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Three major truck makers altered their manufacturing activities last week. Daimler Trucks reversed its decision to shutter its Portland, Ore., plant; Peterbilt Motors closed its dormant Madison, Tenn., factory; and Navistar International announced it has found a Chinese manufacturer with which it will work as part of its partnership with Caterpillar Inc.

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration will move to ban cell-phone texting by truck drivers and to restrict the use of other in-cab communications units, according to Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

U.S. retail diesel prices dipped again last week as the national average reached $2.601, 2.1 cents lower than the week before, according to the Department of Energy.

August truck tonnage volumes reinforced signs of a recovering economy, reaching the highest level in six months and recording the best year-over-year performance since November, according to American Trucking Associations.

As signs of an evolving U.S. economic rebound in-crease, trucking industry leaders will gather in Las Vegas, Oct. 4-7, at American Trucking Associations’ annual Management Conference & Exhibition.

WASHINGTON — While government officials, researchers and industry executives debated the merits of limiting driver distractions, state and federal lawmakers used last week’s distracted driving summit to pitch their various solutions to what Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood called “an epidemic.”

The U.S. unemployment rate rose to 9.8% in September, the highest rate since 1983, while the trucking industry lost 3,600 jobs, the Labor Department said Friday.

Factory orders fell 0.8%% in August, the first decline after four months of increases, the Commerce Department said Friday.

Intermodal rail traffic in the United States fell 16.5% last week from the same week a year ago, the Association of American Railroads said in its weekly report.