News Briefs - Sept. 15
The Latest Headlines:
- Appeals Court Halts California Recall Vote
- New York Factory Index Rises in September
- Gasoline Prices Remain Steady, Lundberg Says
- Fed Not Expected to Change Interest Rates
- Administration Forming Team to Investigate Unfair Trade
- USF to Begin U.S.-Mexico Trucking Services
- Leavitt Slated for Hearing on EPA Post
- New York Factory Index Rises in September
Appeals Court Halts California Recall Vote
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday that the Oct. 7 California gubernatorial recall election cannot proceed as scheduled because some votes would be cast using outmoded punch-card ballot machines, news services reported.The judges of the court agreed with the American Civil Liberties Union that the punch-card voting machines still used in six California counties are prone to error.
However, the court withheld ordering the immediate implementation of its decision by a week to allow time for an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, the Associated Press said.
New York Factory Index Rises in September
Manufacturing in New York state expanded for a fifth straight month in September as new orders, prices and the number of hours worked increased, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said Monday.Its factory index rose to 18.4 this month after 9.98 for August. Values greater than zero signal that a majority of manufacturers said business improved.
The index of new orders rose to 13 in September from 12.5, while an index of factory shipments fell to 17 from 22.6 a month earlier.
However, a gauge of expected business conditions over the next six months declined to 58.8 this month from 59.5 in August. Transport Topics
Gasoline Prices Remain Steady, Lundberg Says
Retail gasoline prices remained stable over the past three weeks, according to the Lundberg Survey of 8,000 stations nationwide.The average price for a gallon of self-serve gasoline nationwide, including all grades and taxes, was $1.75 on Friday, up only .29 of a cent since Aug. 22. Gasoline had increased 21 cents since early June, Lundberg said.
About one-third of commercial trucking uses gasoline.
Lundberg said the end of the summer driving season and a general reduction in crude oil prices helped lower prices, the Associated Press reported.
As of Friday, self-serve regular gasoline showed an average weighted price of $1.72 a gallon, with midgrade at $1.82 and premium at $1.91. Transport Topics
Fed Not Expected to Change Interest Rates
The Federal Reserve is not expected to change interest rates when it meets on Tuesday, the Associated Press reported Monday.The Fed last cut interest rates in June. It pushed the target for the federal funds rate, the interest that banks charge each other for overnight loans, down by one-quarter of a percentage point to a 45-year low of 1%.
Although the Fed's action failed to stimulate the economy at the time, the economy has showing signs of picking up in recent weeks, AP said. Transport Topics
Administration Forming Team to Investigate Unfair Trade
The Bush administration is establishing an unfair-trade-practices team to investigate evidence of anticompetitive practices such as illegal dumping and subsidies, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday.The new team is designed to speed up complaints filed by U.S. firms against foreign competitors, and watch for early signs of anticompetitive behavior, such as governments subsidizing production.
The team is expected to be part of the Commerce Department, the article said. Transport Topics
USF to Begin U.S.-Mexico Trucking Services
USF Corp. said it would begin service between the United States and Mexico during the fourth quarter of 2003, Bloomberg reported.The joint venture would be with Autolineas Mexicanas SA, a nationwide carrier with 52 terminals in Mexico.
USF said it would back the venture with a $10 million loan. It would include transportation and freight management services within Mexico, as well as cross-border trucking.
USF is ranked No. 10 on the 2003 Transport Topics 100 list of the largest U.S. and Canadian trucking companies. Transport Topics
Leavitt Slated for Hearing on EPA Post
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee planned to meet Sept. 18 to consider President Bush’s nomination of Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt to be administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.Meanwhile, two Democrats on the panel, Joseph Lieberman (Conn.) and Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.), said they wanted to ask Leavitt about a report by EPA’s inspector general that the agency gave New Yorkers misleading assurances that there was no air-quality health risk from debris, smoke and dust when the World Trade Center collapsed from the 9/11 terrorist attacks, said the Associated Press.
Clinton spokesman Amy Bonitaibus told Transport Topics Sept. 9 that Clinton was “going to vote no, unless she gets her questions answered” at the committee level on Leavitt’s nomination.
Earlier, Clinton had told AP that she would go further and place a hold on the nomination if she does receive satisfactory answers, a procedure that would block the full Senate from voting on Leavitt. John Wislocki
This story appeared in the Sept. 15 print edition of Transport Topics.
