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When James P. Hoffa took office as general president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters in May 1999, following a tortuous and drawn-out election battle, the trucking community waited with bated breath.

Critics far outweighed supporters at the first official sound-off over the Department of Transportation’s proposed hours-of-service rules for truck drivers last week in Washington.

In this morning's headlines: Weaker jobs report sends markets soaring; Illinois GOP lawmakers propose eliminating state gasoline tax; CCX cuts trip times with new Ohio service center; DEA tracks pot trail from Mexico to Virginia; and conflicting reports on e-commerce's impact on transportation industry.

Jerry C. Moyes, chairman of Swift Transportation, has launched a takeover bid for Simon Transportation Services of Salt Lake City.

In this afternoon's headlines: Resurging fuel prices an outrage, says Teamsters' Hoffa; Truckers on the road can expect some cuts in phone costs; As economy taps its brakes, will interest rates soon stop rising?; Frozen food express amends financing pact; Investment firm to buy truck stop operator TravelCenters; Delia Moon Meier: A natural for the truck stop business; and The business of moving oversized loads.

The U.S. Department of Transportation, concerned by lack of response, is considering scrapping a June 6 public hearing in Illinois on that state' commercial driver license program.

In this morning's headlines:Illinois CDL bribe money went to political fundraisers, witness says; Georgia quick to ticket overweight trucks, slow to fine; Drivers for mail-hauling contractor vote to unionize; and Truckers extend highway blockades down under.

In an industry like trucking, which is famous for its tenuous profit margins, cutting expenses has become a fine art. Nearly every dollar that can be shaved from the cost column shows up in the net earnings column, so commercial motor carriers large and small have found inventive ways of taking expenses that at one time looked “fixed” — and unfixing them.

The availability of vehicle inspection and accident data on the Internet from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is beginning to play a bigger role in determining who qualifies for insurance coverage.

It has been a good year for Doug Lauer. The chief information officer for Allied Holdings had already been honored as Georgia’s top CIO, and now he has been named the information technology professional of the year by the Information Technology and Logistics Council and Transport Technology Today magazine.