In for the long haul

From Jefferson City, Mo., the local angle on the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s new National Registry of Certified Medical Examiners:

One Jefferson City physician is part of the  a federal program that licenses physicians and outlines requirements for physical examinations for truck and bus drivers.

Although Dr. Earl Miller is the only certified medical examiner in Jefferson City, he is one of eight certified medical examiners within a 75-mile radius of the Capital City.

According to FMCSA, the registry needs 40,000 certified medical examiners by May 21, 2014. So far, 10,000 have signed up for training courses.

Read more in the Jefferson City (Mo.) News Tribune

Some port truck drivers go on strike

More than a dozen Green Fleet Systems employees, who drive trucks at the ports of L.A. and Long Beach, went on strike earlier this week, accusing their employer of illegally dissuading them from joining a union.

As the LA Times reports, it is the latest effort seeking to unionize drivers who move goods in and out of the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. The ports are the busiest in the nation, handling more than 40% of Asian imports.

Read more in the LA Times

Road rage: States get creative to fund highways

This one's not specifically about trucking, but about highway funding, which of course is a vital topic to the industry. In this commentary on Marketwatch.com, Diana Furchtgott-Roth, a former chief economist of the U.S. Department of Labor and a senior fellow with the Manhattan Institute, looks at what some states are doing to try to fund highway and infrastructure projects.

"There is no longer any logical reason why the federal government should be responsible for funding state roads. The federal Highway Trust Fund was set up in 1956 so that road users would pay for the new, continent-spanning network of roadways we know as the interstate highway system. The legislation contemplated that the interstate highway system would be completed in 1972, at which point the fund would be terminated."

Read more at Marketwatch.com.