°®¶¹´«Ã½

Consumer confidence fell to a five-year low this month, the New York-based Conference Board said Tuesday.

Chicago will receive more than $153 million in federal funds under a new congestion initiative, the U.S. Department of Transportation said.

Truckload carrier P.A.M. Transportation Services said it lost $2.8 million, or 29 cents a share, in the first quarter, compared with net income of $1.3 million, or 12 cents, a year earlier.

WASHINGTON — The government should not only stop filling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, but also consider releasing oil to help lower the price of diesel fuel, Dave Berry, chairman of the American Trucking Associations’ environmental and energy policy committee, told Congress last week.

The federal government has offered Los Angeles County $213 million to convert carpool lanes to special, congestion-pricing toll lanes on three freeways, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Hundreds of truck drivers descended on Washington Monday to protest high diesel prices, WRC-4 television reported on its Web site.

PRINCETON, N.J. — ALK Technologies will add a Web-based version of its PC Miler mapping and routing software to the company’s family of truck navigation products this year, ALK’s chief technology officer said.

U.S. retail fuel prices continued to soar into uncharted territory last week, as the average price of diesel jumped another 8.4 cents to $4.143 a gallon and gasoline gained 11.9 cents to $3.508, the Department of Energy reported.