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CHICAGO — Former Transportation Secretary Samuel Skinner defended current Secretary Ray LaHood, telling tank truck executives here that recent pushes to promote rail and other modes of transportation at the expense of trucking were likely foisted upon him by the White House.

After facing off in federal court in Los Angeles last month, attorneys for American Trucking Associations and the Port of Los Angeles are expected to file their final post-trial briefs this week in the contentious court dispute over parts of the port’s clean trucks program.

Oil dropped $2.77 Wednesday to close the day at a seven-week low on concerns about Greece’s financial crisis and the U.S. crude inventory, Bloomberg said.

A proposal that would allow police to fine drivers of cars and trucks $75 for failing to remove snow and ice from their vehicles has overwhelmingly passed the Connecticut House.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration issued a waiver from its hours-of-service rules for trucks hauling supplies being used in the cleanup of the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

The California Air Resources Board has directed its staff to come up with specific proposals by September to provide additional flexibility to help truckers ease the financial pain of complying with the state’s new truck regulations.

U.S. consumer confidence fell this month, but was higher than previously estimated, according to the latest Reuters/University of Michigan monthly consumer sentiment index released Friday. 

A shipper may hire a truck for any of a variety of reasons: Perhaps there is a long distance to cover or the load requires more space than available in the trunk of a car.