Automobiles

General Motors Co., in an effort to retain employees as it tries to return to profitability, has rescinded white-collar pay cuts it made last spring. The struggling automaker was losing employees because its pay scales were no longer competitive with those of other automakers and manufacturers, a spokesman said. He said he did not know how many had left or how many workers were affected by the cuts. The earlier pay cuts, ranging from 3% for many lower-level workers to 10% for executives, saved the company about $50 million.

Hailed as a jump-start for the U.S. economy, the federal government's "cash for clunkers" gave the biggest boost to foreign automakers. Overall, auto sales in August were the highest in more than a year, according to industry figures released Tuesday. Carmakers sold more than 1.2 million cars and trucks, up 1% from the same month last year and the first year-over-year sales gain since August 2007. Much of that was a result of the clunkers program, which ran July 24 to Aug. 24 and provided hefty government rebates to consumers who traded in gas guzzlers for more fuel-efficient new vehicles.

The moment of clarity for me came Sunday, the second night of the Gooding & Co. classic car auction. On the block was a 1971 Chevrolet Monte Carlo, as wretched and routine a hunk of Detroit iron as ever freighted down an assembly line. Spot-welded together with the craftsmanship one might expect of unsupervised political prisoners, the Monte Carlo -- with a 402-cubic-inch V8 engine and four-barrel carburetor -- was and is a sidewalk-fumigating stink bomb, with no steering or handling to speak of, and brakes that are more rumor than fact.

The Lincoln Continental with leather seats, the shiny gray Mercedes-Benz, the immaculate Lexus ES 300 and the impeccable Cadillac DeVille seem out of place in this San Fernando Valley junkyard, where wrecks of VW bugs and pickup trucks bare their smashed hoods like fangs at the pretentious newcomers. They may be luxury cars in name, but now they're just like the other clunkers surrendered for car-buying cash in the government's Car Allowance Rebate System, or CARS. It might seem like a waste.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger ordered a large reduction in the fleet of state vehicles Friday after an audit revealed that possibly thousands of state workers have been given government cars to drive home at night without justification. The number of employees reported with take-home cars has increased up to 20% during the last three years, according to records obtained by The Times.

Rescuers fought smoke and tore at walls to get to those trapped inside. One desperate father used his pickup as a battering ram. Many of the victims were too tiny to call for help. At least 38 children would die. The northern Mexican city of Hermosillo was plunged into grief and shock Saturday as investigators sought to pinpoint what sparked a swiftly moving fire at a crowded day-care center a day earlier. Officials said 142 children were in the center when the fire broke out.