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August truck tonnage volumes reinforced signs of a recovering economy, reaching the highest level in six months and recording the best year-over-year performance since November, according to American Trucking Associations.

As signs of an evolving U.S. economic rebound in-crease, trucking industry leaders will gather in Las Vegas, Oct. 4-7, at American Trucking Associations’ annual Management Conference & Exhibition.

WASHINGTON — While government officials, researchers and industry executives debated the merits of limiting driver distractions, state and federal lawmakers used last week’s distracted driving summit to pitch their various solutions to what Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood called “an epidemic.”

The U.S. unemployment rate rose to 9.8% in September, the highest rate since 1983, while the trucking industry lost 3,600 jobs, the Labor Department said Friday.

Factory orders fell 0.8%% in August, the first decline after four months of increases, the Commerce Department said Friday.

Intermodal rail traffic in the United States fell 16.5% last week from the same week a year ago, the Association of American Railroads said in its weekly report.

FedEx Corp. has promoted Fred Schardt to chief executive officer of its FedEx Trade Networks subsidiary, the company said Thursday.

An index of U.S. manufacturing activity declined slightly in September but showed overall expansion, the Institute for Supply Management said Thursday.

U.S. construction spending rose 0.8% in August, the largest increase since September 2008, the Commerce Department said Thursday.