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The fight over truck weight is shaping up like this: In one corner are the truckers and their customers who believe bigger and/or heavier trailers will boost productivity. In the other corner are truckers who feel pressured to buy these bigger trailers without getting paid more to move the freight.

Former Transportation Secretary Samuel K. Skinner urged transportation executives to become involved in politics for the sake of their businesses despite his own recent exit from government to the trucking industry.

In the news this morning: Heavy snow brings Buffalo to a standstill; Delivery service CD&L ekes out mild 3Q gain; NHSTA may probe Goodyear tires; and more to come.

Today's technology headlines: E-retailers vow to deliver the goods for the holidays; Landstar keeps the trucks running via homemade Internet applications; E-Steel moves industry value chain online; and more.

This afternoon's headlines: Gas prices drop, but still higher than a year ago; Chrysler may face plant shutdowns; Tower Group opens Denver office; and more to come.

Nobody walks away from money without a struggle. In the temperature-controlled industry with its thin margins, we scramble for fractions of a penny per mile.

In an effort to get more options for their customers, the nation’s freight brokers — in conjunction with the railroads — are trying to cajole non-traditional rail shippers into using intermodal transportation.

PNV will not meet its capital needs beyond February without additional financing, the company stated in a quarterly report filed last week.

For the first time, members of the Intermodal Association of North America met last week in joint session with the National Industrial Transportation League and the Transportation Intermediaries Association.

Parents of a teenage driver killed when his car went under the side of a semitrailer were awarded $400,000 by a Texas jury, which found the manufacturer negligent for not having side underride guards on its trailer.