°®¶¹´«Ã½

WASHINGTON — Consumer confidence inched up in March after two straight monthly declines, even as persistent inflation and anxiety over a possible recession weighed on American households.

Trucking companies in North Dakota are going to be able to have greater flexibility and efficiency serving the agriculture industry with overweight and oversize permits due to a new law passed at the request of the state highway patrol.

The magnitude of the challenge it will be for the U.S. to loosen China’s grip on the electric vehicle supply chain is coming into sharper relief.

TOKYO — Japan and the United States have reached an agreement on trade in critical minerals for electric vehicle batteries, part of an effort to ensure secure supplies of strategically important resources.

DETROIT — U.S. highway safety regulators have opened yet another investigation into problems with Teslas, this time tied to complaints that the seat belts may not hold people in a crash.

The national average price for diesel marked its eighth consecutive weekly drop, shedding another 5.7 cents to dip to $4.128 a gallon, the Energy Information Administration reported.

Improving access to parking for the country’s truck drivers remains a priority for the Biden administration, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said recently.

DETROIT — Challenger Shawn Fain defeated Ray Curry, president of the United Auto Workers, in a close election and vowed to take a more confrontational stance in negotiating with automakers.

WILMINGTON, Del. — President Joe Biden’s choice to run the Federal Aviation Administration, Phillip Washington,  has withdrawn his nomination, a setback for the administration.

OMAHA, Neb. — Union Pacific has become the second major freight railroad in the past week to back away from the industry’s long-standing push to cut train crews down to one person.