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It wasn’t just city officials getting dressed up for Streator’s 150th anniversary celebration.

A Times reader spotted a truck from Deke Trucking adorned with Streator’s 150th anniversary logos near Silver Fox where the main celebration was being held.

Operations manager Brad Johnson said the nearly brand-new truck was detailed with logos as a way for owner Bob Dieken to show off the company’s Streator pride.

“He takes a lot of pride in Streator and being born and raised here,” Johnson said. “It’s a way to pay tribute or honor the city.”

The feeling appeared to be mutual as Mayor Jimmie Lansford specifically thanked the philanthropic contributions from the Dieken Family Foundation as well as the Plumb family and the Reuben G. Soderstrom Foundation during his sesquicentennial speech.

Johnson said Streator residents likely will catch a glimpse of the vehicle during the Fourth of July festivities as well as Walldogs; a second truck has received the Walldogs insignia. The 150th anniversary logo depicted the city’s first mayor, Col. Ralph Plumb, who was a highlight of the celebration Sunday afternoon.

Johnson estimated most of their trucks operate within a 100-mile radius, but because of their usual workload, the Streator 150th anniversary logos also will be seen by residents in Rochelle, Gurnee and Lincoln.

Source of article click here : The Times

VIDEO

A college graduation photo is going viral.

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga student Brenna Spencer, 22, tweeted an image of herself raising her "Women for Trump" shirt to reveal a handgun tucked into her jeans.

"I don't take normal graduation photos..." she captioned the image.

The picture has been shared more than 11,000 times and liked more than 80,000 times.

“I did think that it would get a little attention, but not to this degree,” Spencer told ABC. “It was really, really surprising to see the amount of hate that I got.”

Spencer reportedly took the picture outside the Hunter Museum of American Art. Local TV station WTVC reached out to the museum. They say the picture "doesn't appear to comply" with a no-gun policy both inside and outside the building.

Local residents had a mixed reaction to the photo.

Mark Haskins, who worked 30 years in law enforcement with the Chattanooga Police Department, said he has "no adverse reaction" to the picture.

"She's pulling up her shirt to expose it, so probably she has it concealed," Haskins said. "The Second Amendment guarantees us certain freedoms, it's guaranteed by the Constitution is the way I look at it."

"I don't think she should have taken this picture at all. I think it's ignorant," Chloe Dereueter said.

Some Twitter users came forward with criticism, as well.

"I'm 100% pro gun but brandishing a firearm for a photo shoot or showing it off to try and look cool is just stupid. They are tools. Why brag about carrying a gun?" one person wrote.

Spencer responded: "Because I'm proud of my second amendment right and I want to empower other women! Absolutely they are tools but I will always brag about being able to carry a gun to protect myself, my friends and my family!"

She added on Monday that she is wearing a "belly band" in the picture, which Haskins was glad to hear.

Source of article click here : ABC NEWS

Some California lawmakers want to hold the nation’s big box retailers responsible for labor abuses by trucking companies that haul their goods.

VIDEO

State legislators offered the proposal Tuesday in response to revelations in a USA TODAY Network investigation of trucking companies that take advantage of drivers.

“It's something long overdue,” said state Senator Ricardo Lara, the Senate appropriations chairman who wrote the bill with fellow Democrats Sen. Steven Bradford and Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher. “People are anticipating us to solve this issue.”

Trucking companies that fail to pay judgments when they cheat workers would be identified on a public list and would be required to disclose their violation history to corporate customers. Retailers that then do business with those same companies will be jointly liable if workers obtain future judgments.

“We’re saying if you’re knowingly contracting with companies that have final judgments,” Lara added, “then you’re liable.”

“Opposing this bill is indefensible,” California Labor Federation legislative director Caitlin Vega said through a spokesperson. “Corporate giants must take responsibility for the conditions of their workers.”

Weston LaBar, CEO of the Harbor Trucking Association, said the bill is a misguided attempt to overregulate the industry and restrict drivers’ freedom to work as independent drivers.

“This is another example of a California politician who doesn’t understand the drayage (port trucking) industry,” LaBar said in an email. “This assault on the trucker’s right to choose their business model needs to stop.”

The reforms mark a drastic shift in responsibility in an industry that has long operated underground, detached from the national consumer brands that depend on port trucking companies deep in their supply chain.

