Pending expected approval from Gov. Butch Otter and the Idaho Legislature, truckers soon will be carrying loads up to 129,000 pounds.

Virginia Tech, along with subcontractors from Washington State University and technology vendor SmartDrive, has been awarded a $2.5 million contract from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to study a flexible hours-of-service safety provision that will allow longhaul truck drivers to split their required sleeper berth time into shorter periods.

Trucking added 8,600 jobs in May, up substantially from April, and U.S. employers added 280,000 workers to payrolls, the Labor Department reported June 5.

Former Arrow Trucking Co. CEO Doug Pielsticker pulled hundreds of thousands of dollars from company accounts to pay for his wedding and luxury cars in connection with a multimillion-dollar bank and tax fraud, according to a federal indictment unsealed in U.S. District Court earlier this month.

Debra Dunn has stepped down as president of the Oregon Trucking Associations and is being replaced on an interim basis by Bob Russell, OTA’s former legislative affairs director.

Hal Miller III, a fleet manager with 31 years of experience, will be the next president of the Mississippi Trucking Association, the group said.