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WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court says it will hold a special session Jan. 7 to weigh challenges to two Biden administration policies covering vaccine requirements for millions of workers — policies that affect large employers and health care workers.

The U.S. government has authorized Petroleos Mexicanos’ bid to take over Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s Deer Park refinery, according to Mexico President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

President Joe Biden said that his administration, together with labor unions and companies, succeeded in averting a holiday season supply chain crisis.

WASHINGTON — U.S. consumer confidence rose in December as Americans shrugged off concerns about rising prices and COVID-19’s highly contagious omicron variant.

In the coffee trading world, a ship steaming across the Atlantic Ocean is garnering a lot of attention.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. economy grew at a 2.3% rate in the third quarter, slightly better than previously thought, the Commerce Department said Dec. 22. But prospects for a solid rebound going forward are being clouded by the rapid spread of the latest variant of the coronavirus.

State Environmental Protection officials adopted Advanced Clean Truck rules Dec. 20 that would make New Jersey the first East Coast state to require phasing in of electric commercial trucks to reduce air pollution and the diseases it causes.

Federal programs aimed at improving safety along the country’s highways will receive a boost in funding, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recently indicated.

The trucking industry will look back on 2021 as a year of important victories for infrastructure improvement and workforce development, and now can look ahead to the opportunities those victories present, leaders from American Trucking Associations said.

The national average price of diesel slid 2.3 cents to $3.626 a gallon in the fifth consecutive decline, according to Energy Information Administration data released Dec. 20.