By Nicole Brooks, Herald-Times

nbrooks@heraldt.com

Local General Electric employees now have a shot at a future, and elected officials say they are doing what they can to make it a successful one.

The announcement this week that Bloomington's GE plant would stay open, though coupled with news of a major layoff, shows the company's leaders have hope GE can once again be viable. They can do it by riding the green wave of the future, and by procuring federal stimulus money as a jump-start, said State Sen. Vi Simpson, D-Ellettsville.

This past legislative session, Simpson had several meetings with local and national GE representatives about the company's future that resulted in a state Green Industries Fund. Passed as a section of the new state budget, the fund will be administered by the Indiana Economic Development Corp.

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