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Construction spending rose in March for the first time in six months, the Commerce Department said Monday.

The Environmental Protection Agency is close to proposing standards for ethanol use, but officials face a question on whether or not ethanol’s indirect effects on the environment should be considered in the rule-making process, the Associated Press reported Sunday.

Truckload carrier P.A.M. Transportation Services reported a first-quarter loss of $3.4 million, or 36 cents per share, compared with a loss of $2.8 million, or 29 cents, a year ago.

The most onerous and misguided portions of the plan by the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to reshape the trucking industry there have been enjoined by a federal court, at least for now.

Weak Class 8 truck sales around the world led to plunging revenue and either losses or vastly diminished first-quarter profits for three of the four major heavy-duty truck manufacturers and both independent engine makers operating in North America.

The Obama administration is continuing to work on a plan to restart cross-border trucking between the United States and Mexico, even as the two countries battle the spread of “swine flu.”

The refrigerated sector of the trucking industry has been the only healthy activity for fleets in the current recession. Refrigerated truckload shipments grew slightly from last year, but dry vans, tankers and flatbeds all dropped substantially, industry executives and American Trucking Associations said.

MISSISSAUGA, Ontario — ArvinMeritor Inc. officially opened its new remanufacturing facility here for its Mascot Truck Parts division, the latest development in the company’s expanding presence in this niche of the truck equipment business.