The U.S. government is officially in the auto business. General Motors, the century-old auto-manufacturing behemoth, will file for bankruptcy protection today in an unprecedented agreement that would spare the company but give the federal government amazing new powers over a major company. The U.S. government would inject a staggering $30 billion into the floundering firm, giving American taxpayers a 60-percent stake in GM. Read more.

Abortion clinic protester was arrested in Oakland. A California man who wanted to intervene on behalf of Black women seeking abortions could get jail time this week. Oakland pastor Walter Hoye was charged with unlawful intimidation of visitors to a medical clinic last summer when he stood on a sidewalk with a sign that read “Jesus Loves You and Your Baby. Can We Help You?” Lawyers for Hoye say that he offers to help Black women, in particular, because they form a majority of the more than 1 million annually who get abortions in America. Though a witness testified that he used no force, the pastor will go before a judge this week to be sentenced for allegedly violating statute. Supporters are rallying behind the pastor, who they say only exercised his free speech.

White House will review GM, Chrysler plans. Two of the former “Big Three” auto companies are expected to present their business plans for restructuring and longevity today in Washington. General Motors and Chrysler execs seeking government assistance in turning around their corporations will offer formal pitches to the Obama administration. “We’re anxious to look at the plans,” says Robert Gibbs, a White House spokesman. Hindered by slow car sales and bleeding from worker layoffs, American automakers are another tender spot in the struggling economy. A boost in the form of government aid is sought by GM and Chrysler, in order to prevent the car industry from further collapsing. The companies will likely ask for billions in financial help.

Automakers leave Capitol Hill empty-handed. GM, Ford, Chrysler leave Congress empty-handed on Tuesday after they told lawmakers that their situation was dire and the needed help. After hearing from the automakers, who asked for $25 billion in aid, the lawmakers deadlocked on a plan to bail out the big three automakers, leaving General Motors Corp. facing the prospect it could run out of cash before a new Congress can come to the rescue next year. Democratic congressional leaders disagreed with Republicans and President Bush over how to provide $25 billion in aid to GM, Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC. But they’re running out time to find a solution, since only two days remain in a lame-duck session for lawmakers to decide upon a compromise.

Prosecutors release former Detroit mayor’s emails. Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick bragged that he occasionally liked to ditch his full-time security, sneak out of the Manoogian Mansion to meet his former mistress and spent city money lavishly to globe-hop and lease cars, according to a Detroit Free Press analysis of emails prosecutors released on Wednesday. The jet-setting Kilpatrick charged $286,000 to city for his travel – $126,000 on his city-issued credit card since 2004 for trips to the Bahamas, South Africa, France, Jamaica, and the Cape Verde Islands – and multiple trips to Texas in his final months, records show. He and former Chief of Staff Christine Beatty sometimes messaged each other about whether he could get free of prying eyes for a rendezvous, which often happened late at night, according to some of the emails released as part of the prosecution’s authentication motion in its case to nab Kilpatrick for misusing city funds. But the motion contains some messages that reveal tension between Kilpatrick and Beatty on March 18, 2004, over Kilpatrick’s relationship with his wife, Carlita Ebony Kilpatrick. In a surprise move, Kilpatrick also sends a message while on travel that indicates how he’d like to “jump [the] bones” of a woman that wasn’t his wife or Beatty. Go here to read the details of the email.
U. of Mich. Black enrollment is up. Almost two years after Michigan had to give up on using affirmative action to increase college admissions, the University of Michigan has 12 percent more African Americans in its freshmen class than the previous year.  Other minority groups were squeezed out, though, as the White freshmen enrollment grew from 55 percent to 62.4 percent of this year’s 5,783 students. Targeted recruitment of underrepresented minorities was the key to the increase from 334 Black freshmen in fall 2007 to 374, said Senior Vice Provost Lester Monts. “Proposal 2 doesn’t prohibit targeted outreach,” Monts said of the 2006 measure that changed the state constitution. Though the change banned the use of affirmative action in college admissions decisions, it doesn’t apply to the university’s outreach efforts, he said.

General Motors Corp has stopped matching payments to employee 401K plans as the nation’s No. 1 automaker attempts to keep its doors open in one of the worse economies it’s ever faced, officials say. The move was made as it figures out its staff needs through November as part of efforts to conserve cash amid a deep downturn in sales, the automaker said on Thursday. GM spokesman Tom Wilkinson said the company could reinstate matching payments into the 401K program if business conditions improve. GM has lost $51 billion over the past three years because of poor auto sales.