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Layoffs and job eliminations among major truck manufacturers topped 11,900 this year as companies cut back production to try to match costs with falling orders.

In an effort to prevent Nasdaq from following through with plans to delist @Track Communications from the SmallCap Market, the company has requested a hearing with Nasdaq’s Listing Qualifications Panel.

While the federal government can't say how much it will spend to encourage retrofits with cleaner diesel engines, Sacramento, Calif., is spending $50 million to get as many as 6,000 older, dirtier engines off the road.

California, where the whole emissions thing started, is at it again. But this time, the state wants to retrofit older trucks and buses with particulate traps.

In the news this morning: Swift to buy Cardinal Freight Carriers; FedEx second-quarter earnings rise 18%; wind and snow expected to wallop northern Plains, Midwest; and more.

This afternoon's headlines: FMCSA proposes tighter load-securement rules; Intrenet names new chairman; Firestone admits to manufacturing, design problems with some of its SUV tires; and more.

Today's technology headlines: Radiation levels of cell phones to be revealed to U.S. consumers; Hong Kong industry group readies global logistics database; Handspring's phone module for handhelds hits market; and more.

In a key policy shift on the U.S. economic outlook, the Federal Reserve Board decided Tuesday to hold short-term U.S. interest rates steady for now but said risks from economic weakness loom larger than before.

The 106th Congress gave the trucking industry a reprieve by putting the hours-of-service rules on hold in September, but federal lawmakers were unable to reach a similar consensus on ergonomic regulations as their post-election session drew to a close.

The Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed standards for heavy-duty diesel engine emissions in 2007 have produced an argument that has bounced back and forth for months among engine manufacturers, the makers of antipollution devices and oil refiners.