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GM breaks ground on expansion at Wentzville Assembly plant

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General Motors broke ground Monday on 500-thousand square feet of new factory space at its Wentzville, Mo. Assembly plant.

According to the company the expansion will cost $380 million.

Missouri Governor Jay Nixon was on hand for the event and said the decision was a smart one for GM, given its long history in the St. Louis area.

"The fact that its in Wentzville is not accidental," Nixon said. "You have a strong workforce, you have a unified effort here.  And this is an investment that will pay off, not only for GM, but equally important for the workers and the families all along the product line."

The expansion will create production for GM's midsize Colorado pickup.

The company also recently added 400 workers to a second shift on its full-size van production line.

Adam grew up on a cherry farm in northern Michigan. He holds a BA in economics from Kalamazoo College. Adam's radio career began in 2003 at the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies in Portland, Maine. He went on to cut his teeth filing stories for Maine Public Radio. Before coming to St. Louis Public Radio in 2006, Adam was was an international journalism fellow at Deutsche Welle in Bonn, Germany. He has regularly filed features for various shows and networks including NPR, PRI, Marketplace and the BBC. He received a Knight-Wallace Journalism Fellowship for the 2011-2012 academic year.