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Penske Truck Leasing Co. said that it has completed the acquisition of Bright Truck Leasing & Bright Distribution, a truck leasing, maintenance, rental and logistics company.

RALEIGH, N.C. — After four years of learning, technician Christopher Tate, 37, overcame the challenges of 81 competitors, 14 skills station hurdles and a four-hour written test to lay claim to the title of grand national champion of SuperTech 2009.

The Obama administration last week issued its proposed new fuel efficiency and first-ever national greenhouse gases reduction standards for passenger cars and light trucks.

Trucking suffered the greatest loss of jobs in history during January, excluding the month of the national drivers’ strike in 1994.

Dennis Shirar, a driver with Indianapolis-based Heritage Transport who has driven 3 million accident-free miles, was named the 2008 National Truck Driving Grand Champion, American Trucking Associations said.

The annual National Truck Driver Association Week began Sunday and will run through Saturday, American Trucking Associations said.

Two national truckload carriers have signed letters of intent to participate in the port of Los Angeles’ Clean Trucks Plan, the Los Angeles Times reported Friday.

WASHINGTON — In a controversial report calling for huge new spending on the national transportation system, a congressional commission last week made several recommendations that would affect trucking, including new flexibility in the federal driver hours-of-service rule in congestion-prone areas.

The commission charged with examining the future of the national transportation system is set to recommend a significant increase in federal fuel taxes to Congress, according to wire service reports and other sources.