The USA TODAY Network previously reported that more than 1,100 California port truck drivers have filed labor complaints in civil court and with the state labor commissioner since 2008. That year a new California environmental law required trucking companies serving state ports to replace old trucks with new, cleaner rigs

To avoid the cost, many companies pushed their independent drivers into lease-to-own contracts that they didn’t understand and could not afford, the USA TODAY investigation found. When drivers got sick or fell behind on payments, trucking companies fired them, seizing their trucks and tens of thousands of dollars they had paid toward buying them.

The result has been nearly $40 million in judgments handed down by the California Labor Commissioner against port trucking companies since 2012.

The USA TODAY investigation linked the trucking companies with the most labor violations to dozens of retail brands, including Target, Hewlett-Packard, Hasbro, J.Crew, Ralph Lauren and more. The federal government, including the U.S. Department of Defense, also relies on port trucking companies with histories of labor violations.

Tuesday’s proposed legislation would alert corporate customers to the trucking companies with unsatisfied penalties leveled against them.

Historically, port trucking companies have successfully used legal loopholes, shell companies and bankruptcy protection to dodge the punishment labor court judges have handed down.

After USA TODAY published the investigation, the port trucking industry experienced months of upheaval, including lawsuits from both truckers and the Los Angeles City Attorney that demand companies stop systematically exploiting their workers.

In February, officials in Long Beach voted unanimously to move forward with a plan to stop what Mayor Robert Garcia called “exploitative working conditions” for truck drivers at the port. That plan mirrors the early stages of another initiative in Los Angeles, where city council members adopted audit measures to identify and possibly ban companies with histories of labor violations.

Trucking companies exposed in the network's reporting have lost business. At least one executive resigned. State and federal agencies have launched investigations into potential worker exploitation and forced labor.

“The revelations about the abuse of workers in the port trucking industry should outrage every American,” Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., wrote in a November letter to President Trump, calling for an executive order to investigate port trucking companies and ban government agencies from contracting with them. “It is time for us to end this exploitation.”

Source of article click here : USA Today

PHOENIX - As consumers make their way down the grocery aisle, they may notice some accelerating food prices. But, the blame for the increase is coming from an unlikely source: truck drivers.

General Mills is one of the most recent companies to cite shipping costs in their most recent financial report as a reason for profits not meeting their expectations. They write that shipping costs are at a 20-year high.

Experts at the Southwest Truck Driver Training in Phoenix said the reason for the uptick in prices is because there are not enough truck drivers to keep up with shipping demands - 12 loads for every one driver is the new normal.

Campus Director Steve Strong said there are plenty of reasons why we are facing a severe shortage. He cites aging and retirement, millennials not seeing this as a career and the untapped market of female drivers.

"When you have a 900,000 shortage and you know, if you took all the training schools I think in the country, I think we trained 120,000 a year...it's going to be this way for a minute," Strong said.

But, there is a good side to the shortage: job opportunities.

SWTDT offers 4- to 5-week courses for $4,500. After that, Strong estimates drivers can make upwards of $50,000 a year right when they take the wheel.

Strong said they try to recruit a lot online and educate the public about what this career entails. They also host plenty of career fairs for students past and present.

Cory Clark has only been in class at SWTDT for three days. But, he said that his email inbox has already been flooded with job opportunities for when he finishes off his truck driver training.

"That feels great," Clark laughed. "Knowing that I can actually get a skill that is, you know, something that I can take for life and that people are like looking for that and it's in demand - that's really nice and exciting!"

Staff said that after seeing a dip in enrollment last year, this year's participants are on the rise - a good sign for the long road ahead.

SWTDT has locations in Phoenix and Tucson. You can visit their website for more information.

Source of article click here : abc15

- Penske Logistics announced it is introducing the next generation of truck fleet safety technology through a video-based safety program in over 2,800 of its heavy-duty trucks across the company's North America operations. The foundation includes event-triggered onboard cameras from SmartDrive that face inside the truck cab, and outwards to the road, along with an ongoing driver safety coaching program.

"We're committed to running a safe fleet and strive to ensure that our truck drivers are equipped with the latest fleet safety technology, late model vehicles, and ongoing safety coaching," explained Penske Logistics President Marc Althen. "This new safety technology allows us to take our dedicated carriage fleet safety to another level to the benefit of the motoring public, our drivers and customers."

