Workers, towns cast adrift by GM bankruptcy

Restructuring will have ripple effect on communities across the U.S.

DETROIT – Pontiac. Mansfield. Spring Hill. Orion Township.

All these places once thrived in the shadow of General Motors plants. But now their futures

General Motors Corp., the once-mighty car giant whose plants were the lifeblood of many American communities, filed its Chapter 11 petition Monday in New York. It was the fourth-largest bankruptcy in U.S. history and the largest for an industrial company.

GM also revealed Monday that it will permanently close nine more plants and idle three others.

Some of the towns most threatened by GM