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Today's technology headlines: Cell phone law takes effect in N.Y. county; drivers - and driver services firms - warm up to the Internet; grocery stores wrestle with logistics of hoem delivery; and more.

This afternoon's headlines: Construction spending fell slightly in November; steel production down from last year; FedEx Custom Critical to open dispatch center in Nevada; and more.

The Federal Reserve, in a surprise move spurred by the rapidly deteriorating economy, cut interest rates Wednesday, slashing the federal funds rate by half a percentage point to 6% and trimming the discount rate a quarter-point to 5.75%.

When George W. Bush becomes president Jan. 20, he will have someone with the highest levels of transportation policy experience at his right hand.

Diesel customers got a Christmas present in the form of a fourth consecutive drop in the retail price, but it won’t last as long as the leftover turkey.

David S. Addington, senior vice president and general counsel of American Trucking Associations, is leaving the trucking federation for a job in the new Bush administration.

Although the new millennium arrived without a hitch, it was an unsettling year for freight haulers as many of the trends that plagued trucking in 1999 — from rising fuel costs to a persistent shortage of drivers — continued to dog carriers in 2000.

American Trucking Associations said the Department of Transportation, in designing its hours-of-service proposal, ignored most of the 62 executive orders and legislative mandates in place to guide the development of sound rulemakings and underestimated the costs to the industry.

The Motor Freight Carriers Association said it would be better for the less-than-truckload sector to continue working under the current 63-year-old rules governing drivers than adopt the revisions to the hours of service proposed by the Department of Transportation.

A new set of standards on cargo tiedown and securement could be in force as early as July 1, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.