The new video-based safety program further enhances other safety-related technologies increasingly deployed within the Penske Logistics dedicated carriage fleet including: backup alarms; collision avoidance and lane departure systems; stability control systems; air disc brakes; electronic driver logs; onboard telematics and vehicle diagnostics systems; speed governors; and advanced visibility LED headlights.

Penske Logistics Vice President of Safety Jason Herr noted: "A key component of this technology is the ongoing driver safety coaching program that accompanies it. Using the footage, we're able to review incidents and coach drivers to be better and safer drivers. During a pilot program last year, results of the video-based safety program proved promising, as we saw significant reductions in total incidents and improved safety scores for our truck drivers at all locations."

Truck drivers for Penske Logistics are also continually trained using the Smith System, widely recognized as a leading transportation industry defensive driving program.

The new cameras do not record unless triggered by an event when the vehicle is in operation, often leveraging the fleet's active safety technologies. The combination of inward and outward facing cameras provides for a wide-ranging view of the driver's behavior. The footage can also be used for exoneration and reconstruction purposes.

Penske Logistics is a wholly owned subsidiary of Penske Truck Leasing. With operations in North America, South America, Europe and Asia, Penske Logistics provides supply chain management and logistics services to leading companies around the world. Penske Logistics delivers value through its design, planning and execution in transportation, warehousing and freight management. To learn more visit www.penskelogistics.com.

SOURCE Penske Logistics

A U.S. trucking shortage that has pushed up freight costs for everything from cereal to toothbrushes is about to get worse.

On Sunday, police nationwide began enforcing rules requiring most big rigs to use electronic logging devices to record driver hours. While truckers have long been barred from driving more than 11 hours a day, the new ELDs prevent them from fudging their times on paper logs. That means more trucks are likely to be parked when drivers hit their limits.

“You’re going to be at least tightening the screws a little bit on an already tight market place,” said Jason Seidl, an analyst at Cowen & Co. “If you’re a shipper, it’s not something that’s going to be perceived as friendly.”

The ELD rules add another choke point for freight prices, which are already pinching earnings at companies from Cheerios maker General Mills Inc. to retailer Ross Stores Inc. A driver shortage, surging demand and rough weather already have pushed spot rates up 28 percent this year through March 23 compared with a year earlier, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Even longer-term contract rates, which are more stable than short-term spot prices, are expected to rise 12 percent this year, according to consulting group FTR Transportation Intelligence. That would be the highest increase in more than a decade. Contract prices rose just 3.9 percent last year.

The ELD rules divided big trucking companies and independent owner-operators. Most large trucking companies adopted ELDs years ago to ensure that they complied with limits on hours and to eliminate the hassle of driver paperwork.

But smaller and independent drivers resisted the change. The American Trucking Associations supported the regulations, saying they made highways safer, while the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association railed against the requirement as another regulatory burden.

Rest Stop

The ELD rules went into effect in December, two years after the final rules were published, though enforcement didn’t begin until April 1 for most trucks. The devices log driver hours, which have to be turned over to regulators and can be checked by authorities during routine inspections or traffic stops. After 11 hours on the road, a driver must rest for 10 hours.

A no-frills gadget costs less than $100, while ones that communicate wirelessly with a dispatcher incur airtime charges of about $50 a month. Roughly 70 percent of truckers who have begun using ELDs said they earned less money and 65 percent said they were forced to drive fewer miles, according to a February survey mostly of owner-operators by DAT, which matches truckers with customers.

Analysts have estimated that the regulations will reduce trucking capacity between 2 percent and 5 percent by making it harder for drivers to cheat and squeeze in extra miles to reach a destination

The disruption even has spread to railroads, especially in drayage, the service of hauling seaborne shipping containers from ports to rail yards.

“Drivers making longer drays are now sometimes unable to complete those moves, and drivers making shorter drays are now sometimes unable to make as many trips per day as they could before ELD implementation,” said Amy Casas, a spokeswoman for the BNSF Railway unit of Berkshire Hathaway Inc.

Independent owner-operator Paul Sansoucy, 75, said he had planned to drive for another three years but sold his refrigerated truck in September. The ELD requirement is less about safety than large companies trying to squash competition, argued Sansoucy, who said he was accident-free in five decades behind the wheel.

“I don’t need anybody from Washington telling me when I need to rest, when I need to pick up, when I need to drive, when I need to stop,” he said. “That just doesn’t work for this cowboy.”

Source of article click here : Bloomberg