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More than a million packages a day in metropolitan Chicago have an ideal commute. They roll through the back gate of the UPS Inc. facility here and into the Burlington Northern Santa Fe rail yard next door — without traveling on a public street — so they can catch a train for such places as Kansas City, Denver or California.

Initial jobless claims rose 4,000 to 307,000 last week, the Labor Department said Thursday.

Patriot Transportation Holding’s fiscal third-quarter net income jumped to $2.4 million or 77 cents a share, from $1.8 million or 59 cents a year earlier.

An interstate highway bridge jammed with rush-hour traffic collapsed into the Mississippi River in Minneapolis late Wednesday, thowing dozens of vehicles into the water and killing at least four people, the Associated Press reported.

Transportation software firm Xata Corp. said Thursday it lost $875,000 or 21 cents a share in its fiscal third quarter, compared with a loss of $559 million or 9 cents a year ago.

UPS Inc. said Wednesday that Jack Holmes, who has headed the operations of UPS Freight for the past year, has been promoted to president of the less-than-truckload unit.

The Institute for Supply Management’s manufacturing index fell in July, ISM said Wednesday.

Foster-Miller Inc. said Tuesday it was awarded a $396,000 contract from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to develop an automated system to help long-haul truckers find available parking.

Foster-Miller Inc.