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The North Carolina House blocked a bill that would have raised top highway speeds to 75 mph in the state, citing safety concerns, the (Raleigh) News and Observer reported.

An index of leading economic indicators rose 0.1% in May, the New York-based Conference Board said Thursday.

U.S. stocks fell following Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s statement that the Fed may slow the pace of its bond purchases later this year, Bloomberg News reported.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has shut down E&K Trucking of Commerce City, Colo., declaring the company a hazard to public safety because it does not maintain its vehicles in good working order.

Driven by the recent collapse of the Interstate 5 Skagit River Bridge in Washington state, Rep. Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.) and House Democratic transportation leaders introduced legislation Wednesday that would provide $5.5 billion to repair structurally deficient bridges nationwide.

The federal hours-of-service rule’s July 1 implementation date should be postponed until the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration completes mandated research on the rule, American Transportation Research Institute Chairman Steve Williams told a House panel Tuesday.

Two U.S. congressmen from Wisconsin introduced legislation to allow trucks heavier than 80,000 pounds now running on U.S. Highway 41 in that state to continuing using the road if it becomes an interstate next year.

Upcoming restrictions to the 34-hour restart provision of the hours-of-service rule for truck drivers will cost the trucking industry $189 million annually — a $322 million difference from the $133 million benefit that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration estimated when it wrote the new restrictions, according to a new American Transportation Research Institute study.

Consumer confidence fell in June from a six-year high the previous month, according to the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan consumer sentiment index released Friday.