work," he says, "it's like, OK, I'm gonna just focus on work and get this done." This wisdom is something he passes on to other participants in the program.

As a kid, Rouse watched his uncles, cousins and father go to jail. He's determined to give his own 6-year-old son a different life.