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The on-again, off-again fight to toughen classification standards for independent contractors is on again, with an effort being led by Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), who last month introduced a bill trucking industry officials said would erode the protections afforded employers against attempts by the Internal Revenue Service to reclassify independent contractors as employees.

The average cost of a gallon of diesel in the United States rose for the first time in eight weeks, inching up 0.6 cent to $2.732 a gallon, the Department of Energy reported.

Manufacturing activity in the Chicago region showed expansion in December, the Institute for Supply Chain Management-Chicago reported Wednesday.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration said it was delaying some intermodal chassis safety requirements for six months to give operators of that equipment more time to create a database to track the condition of each chassis.

The Environmental Protection Agency has refused to back a request from American Trucking Associations and the Canadian Trucking Alliance that foreign (non-U.S.) drivers be allowed to reposition their trailers between two points.

Consumer confidence rose to a three-month high, the New York-based Conference Board reported Tuesday, as retail sales last week improved 2.3% from a year ago.

Work crews struggling around the clock to clear a rockslide on Interstate 40 in western North Carolina to speed the clearance of boulders from the road, the Associated Press reported.

Some of the year’s most significant information technology developments came from Washington, D.C., where federal regulators planted the seeds for tighter industry oversight for years to come.