i'd like to go out on a limb and state that gm still is making big blocks, they're just not making them at tonowanda anymore. Plus these were the funky 8.1 litre/496 cube electronic edition anyways; Not the carbed 454 versions we all know and love.
i think the writers of these articles are maybe not "car people" and therefore they maybe don't know that the big block is still being produced and will continue to be produced.
So no need to get into a huff, although the laid off people at the plant coudn't have had worse luck---at this time of yr.