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The California Air Resources Board has launched a $20 million funding assistance program to stimulate the purchase of hybrid trucks and buses.

John Ruan, who — beginning with one used dump truck — launched a trucking, financial, real estate and philanthropic empire during the Great Depression, died Feb. 13. He was 96.

Trade groups representing products ranging from farm to factory are pressuring the Obama administration and Congress to reinstate a Mexican cross-border trucking program to end Mexico’s retaliatory tariffs that cost U.S. businesses millions of dollars in lost revenue.

Stronger readings in a new monthly freight index based on diesel purchases are adding to mounting evidence that truck freight in January continued the gradual improvement the industry has seen from the year-ago doldrums.

TAMPA, Fla. — Jerry Thrift, the new chairman of the Technology & Maintenance Council, wants trucking companies and truck makers to get their money’s worth and make full use of the council’s more than 3,000 engineering and maintenance recommended practices.

A year into the Obama administration, American Trucking Associations President Bill Graves said the trucking industry’s challenges are primarily regulatory, rather than legislative, because of the gridlock that has enveloped Congress since last year.

U.S. Class 8 retail truck sales eked out their first year-over-year gain in 13 months in January, inching up 0.2% compared with January 2009, WardsAuto.com reported.

TAMPA, Fla. — Jerry Thrift of Ryder System, Miami, was installed as chairman of the Technology & Maintenance Council of American Trucking Associations during the group’s meeting here Feb. 11.