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Nortel Test a Cell-Loc Boon; AT&T Breakup Plan Is Opposed by AFL-CIO and Employee Union; Acquisition of VoiceStream Wireless Delayed; Nokia, Ericsson and Motorola Form Location Interoperability Forum

The financial dispute over a federally mandated antilock brake system warning light is apparently being resolved, less than a month before it threatened to stop production of new tractors and trailers.

The Federal Reserve’s decision to reduce interest rates by another half-percentage point last week was welcome news to trucking executives, who know all too well how flat the domestic economy has become.

AT&T Chief Says Baby Bells May Price Company Out of Local Service; Study Finds No Cellphone-Cancer Link; Nokia Chief Looks Forward to Wireless Net Opportunity; Deutsche Telekom Closer to $35 Billion Mobile Deal in U.S.; What's on the Horizon: Slight Gains Seen in Plant-Floor Software Sales for 2001 and Beyond

President Bush, warning that the U.S. economy has warning signs of a downturn, sent his tax cut plan to Congress Thursday.

Ryder System Inc., the commercial truck-leasing and logistics services company, expects to cut up to 700 jobs in 2001 year, the Associated Press reported Thursday.

The Federal Reserve cut interest rates again last week, its second rate cut in January, in an effort to bring the U.S. economy out of its tailspin. Analysts expect the economy will start to rebound by midyear, with trucking companies among the early beneficiaries of reinvigorated growth.

Sensing a threat to their already hotly contested American market, United Parcel Service and FedEx Corp. have allied to fight expansion plans of DHL International and its majority owner, Deutsche Post.

In the world of profit and loss statements for trucking in 2000, the strong survived, the adequate stumbled and the weak were buried. Truckload failures reached an all-time high, taking out as much as 3% of industry capacity since December alone, according to analysts.

Missouri state Sen. Ken Jacobs introduced a bill that would raise the state tax on diesl fuel, truck registration and permit fees and speeding fines for truckers.