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The Energy Department is coming under criticism for its failure to insist that oil released from the Strategic Oil Reserve be earmarked to assure sufficient growth in heating oil inventories.

In the news this morning: Oil prices linger near 10-year high; British Embassy in Yemen shaken by explosion; Boeing nears deal with UPS for cargo planes; and more.

Crude oil prices dropped for the first time in six sessions in Friday’s trading, due in part to expectations that tensions in the Middle East will begin to calm somewhat, Bloomberg reports.

This afternoon's headlines: Officials say Mideast violence won't affect oil supply; transport funding/hours bill now in Clinton's hands; Euell forfeits its share of SPR oil; and more to come.

Today's technology headlines: FreightDesk.com partners with Vastera; start-ups' optical chips are hot, but not with customers; A.T. Kearney partners with transportation exchange Arzoon; and more.

As violence exploded in several parts of the oil-rich Middle East Thursday, so did crude oil prices on world commodity markets.

The Federal Highway Administration wants to know if states should do more to enforce size and weight limits as part of the annual certification process to receive highway funds.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration may consider collapsing the categories of driving operations, but it seems unlikely to abandon a plan to require on-board recorders to track driving hours.

More than new equipment, more than electronic commerce, more than the continued growth of the medium-duty market in the United States, the story in trucks now, for 2001 and probably for the next decade is the changing world truck order.

Truckers welcome the sight of snowplows and salt-spreaders, also known as gritters, on a snow-covered highway. But the salt often exacts a subtle but nasty toll on the truck in the process.