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Patrick Quinn was a lot of different things to different people. To trucking, he was a leader.

The Department of Transportation is awarding $511 million to fund 46 transportation projects in 33 states and Puerto Rico, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said.

The consumer price index was unchanged in November as gas prices dropped, the Labor Department said Friday.

U.S. diesel prices slipped 3.7 cents to $3.894 a gallon last week, the third straight weekly drop, the Department of Energy reported.

Three new projects, featuring transloading between trucks and trains, are being developed to tap the growing demand to transport crude oil generated by recent energy development efforts, according to separate announcements.

The overall size of the U.S. Class 8 fleet continued its downward slide since peaking in 2008, R.L. Polk & Co. said in its latest report, which showed the number of U.S. Class 8 vehicles in operation fell 4.2% in the third quarter.

FedEx Corp.’s net income climbed 76% in its fiscal 2012 second quarter, helped by a third consecutive profitable quarter at the freight unit and higher earnings at the ground and express businesses.

Patrick Quinn, 65, a co-founder of the nation’s third-largest truckload carrier who rose from a small Nebraska farm to national positions of trucking industry leadership after opting out of a corporate legal career, died Dec. 13 at his home near Chattanooga, Tenn., succumbing to brain cancer.

The Senate Commerce Committee approved a bill to create a national freight program that its sponsors said would boost America’s global economic competitiveness, improve its mobility and promote energy conservation.

Federal regulators last week took initial steps to clarify procedures that have created uncertainty as to whether motor carriers, intermodal equipment providers, brokers and freight forwarders can pay a civil fine for violations without admitting guilt or liability.