44 new workers, and that grant is supporting the construction of three new plants in the state of michigan, which a-123 expects will allow it to hire more than 120 workers by the end of this year, more than 1000 by the end of next year, and more than 3000 by the end of 2012. two of those workers, james fenton, and nino bunia, are here today. they lost their previous jobs in the recession, then 123 hired them both to help refer the batteries of tomorrow. a-123 has already begun construction on one facility in the city of lavonia, which is scheduled to go online in july, and they ve begun designing a facility in the city of romulus and have announced plans to build the first high volume factory in brownstown. the truth be told, a-123 was looking to build that factory in asia, but because it received that grant, it chose the state of michigan for its largest and most
is coming from across the country and around the world. we ll keep an eye on it for you in the next two hours of happening now . we begin with this fox news alert. you see a view of the rose garden there at the white house. we are waiting now for president obama to emerge from the executive mansion there to speak about the oil spill off the coast of louisiana and expect him to touch on the gdp out today, which is better than people expected. jenna lee will be along in moments to talk about that. in the miami louisiana s worst environmental nightmare is coming true, oil is reaching the wetlands, threatening hundreds of species of wildlife and one of the world s richest fishing grounds. the stench of oil hangs in the area, this massive spill in the gulf of mexico could eclipse that of the exxon valdez. two air force planes stand ready to drop oil dispersing chem cas, they are scrambling to protect the vast wetlands but high seas and strong winds are working against them, n