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WASHINGTON — Time-sensitive delivery is here to stay, and that will change methods of freight movement, said one expert speaking at the Transportation Research Board’s annual meeting.

The Transportation Security Administration plans to begin closing a handful of security checkpoints at airports around the United States as soon as this weekend in response to staff shortages triggered by a partial federal government shutdown now in its third week.

Almost a third of the $2 trillion that U.S. states spend each year comes from Washington, so the partial shutdown of the federal government would seem to spell major financial trouble in America’s statehouses.

After a Dec. 31 report by the Iowa Department of Transportation that shows a $317,000 reduction in the Road Use Tax Fund in 2018, state officials have made recommendations to the Iowa Legislature such as increasing fees or charging taxes to electric vehicle owners.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV will pay hundreds of millions of dollars to settle a lawsuit brought by the U.S. Justice Department, which alleged some of its diesel-powered vehicles violated clean-air rules, a person familiar with the matter said.

President Donald Trump expressed optimism that U.S.-China trade talks in Beijing are progressing well, as Chinese authorities planned to give a statement after the latest round of negotiations.

After a 2018 that saw record-setting levels of freight-hauling demand and driver pay as tonnage levels reached a 20-year high, the trucking industry is expected to remain strong in 2019 but undergo a bit of a cool-down, economists say.

Sears representatives summoned liquidation firms and other advisers to emergency meetings on Jan. 4 after rejecting Lampert’s $4.4 billion bid to buy and operate Sears stores.

Infrastructure and trade loom large for trucking in the year ahead as freight carriers adjust to a slower, but still positive, rate of economic growth in 2019, according to industry experts interviewed by Transport Topics.