US Steel closes Illinois furnace 'indefinitely,' warns 1,000 of layoffs

GRANITE CITY, Illinois — The last operating blast furnace at U.S. Steel's plant in Granite City will remain idled indefinitely, the company said Tuesday, extending a closure first billed as temporary. The company on Tuesday also notified 600 additional employees that they might lose their jobs. U.S. Steel spokeswoman Amanda Malkowski, however, said the company only expected to lay off a portion of those. And a local union official said he thought the plant would keep operating with the same number of workers, at least for now. The fate of the Granite City plant has been in question since last ...