Hostess Brands, the maker of Twinkies, HoHos and Wonder Bread, said it is going out of business after failing to get wage and benefit cuts from thousands of its striking bakery workers, news services reported Friday.

The federal government defended its latest hours-of-service rule last week, telling a U.S. court that it “acted at the height of its expertise and discretion” when it decided in December to put new restrictions on the 34-hour restart provision, while retaining the 11-hour driving day.

Housing starts fell 1.1% in July, the Commerce Department said Thursday.

American Trucking Associations has filed suit against the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s latest attempt to modify the hours-of-service rule because it believes it had no other way to prevent a serious mistake on the part of the very agency that is charged with improving safety by and for the motor carrier industry.

WASHINGTON — Replacing the current hours-of-service rule with one that cuts driving hours would put more inexperienced truck drivers on the road and pass increased transportation costs onto consumers, four executives who run trucks told a House subcommittee.

A former Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration official is taking aim at four studies the agency used to support its hours-of-service proposed rule, American Trucking Associations said Thursday.