Janesville on my mind

Our America's Heartland travels are once again intersecting with news events. A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the timeliness our Asia episode that featured Chinese milk issues. This time it is closer to home.

The General Motors SUV plant in Janesville, Wisconsin is shutting down by the end of 2008. At one time this plant was responsible for rolling out hundreds of thousands of large SUVs. As gas prices skyrocketed earlier this year demand for these SUVs died. So GM shifted focus away from the SUV market. The New York Times Sunday Business section reported on the impact to Janesville.

"The workers there are stunned by the plant’s sudden demise. After building 3.76 million S.U.V.’s over the last 18 years, Janesville is headed for the automotive scrap heap."

We happened to be in Janesville when the plant closing was annouced in June. We were shooting a story about a very successful Pheasant farm in town. Before getting to the farm we had to stop at the post office, where I first heard the news. The clerk behind the counter told me just how big of an impact it would have on his town. At one point 5,000 people worked at the plant.

As we shot our story that day we tried to stay focused on the pheasant farm, but you couldn't escape the difficult news.

Layoffs and plant closings aren't isolated to Janesville. Times are tough in the heartland. Please know that you all are in our thoughts.