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Vehicle parts manufacturer Eaton Corp. said it is combining its auto and truck groups into one operating unit.

Every industry has its early adopters and its bellwethers — companies and executives who embrace new technologies and philosophies long before most of their competitors are willing to move.

The U.S. economy’s service sector improved last month, showing the smallest level of contraction in nine months, the Institute for Supply Management said Monday.

The Canadian Auto Workers said it has rejected a proposal from Navistar International Corp. to keep the company’s Chatham, Ontario, heavy-duty truck plant open, while a Navistar spokesman said the plant will remain closed until a new labor agreement is reached.

Monson Trucking, Duluth, Minn., will shut down operations Aug. 31, the Associated Press reported.

Grocery retailer Safeway Inc. said it will begin inflating its truck and trailer fleet tires with nitrogen instead of compressed air.

Now that the federal government is taking over big businesses, it is time to reregulate trucking industry rating structures. We need price stabilization of rates so we can purchase equipment and train our personnel properly.

Trucking continues to search for irrefutable proof that the worst of the recession is behind us. While that proof has proved elusive, we are seeing some hints that things are improving.

In a vote divided largely along party lines, the House last week narrowly passed an energy bill that calls for the United States to reduce its greenhouse-gas emissions by 17% from 2005 levels by 2020 and includes a controversial cap-and-trade provision. The vote sends the measure to the Senate, where it likely faces a tough and long battle.

A leading Democrat on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee proposed taxing speculative oil trades to kill two birds with one stone: Boost highway funding and reduce the effect of speculation on fuel prices.