91ÊÓƵ

TTNews.com will be closed Monday and Tuesday in observance of the Independece Day holiday July 4. Please check back on Wednesday, July, 5, for the latest trucking and freight transportation news.

This afternoon's headlines: Nissan Diesel stock jumps on report of Fiat interest; Air Canada talks with pilots head into weekend with no strike notice; Illinois ships I-PASS transponders for truckers; and more.

Members of the Truckload Carriers Association are urging shippers to join them in fighting proposed changes in the federal hours-of-service regulations governing truck drivers.

Illinois lawmakers responded to dizzyingly high fuel prices by suspending the state’s 5% sales tax on diesel and gasoline for six months.

Diesel at the pump stood at $1.432 on June 26 — 0.9 cents higher than the previous week — as the national average continued its three-month hover around the $1.41-a-gallon mark.

The Professional Truck Drivers Institute is walking slowly down the road to independence as a transition committee recommended the organization expand its certification program.

In the news this morning: Smithway Motor Xpress announces 500,000-share buyback; OTR Express warns of quarterly loss from fuel costs, slower business; tight job market provign to be a bad time for companies in union disputes; and more.

The Russell family appreciates the expressions of high regard for our brother, Mike. He was fully committed to upholding the positive image of America’s trucking industry, especially in the arena of America’s Road Team and the Marine Corps Trailer Wrap programs.

President Clinton announced he was nominating former California Rep. Norman Mineta to become commerce secretary, to fill the vacancy being left by William Daley.

This afternoon's headlines: Bush, Gore duke it out over fuel; elections in Mexico, U.S. leave the future of Nafta's Transportation Chapter uncertain; lane closures planned for D.C.-area’s I-95 Wilson Bridge; and more.