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Maine’s Legislature has passed a bill that would authorize the state’s Transportation Department to raise the speed limit to 75 mph on any highway — higher than the 65 mph maximum limit in most of the state — as long as the department concludes that it is a safe speed.

A federal appeals court has ruled that a legal challenge to the Securities and Exchange Commission’s “conflict minerals” reporting rule must first be adjudicated in a civil federal district court.

The Transportation Security Administration has awarded a contract to Triumph Enterprises Inc. to continue a program, initially started by American Trucking Associations, to train commercial drivers to spot possible terrorist activities on U.S. highways, according to a memo obtained by Transport Topics.

Medical professionals would be required to report the results of physical examinations of commercial drivers to the federal government on the same day as the exam under a regulation proposed last week.

Wholesale inventories rose 0.4% in March, the Commerce Department said Thursday.

Republicans on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee blocked a vote on confirming Gina McCarthy to head the Environmental Protection Agency by boycotting a scheduled meeting Thursday to consider the nomination, Bloomberg News reported.

WASHINGTON — Two members of Congress proposed a measure that would stop any state’s attempt to increase truck size and weight restrictions on the more than 220,000 miles of the National Highway System.

The number of people killed on U.S. highways rose in 2012 following six years of consecutive declines, the longest streak in the nation’s history, Bloomberg News reported.

The U.S. trade deficit shrank by 11% in March as imports fell by the most in four years, the Commerce Department said Thursday.

Sixty-two percent of American drivers believe the federal government should invest more money in roads but only 27% of those who feel that way favor increasing the 18.4-cent gasoline tax, according to a public opinion poll conducted by AAA.