Department of Homeland Security Deputy Secretary James Loy last week praised efforts by cargo security professionals and said the agency’s programs had increased security and reduced waiting time for carriers bringing freight into the country.

U.S. Customs officials said they turned away a small percentage of food-hauling trucks last week at 57 U.S. border crossings from Mexico and Canada, because they did not give sufficient advance notice of their arrival in the first week of stricter enforcement of prior-notice rules on food imports.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration last week issued procedures for detaining food shipments suspected of being viewed as a threat to humans or animals.

ALBANY, N.Y. — More than 200 industry executives and government officials last week took what they said could be a first step toward designing a nationwide standard for rules to limit engine idling by trucks, buses and railroad locomotives.

Although states and industry officials have called for the federal government to help ease problems of motor fuel supplies and high prices around the country, spokesmen for two key federal programs said last week there had been no changes in policy.

If onboard recorders for monitoring driver hours electronically are the wave of the future, Quality Carriers appears to be embracing the technology with open arms.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said last week that it was weighing requests from two states for waivers from federal clean-air rules for gasoline as a way to increase fuel supplies and ease record-high prices.

PHOENIX — The outgoing chairman of the Truck Renting and Leasing Association told his group’s annual meeting here that business has taken a turn for the better after a long period of stagnant economy and weak consumer confidence levels.

The California Air Resources Board said it agreed with diesel engine makers on what the agency called a voluntary plan to upgrade emissions reduction software.

ARLINGTON, Va. — The head of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration told a major freight shippers’ group that the new driver hours-of-service rules would cut fatalities and related costs, but several audience members said the rules were raising their cost of doing business.