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HOUSTON — During the second half of 2007, when the U.S. economy and stock market were at their respective peaks, a colleague of James Crane said he was — for a brief while — bitter and unhappy. But as gross domestic product and the value of stocks, housing and other assets fell dramatically, the smile returned to Crane’s face as he realized the comfort of cash — hundreds of millions of dollars of it.

YRC Worldwide’s latest cost-cutting agreement with the Teamsters is expected to save $870 million over 18 months and help the company regain its financial footing, analysts and company officials said.

WASHINGTON — The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee approved an 18-month extension of existing highway legislation even as House leaders continued to oppose a delay in passing a new multiyear transportation funding bill.

The idea of removing 10% of truck traffic from the nation’s highways by 2020 to reduce carbon emissions is “almost ludicrous,” Ray Kuntz, former chairman of American Trucking Associations, told a Senate committee last week.

Drayage truckers blasted world’s largest ocean carrier Maersk Line’s plan to begin charging a chassis-use fee, saying it would raise costs and complicate operations.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. said its second-quarter profit fell 52%, hurt by mounting pressure on prices and weak demand, as the latest round of quarterly financial reports by public carriers began to roll in last week.

The average cost of retail diesel in the United States dropped 5.2 cents a gallon last week to $2.542, the third consecutive decline and a level nearly 50% below the record highs of a year ago.

Housing starts rose 3.6% to a seven-month high in June, the Commerce Department said Friday.

Get a group of truckers together anywhere in this country, and Minnesota’s “Fatigued Driving Evaluation Checklist” is bound to come up. The 75-item list gained national prominence when the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association sued the Minnesota State Patrol in federal court in an attempt to stop its use.