Youngerman

Talks aimed at ending the 23-day strike at the General Motors Corp. minivan assembly plant on Broening Highway broke off yesterday, but both sides are reluctant to say they are at an impasse."

The looming railroad strike, which could start tomorrow, would hurt two important local manufacturing operations, company officials say.The companies -- Bethlehem Steel Corp. and General Motors Corp. -- are making contingency plans to bring in materials by other forms of transportation. However, both expect little disruption at their local factories if the strike lasts only a day or two.Other major companies, such as Westinghouse Electric Corp., McCormick & Co. Inc. and Armco Inc., primarily rely on trucks to supply materials and don't expect to be affected by any strike.

DETROIT -- The top executive at General Motors Corp. announced further sweeping cuts yesterday in December's car and truck production and painted a bleak short-term outlook for the auto industry.Plummeting consumer confidence has undercut demand for cars and trucks, GM Chairman and Chief Executive officer Robert C. Stempel said. The cutbacks were needed, he said, to avoid being saddled with a glut of cars heading into an uncertain new year.The accelerated retrenchment will shut down a big part of GM's U.S. and Canadian operations for the rest of the year, although company officials said they didn't yet know how many thousands of workers would be laid off."

The 3,700 workers at the General Motors Corp. minivan assembly plant in East Baltimore are not expected to feel the brunt of the company's massive cost-cutting restructuring plan that will be announced next week."

Talks yesterday between General Motors Corp. and striking workers at its Baltimore minivan assembly plant brought the two sides no closer to ending a three-week walkout, negotiators said."

The looming railroad strike, which could start tomorrow, would hurt two important local manufacturing operations, company officials said.The companies -- Bethlehem Steel Corp. and General Motors Corp. -- are making contingency plans to bring in materials by other forms of transportation. However, both expect little disruption at their local factories if the strike lasts only a day or two.Other major companies, such as Westinghouse Electric Corp., McCormick & Co. Inc. and Armco Inc., primarily rely on trucks to supply materials and don't expect to be affected by any strike.

Two weeks into a strike by United Auto Workers at the General Motors van plant on Broening Highway, the factory's suppliers are running out of ways to keep their workers busy.The A.O. Smith Automotive Products Co. in Belcamp, which makes an underbody support structure for the vans, is scheduled to lay off 10 of its 25 workers today."We see ourselves in a pretty critical junction," says Edward O'Connor, vice president of human resources and public affairs.Union officials and GM management say some progress was made on minor issues in negotiations earlier this week, but major differences remain in the dispute that caused 3,200 workers to walk off their jobs on June 24 and left the plant idle.

Ben Petrilli, a former coach at Mount St. Joseph, Parkville and Loch Raven, was inducted Friday into the state's Hall of Fame by The Maryland Scholastic Football Coaches Association.From 1961 to 1987, Petrilli amassed a record of 111-42 -- a 73 percent winning ratio -- beginning at Loch Raven. In all, Petrilli's teams reached the playoffs five times and reached the finals once.To be inducted, a candidate has to be at least 50 years old and retired from coaching for five years.The coaches association also honored six recipients of the John W. Voight assistant coach award, including Overlea's present assistant Elmer Dize, who also served at Mervo.

The strike by 3,200 members of the United Auto Workers union against the General Motors Corp.'s Broening Highway assembly plant entered its second day yesterday with both sides agreeing to return to bargaining later this morning in hopes of resolving their differences.Members of Local 239 walked off the job Monday morning, protesting what union officials and workers say are unsafe working conditions.They claim that when the company eliminated more than 400 jobs in February -- when it reduced vehicle production from 47 units per hour to 42 -- too few people were left on the assembly line to safely perform the work.

Edith Haggard, 92, a New York literary agent whose clients included Adela Rogers St. Johns, Ogden Nash and Sinclair Lewis, died Thursday in the Whitney Pavilion of New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center. In her 30-year career, Mrs. Haggard, who joined the Curtis Brown agency in 1937, became one of the city's best-known agents. Other clients included Nunnally Johnson, Phyllis McGinley and Vera Caspary.William Myers, 74, an actor who appeared on Broadway and television, died in New York City of pneumonia Wednesday.