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The slow economic recovery is causing many Americans either to delay retirement or to return to the workforce after retiring to supplement income. A 2005 American Trucking Associations study found one in five truck drivers was older than 55 — and by 2014, it’s expected to be one in four.

An index of U.S. manufacturing activity expanded in December for the fifth straight month, the Institute for Supply Management said Monday.

Even before the first stage of the new federal Comprehensive Safety Analysis begins next summer, some freight companies are stepping up efforts to educate drivers and management about the new ratings and are taking steps to reduce the risk of violations.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has sent its final rule governing the use of electronic onboard recorders to the White House for review.

Less-than-truckload carrier Lakeville Motor Express has been sold by the Wren family that founded the Minnesota company in 1921 to Roger Wilsey Sr., an LME vice president, and his wife, Shari.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration said Monday it will hold four “listening sessions” this month in various locations around the country to gather information and public comment on truck driver house of service rules.

Diesel exhaust fluid, the additive that most 2010 trucks will need to run, will be available at about 2,800 locations in the United States and Canada by January, ramping up to more than 5,000 by the end of the year, a spokeswoman for the North American SCR Stakeholders Group said.

Transport Topics Online will be closed Thursday and Friday for the New Year’s Day holiday. Please check back on Monday, Jan. 4, for the latest trucking and freight transportation news.

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

I wanted to write to thank you or your Digest item “Wal-Mart Donates 35 Trucks to Food Banks” in the Nov. 16 issue, p. 33. In this economy, it is refreshing to read a positive, goodwill article.

I contacted Wal-Mart to tell them and their CEO what a great job they did. Without trucks, all the goodness of America wouldn’t be delivered.