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AUSTIN, Texas ­— There is a great unknown for how federal and state enforcement authorities as well as trucking companies will come to grips with the proliferation of state laws permitting medical and recreational use of marijuana, a panel of trucking executives said.

A federal district judge in Arkansas has ruled that a legal class of nearly 3,000 truck drivers is entitled to compensation for time in the sleeper berth even though the drivers were signed out as off-duty.

The Department of Transportation’s Inspector General has begun a congressionally mandated audit of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s “corrective action plan” intended to revamp the agency’s Compliance, Safety, Accountability Program methodology.

A sample of last-minute written comments by trucking-related trade organizations mostly were supportive of tweaking federal hours-of-service rules to make them more flexible for commercial vehicle drivers.

Legal observers said the outcome of a case before the U.S. Supreme Court could have major implications for the trucking industry.

Four House Democrats have asked the Environmental Protection Agency Inspector General to investigate a glider truck study by a Tennessee Tech University researcher. The study already is the subject of a research misconduct investigation by the university.

WASHINGTON — Attorneys for Prime Inc. and truck driver Dominic Oliveira argued before the U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 3 the merits of a lawsuit that could deprive fleets and owner-operators alike of their right to resolve disputes through arbitration.

Former Pilot Flying J President Mark Hazelwood was sentenced to 12½ years in prison and fined $750,000 on Sept. 26 for his leadership role in a multimillion-dollar scheme to cheat truckers out of diesel fuel rebates.

The medical community has been waiting nearly three years for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to update its Medical Examiner Handbook, which some examiners use as a guideline for assessing truck drivers’ health.

The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration has pre-empted motor carriers hauling hazardous materials, explosives and security-sensitive cargo from California’s meal-and-rest-break requirements.