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The federal government will provide $4 million in emergency relief funds to Louisiana and Mississippi to help repair roads and bridges damaged by floods caused by Hurricane Gustav, U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters said Friday.

U.S. consumer confidence this month rose by the most in four years in September, according to the Reuters/University of Michigan’s preliminary monthly consumer sentiment index, released Friday.

U.S. payrolls plummeted in August as the unemployment rate soared to 6.1%, tying a 2003 record, the Labor Department said Friday.

The New Jersey Turnpike Authority asked Gov. Jon Corzine (D) to approve a series of toll increases on two of the state’s major toll roads to pay for infrastructure improvements, the Associated Press reported.

Transport Topics Online will be closed Monday for the Labor Day holiday. Please check back on Tuesday, Sept. 8, for the latest trucking and freight transportation news.

American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings will expand a factory in Michigan to build more parts for large commercial trucks, reducing its reliance on General Motors Corp. for business, Bloomberg reported Thursday.

The U.S. economy’s service sector expanded in August following two straight months of contraction, the Institute for Supply Management said Thursday.

The Massachusetts Turnpike Authority is placing a weight limit for trucks on the Leverett Connector in Boston, related to the city’s $15 billion “Big Dig” construction project, the Associated Press reported.

Second-quarter U.S. worker productivity rose at a 4.3% annual rate, more than previously estimated, the Labor Department said Thursday.