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Reading the May 24 “Opinion” column on how hard it would be for the smaller freight brokers to exist with a higher bond, my heart goes out to them, but my sympathies run with the trucking companies that use these brokers, small or large.

American Trucking Associations, truck manufacturers and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have urged the Senate to address a research and development bill on increasing fuel efficiency and reducing greenhouse gas emissions in medium- and heavy-duty trucks.

Transport Topics Online will be closed Monday for the Memorial Day holiday. Please check back on Tuesday, June 1, for the latest trucking and freight transportation news.

Clearly, apprehension over the potential ramifications of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s new truck safety ratings program is growing as we move closer to full implementation of the plan.

Flatbed carrier Boyd Bros. Transportation has ordered 325 trucks with 2010 engines from Navistar Inc., the manufacturer said Thursday.

Mexico’s president, Felipe Calderon, said last week that the United States and his nation would solve the countries’ ongoing trade dispute caused by the closure of the southern border to longhaul truck traffic.

The Obama administration was set last week to outline a path to national fuel-economy standards for large trucks, bringing industry and government officials to the White House to announce a plan that could aim at driving habits as well as equipment changes to reduce fuel use.

Agents of the California Air Resources Board have fanned out to ticket truck operators who fail to comply with the state’s complicated schedule for reducing emissions from the small diesel engines that power transport refrigeration.

It took years to beat back the state of Virginia’s ill-advised plan to toll Interstate 81, but eventually it was abandoned. Trucking, and the state’s motorists, breathed a sigh of relief after that tolling scheme was tossed out.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told a Senate subcommittee the Obama administration soon will unveil its plan to relaunch a cross-border trucking program along the U.S.-Mexico border.