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Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is the safest U.S. city to drive in, according to a new insurance study, the Associated Press reported. Sioux Falls, S.D., ranks second.

Shares of a handful of major truckload firms fell Wednesday after a trucking industry analyst from Bear Stearns & Co. lowered ratings on several trucking stocks, citing a slowing business environment, falling demand and higher costs.

Crude oil prices fell for a third straight day following a Department of Energy report Wednesday showing that distillate fuel inventories, which include diesel, rose last week.

Engine and heavy-equipment maker Caterpillar Inc. said Wednesday it would split its stock 2-for-1 and boost its quarterly dividend by 9 cents, following record sales last year.

General Motors Corp. plans to cut 25,000 manufacturing jobs between now and 2008, GM's chief executive officer Rick Wagoner said Tuesday.

Click here to write a Letter to the Editor. he International Brotherhood of Teamsters and Maritech Leasing said they reached accord on the first new contract between the union and a port trucking company in more than 20 years.

Total air cargo shipments rose 0.3% in April compared with a year earlier, following a 3.1% year-over-year drop in March, the Air Transport Association reported.

Click here to write a Letter to the Editor. he average price of U.S. retail diesel fuel rose 7.4 cents to $2.234 a gallon, the Department of Energy reported Monday.

Average retail diesel prices are expected to remain above regular gasoline prices through 2006, the Department of Energy said in its monthly Short-Term Energy Outlook released Tuesday.

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee approved its portion of energy legislation that would increase the use of biofuels such as biodiesel and ethanol.