Camila Domonoske

When the General Motors plant in Lordstown, Ohio, went dark last year, it was a familiar story for the region. Yet another manufacturing powerhouse — a pillar of the local economy and a rare source of good jobs — was shutting down.

But the closure of the plant was not the end of the story. The factory was sold to Lordstown Motors, a startup building an electric pickup truck that's scheduled to be unveiled on Thursday.

The Minnesota Freedom Fund, which bails low-income people out of jail or immigration detention, used to run on a shoestring budget.

"We were always in need of more money," says board member Mirella Ceja-Orozco, " constantly writing grant proposals ... to kind of figure out how we could obtain money to last us for the next few months."

In 2018, the last year it filed its taxes, the group had about $150,000. It had to turn down a lot of requests for assistance because of a lack of funds.

Updated at 5:53 p.m. ET

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently took an unusual step of encouraging people to drive alone — the exact opposite of what cities have urged people to do for years.

Hundreds and hundreds of cars wound through the streets of San Francisco. Drivers honked. Children chanted. Signs read "Black Lives Matter "and "No Justice, No Peace" as for hours protesters — socially distanced inside their own vehicles — added their voices to a national chorus of outrage.

Gary Jones, the former president of the United Auto Workers, has pleaded guilty to embezzlement, racketeering and tax evasion as part of a larger scandal over union corruption that has shaken trust in the union and exposed it to a possible federal takeover.

Jones admits he conspired to embezzle more than $1 million out of dues paid by union members, the Department of Justice said Wednesday.

Updated at 5:57 p.m. ET

For the first time in its nearly 130-year history, General Electric will no longer be making and selling lightbulbs. GE is selling its lighting business to Savant Systems.

GE was founded in 1892 by a merger between Thomas Edison's Edison General Electric Co., which made Edison's famous incandescent bulb as well as other inventions, and a rival business.

Avery Hoppa's job is practically pandemic-proof: She's a nurse who does triage over the phone. So her work is still necessary, and the transition to working from her home in Hanover, N.H., was smooth. Her husband, a biologist at Dartmouth College, had a slightly bigger adjustment to make when classes went virtual.

They're both still employed, and Hoppa says she feels "so incredibly grateful" about that during this massive economic crisis. Her family has been able to do things like buy a new car and get a good deal on it.

Over the past few months, cities have had to deal with tremendous challenges — fighting a pandemic, preserving essential services, protecting their own workers, coping with devastating budget cuts.

One thing local officials didn't have to worry about was traffic, as the pandemic emptied city streets.

But that's about to change.

Geologist Keri Belcher had a moment of relief earlier this year. Her employer, a medium-sized oil and gas company, had a round of layoffs — and she made it through. She still had a job.

Then came the coronavirus and the complete collapse in oil prices. This time around, she was laid off.

"It was kind of unfortunate, too, because I just re-signed my apartment lease," the Houston resident said.

NPR is reporting on how the pandemic has upended every inch of our financial lives, from our ability to make money to how we spend it.

Millions of people have had to seek help from the government, whether it's unemployment benefits or business loans. Some have put off major life decisions because of the economic turmoil.

Now, some states are easing stay-at-home restrictions. And we want to know: Are you ready and able to go back to your normal work and social life?

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Unemployment is mounting. The economy keeps falling deeper into a recession — or worse. The coronavirus continues to spread. But car sales surprisingly are climbing.

If you're still waiting for your pandemic payment from the federal government, and you would like to receive it directly into your bank account, head over to the IRS website by noon on Wednesday.

If the IRS doesn't have your direct deposit information by that deadline, you'll still get your payment — but you'll receive it in the form of a paper check, which might not arrive until June.

Michelle Lee, a cashier at a Safeway in Alexandria, Va., has kept working through the pandemic. In fact, she has been working harder than ever.

"My back is hurting a little bit, but I'm doing all right," she told NPR in March. "It's been really, really busy. The lines are really long. Customers are buying $200, $300, $400 worth of groceries. And it's constant. It's nonstop."

America is starting its engines again.

Freeways and city streets have been remarkably empty for weeks. The coronavirus pandemic caused an unprecedented drop in U.S. traffic — total miles driven dropped by more than 40% in the last two weeks of March, according to data collected by Arity.

In some states, mileage eventually dropped more than 60% below what would be expected without a pandemic.

But for several weeks now, the same data shows that miles driven are starting to climb again. Driving remains well below normal levels, but is rising consistently.