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Trucking and freight companies of all kinds are confident that the economic environment will remain strong throughout 1999.

The Office of Motor Carriers is now the Motor Carrier and Highway Safety business unit, reflecting its Feb. 1 merger with the Office of Highway Safety under the Federal Highway Administration’s reorganization.

Montana’s biggest trucking organization says the state Legislature’s proposed 10 mph increase in the speed limit for trucks on Interstate highways would increase accidents and deaths.

A former secretary of state worker charged with trading commercial driver licenses for bribes also issued a license to a trucker involved in a 1994 Wisconsin crash that killed six children.

Trucking companies that receive calls to their toll-free numbers from pay telephones got a slight reprieve when the pay phone surcharge was lowered by more than 4 cents to 24 cents per call.

Navistar International Corp. reported Thursday its first-quarter profits soared 61 percent as strong world demand for its trucks and engines boosted the bottom line.

Swedish vehicle maker Volvo AB reported a 168 percent surge in profits for the fourth quarter last year as higher sales across the board overcame weakness in the company's Asian operations.

The Dec. 22 deadline to comply with stiffer regulations on maintaining underground storage tanks has come and gone. Violators have until Feb. 12 to request EPA’s "minimal penalties" offer.

Some lawmakers want to tax heavy trucks by the miles they travel in Arkansas, to boost funding for state highway improvements.

The Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Justice heard an earful about the consent decrees U.S. diesel engine makers were forced to agree to in order to settle alleged Clean Air Act violations.