WASHINGTON — Time-sensitive delivery is here to stay, and that will change methods of freight movement, said one expert speaking at the Transportation Research Board’s annual meeting.

The Transportation Security Administration plans to begin closing a handful of security checkpoints at airports around the United States as soon as this weekend in response to staff shortages triggered by a partial federal government shutdown now in its third week.

Almost a third of the $2 trillion that U.S. states spend each year comes from Washington, so the partial shutdown of the federal government would seem to spell major financial trouble in America’s statehouses.

After a Dec. 31 report by the Iowa Department of Transportation that shows a $317,000 reduction in the Road Use Tax Fund in 2018, state officials have made recommendations to the Iowa Legislature such as increasing fees or charging taxes to electric vehicle owners.

Ford Motor Co. said it will cut thousands of jobs, weed out slow-selling variants and potentially close entire factories in Europe, as the carmakers’s global cost-cutting drive targets a region that has been a drag on earnings for years.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV will pay hundreds of millions of dollars to settle a lawsuit brought by the U.S. Justice Department, which alleged some of its diesel-powered vehicles violated clean-air rules, a person familiar with the matter said.

Shareholders of Roadrunner Transportation Systems, who have seen the value of their holdings plummet following a finance scandal that led to the dismissal of several top executives more than a year ago, are being given a chance to buy more stock — 900 million shares to be exact — at 50 cents a share as part of an effort by new management to recapitalize the business.

In an effort to strengthen its position in the growing final-mile trucking sector, J.B. Hunt on Jan. 8 announced it is purchasing Cory 1st Choice Home Delivery for $100 million.