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Transport Topics Online will be closed Monday for the Memorial Day holiday. Please check back on Tuesday, June 1, for the latest trucking and freight transportation news.

Clearly, apprehension over the potential ramifications of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s new truck safety ratings program is growing as we move closer to full implementation of the plan.

I agree with “Opinion” writer Paul Landry: There’s no question that safety is more important than money. As consumers, we need to do the same when it comes to setting priorities.

First-quarter gross domestic product was revised downward to 3% from an originally reported 3.2%, the Commerce Department said Thursday.

China’s Dongfeng Motor Group Co. will spend $146 million to build a heavy truck factory in that country’s Hubei province, Bloomberg reported.

Flatbed carrier Boyd Bros. Transportation has ordered 325 trucks with 2010 engines from Navistar Inc., the manufacturer said Thursday.

As a former New York Department of Transportation regulator and a current player in the motor carrier transportation industry, I have followed the concerns voiced by members of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association and the Transportation Intermediaries Association, which represents property brokers and other third-party intermediaries.

Consumer confidence grew this month to its highest level since March 2008, the New York-based Conference Board reported.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood called Canada’s offer to pay up to $550 million for the U.S. side of a proposed new bridge between Detroit and Ontario “quite extraordinary,” the Canadian Press reported.

Kansas’ move to become the 26th state to outlaw texting while driving has drawn praise from U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood for pushing the country past the halfway mark to a nationwide ban on the practice.