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The chairwoman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, along with representatives of state transportation departments and contractors, urged the Senate to pass a scaled-back version of a jobs bill that would include infrastructure funding, when Congress returns from recess this week.

A group including motor carriers, businesses, several members of Congress and a conservative public interest legal foundation has filed a lawsuit in federal appeals court challenging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s finding that greenhouse gas emissions are a danger to public health.

Stronger readings in a new monthly freight index based on diesel purchases are adding to mounting evidence that truck freight in January continued the gradual improvement the industry has seen from the year-ago doldrums.

A year into the Obama administration, American Trucking Associations President Bill Graves said the trucking industry’s challenges are primarily regulatory, rather than legislative, because of the gridlock that has enveloped Congress since last year.

John Ruan, who — beginning with one used dump truck — launched a trucking, financial, real estate and philanthropic empire during the Great Depression, died Feb. 13. He was 96.

U.S. Class 8 retail truck sales eked out their first year-over-year gain in 13 months in January, inching up 0.2% compared with January 2009, WardsAuto.com reported.

Diesel prices slipped for the fifth week in a row, dropping 1.3 cents to a national average of $2.756 a gallon, the U.S. Department of Energy said in its weekly fuel report.

The final rule for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s National Registry of Certified Medical Examiners is expected late this summer and is causing concern about rising prices and availability among drivers and motor carriers.

The consumer price index rose 0.2% in January, the fifth consecutive increase, the Labor Department said Friday.

The Department of Transportation’s freight transportation services index for December fell 4.1% from a year earlier but did not change from November, DOT said Thursday.