Government

MOUNT VERNON, Wash. — Paccar Inc. officials last week officially unveiled the company’s first-ever heavy-duty diesel engine in North America, an advanced version of the power plant its European-based subsidiary has been producing for several years.

The record-breaking blizzard last week, the second massive storm in a week to hit the mid-Atlantic region, caused Delaware, Maryland and Pennsylvania to close highways for at least part of Feb. 10, and forced trucks to park and delivery schedules to absorb delays.

DULLES, Va. — For Dennis Halsey, it was a return trip nearly a decade in the making.

The U.S. Department of Transportation has published a proposed rule that would toughen its workplace drug-testing program for truck drivers and other transportation workers, including testing for the drugs “ecstasy” and heroin.

Trucking and intermodal leaders are pressing the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to change two key safety reporting steps before the agency’s delayed chassis safety rule finally takes effect on June 30.

TAMPA, Fla. — A major truck-making executive and the chairman of American Trucking Associations offered differing views on the future of trucking, but both agreed that federal regulation of business is generating unwelcome distortions of how firms can operate.

Diesel prices largely held steady last week, with the national average price per gallon at $2.835, falling just 1.7 cents from the previous week, according to AAA’s daily price report for Feb. 11.

U.S. consumer confidence dropped in February from a two-year high, according to the Reuters/University of Michigan monthly consumer sentiment index released Friday.

Retail sales climbed 0.5% in January, the third increase in four months, the Commerce Department said Friday.