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The Idaho Department of Transportation Board voted to add nearly 30 more state highways to the list of roads that trucks pulling 53-foot trailers may travel without a special permit.

Stronger, better, longer-lasting tires could bring tax difficulties for trucking companies, according to the taxation committee chairman of an American Trucking Associations council.

Election-year politics and a split between a Republican Congress and a Democratic White House means no major tax issues will be settled during the balance of this year, according to a Washington-based tax lawyer.

Yellow Corp. has joined the growing list of trucking companies that are buying back their stock, announcing June 23 its intention to spend up to $25 million in the repurchasing program.

Congress needs to prevent the Department of Transportation from rushing out the door with a half-baked hours-of-service rule that would have a devastating impact on trucking. And the best way for Congress to do that is to embrace the Senate’s ban on using any of the money in the new DOT budget from being spent on finalizing the rule.

Trucking faces a number of challenges today — most emanating from Washington — that threaten the foundation of our industry, from diesel fuel prices and emissions standards to proposed ergonomics regulations and state weight-distance taxes. But on no issue are the stakes higher than they are right now on the battle over reform of truck driver hours of service.

The relationship between drivers and dispatchers has always been a potentially stormy one.

D.M. Bowman has developed a unique benefit for its male drivers — a wife. If drivers already have a spouse at home, they get an extra caretaker at work.

Trucking companies can pinpoint the locations of the trucks in their fleets, find the most economical places to buy fuel, match loads, calculate taxes and perform a variety of other functions over an Internet-based system unveiled here June 27 by Peoplenet Communications.

The pressure is on manufacturers of diesel engines as regional air quality agencies in California ban new purchases of diesel engines for public bus fleets and government contractors, and studies link diesel emissions to cancer and premature deaths.