CNN talk show host Greta Van Susteren and Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater will headline a two-day national transportation safety conference March 2 and 3.

Rep. Frank Wolf(TT File Photo)Support for creation of a federal agency devoted solely to truck safety grew last week during a long-awaited congressional hearing on who in the Department of Transportation should oversee the industry. ATA and other industry groups endorsed establishing a federal trucking administration.

The nation’s governors last week urged Congress and the administration to spend the maximum amount possible on highway and other transportation programs.

Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) threatened last week to seek a Justice Department investigation of illegal lobbying by senior officials at the former Office of Motor Carriers unless they are fired.

The owners of a trucking company in Hartsville, S.C., and two of their drivers were sentenced for a scheme that put unqualified drivers behind the wheels of commercial trucks.

The Surface Transportation Board is up to full strength after the Senate voted Feb. 24 to confirm the nominations of William Clyburn and Wayne Burkes.

Reforming federal hours-of-service regulations tops American Trucking Associations’ safety agenda for 1999, according to ATA President Walter B. McCormick Jr.

Mexican trucks could be allowed access to four U.S. border states by year’s end, according to Department of Transportation documents submitted to Congress.

The safety record of railroads was criticized this week by a new group comprised of municipal officials from around the country.

A vote by the European Union to reduce aircraft noise by banning the use of some Boeing 727 aircraft has international air freight carriers and the U.S. Congress up in arms.