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Trucking company failures during the third quarter markedly trailed the record pace for last year, as freight demand stabilized and showed early signs of a coming improvement in rates, according to a new report from Avondale Partners.

Charles “Shorty” Whittington, immediate past chairman of American Trucking Associations, was among the officials who stressed to the Obama administration the importance of investing in the nation’s roads and bridges during the president’s recent Washington jobs summit.

The California Air Resources Board last week began to look into changing the state’s diesel emissions rule, which could give truckers hit by the recession more “flexibility” or even partial delays of one or two years in complying.

President Obama has nominated David Strickland to be the next administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the White House announced.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency last week declared that greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles and industrial facilities are a danger to human health, a first step the agency must take along the path to regulations limiting the levels of combustion by-products from tailpipes.

The U.S. diesel average inched down another 0.3 cent to $2.772 a gallon last week, the fifth straight decline, the Department of Energy reported.

Caterpillar Logistics Services said it will open a new parts distribution center in Clayton, Ohio.

Companies including FedEx Corp. have begun reinstating some employee benefits as the economy has shown signs of improvement, USA Today reported Friday.

Business inventories rose in October for the first time in a year, the Commerce Department said Friday.