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NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Larger, heavier trucks would not be just an economic boost, but also a means of cutting annual petroleum usage by billions of gallons and sharply reducing greenhouse gases, a university researcher told a gathering of shippers here.

The Obama administration last week issued a renewable fuel standard proposal aimed at growing the supply of biofuels and for the first time requiring them to meet emission-reduction targets.

First-quarter U.S. worker productivity improved at an 0.8% annual rate in the first quarter, the Labor Department said Thursday.

Tank and bulk carrier Patriot Transportation Holding said Wednesday its fiscal second-quarter net income rose to $1.4 million, or 45 cents a share, from $626,000, or 20 cents, a year ago.

The U.S. economy’s service sector rate of contraction slowed last month, the Institute for Supply Management said Tuesday.

The Environmental Protection Agency is close to proposing standards for ethanol use, but officials face a question on whether or not ethanol’s indirect effects on the environment should be considered in the rule-making process, the Associated Press reported Sunday.

Transportation software firm Xata Corp. said Monday it lost $443,000, or 5 cents per share, in its fiscal second quarter, compared with a loss of $1.3 million, or 17 cents, a year ago.

The most onerous and misguided portions of the plan by the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to reshape the trucking industry there have been enjoined by a federal court, at least for now.