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Freightliner Trucks Press Release / March 13, 2017 . . . .

Detroit Diesel Press Release / March 13, 2017 . . . .

Ford claims its AVL-designed 6.7-liter Power Stroke has a "a statistically proven B10 engine design life of at least a half-million miles" based on dynamometer testing. But in the real world and particularly when installed in a medium-duty truck (F-650/750), I'm skeptical. https://media.ford.com/content/fordmedia/fna/us/en/news/2016/03/01/ford-f-650--f-750-power-stroke-v8-diesel-designed-to-go-farther.html

Fleet Owner / March 13, 2017 At the big ConExpo/Agg show in Las Vegas last week, Peterbilt Motors Co. highlighted to attributes of its Model 567 Set Forward Front Axle (SFFA) vocational truck; a configuration aimed at concrete mixer and construction applications designed to maximize customer payloads while meeting bridge laws, according to Robert Woodall, the OEM’s assistant general manager of sales and marketing. The Model 567 SFFA, along with Peterbilt’s Model 567 Set Back Front Axle (SBFA), also is designed to maximize maneuverability and versatility in the vocational arena, he added in a statement. Like the SBFA version, the Model 567 SFFA is available in both 115 and 121-in. bumper-to-back-of-cab (BBC) lengths. Peterbilt also showcased the newly-enhanced 10.8-liter Paccar [DAF] MX-11 engine that offers up to 430 hp and 1,650 lb.-ft. of torque at ConExpo, as well as the 8.9-liter Paccar [Cummins] PX-9 engine for applications with lighter loads, and the 12.9-liter Paccar [DAF] MX-13 engine with up to 510 hp and 1,850 lb.-ft. of torque for applications requiring more truck muscle. Peterbilt added that it is offering incentives to National Ready Mixed Concrete Association (NRMCA) members who purchase and receive models 567, 520 and 320 within the calendar year: a $2,000 per truck cash rebate, limited to three trucks per customer. In others news, the OEM recently made “dealer of the year” announcements at its annual dealer meeting in Palm Springs, CA, for 2016: Peterbilt of Atlanta was named the “TRP Parts Dealer of the Year” for exceptional sales performance and customer service, as well as the 2016 opening of a TRP all makes parts store in Conley, GA. Camions Excellence Peterbilt received “PACCAR MX Engine Dealer of the Year” for its support of MX engine sales and service. Coast Counties Peterbilt of California received “Medium Duty Dealer of the Year” honors for selling 300-plus trucks and achieving 18% medium-duty market share in its region. The Peterbilt Store took overall “North American Dealer of the Year” honors for its fleet sales and support as well as for its “territory acquisition” efforts that increased its area of responsibility to a total of 15 locations in seven states. Finally, Peterbilt saluted several “top performing” dealerships groups based on financial performace, parts and service support, and use of PACCAR training programs with its annual “Best in Class” awards: The Larson Group (Glenn Larson); Peterbilt Manitoba (Doug Danylchuk); Performance Peterbilt (Nathan Ried); Hunter Peterbilt (Jeff Hunter); Camions Excellence Peterbilt (Nicole Lussier); Western Peterbilt (Edward Dobbs); Rush Enterprises (Rusty Rush); Stahl Peterbilt (Eddy Stahl); JX Enterprises (Eric Jorgensen); TransDiff Peterbilt de Quebec (Pierre Pouliot); Peterbilt Pacific (Jim Schroeder); Jackson Group (Blake Jackson); Allstate Peterbilt Group; (Don Larson and Jeff Vanthournout). .

Twin 33s Improve Highway Safety, Efficiency: Study Trailer/Body Builders / March 13, 2017 The Americans for Modern Transportation (AMT) coalition released a new study that found that widespread adoption of Twin 33 foot trailers boosts safety and efficiency for American drivers, consumers, and businesses. Conducted by 35-year traffic safety researcher Dr. Ronald Knipling, the study finds safety is enhanced by increasing the stability of trailers on the road, reducing truck miles driven by 3.1 billion, and enabling better enforcement of standards for all trucks. "Allowing widespread use of Twin 33 trailers is common sense policy. Not only are they more stable at highway speeds, the efficiency gains mean we have fewer trucks on the road," said Dr. Knipling. "Fewer trucks means fewer accidents, less wear and tear on our roads, and more focused enforcement by weigh stations for all types of trucks. It's a win-win for drivers, consumers, businesses, and the economy." Entitled "Twin 33 Foot Truck Trailers: Making U.S. Freight Transport Safer And More Efficient," Dr. Knipling's study finds a shift to Twin 33s results in reduced exposure to risk, fewer annual truck accidents, improved fuel efficiency, lowered emissions, and reduced traffic. Key findings include: • Widespread adoption of Twin 33s would have reduced truck miles driven by 3.1 billion in 2014, avoiding 4,500 accidents annually. • Similarly, in 2014, the shift to Twin 33s would have saved 255.2 million gallons of fuel and reduced carbon emissions by nearly 3 million tons. Clean air improvements would be like taking 551,000 cars off the highways. • Lastly, a shift to Twin 33s would have dramatically reduced congestion, decreasing travel delay time by 53.2 million hours. • Overall, a shift to Twin 33s would save $2.6 billion in transportation costs. The study highlights the innovations improving trucking safety and efficiency. Dr. Knipling finds that adaptive cruise control, electronic stability monitoring, video mirrors, collision warning systems, and continuous onboard safety monitoring are revolutionizing truck safety.

Heavy Duty Trucking / March 13, 2017 The B10 durability rating of the 4HK1-TC diesel engine that powers Isuzu Commercial Truck of America, Inc. cabovers has been increased to 375,000 miles, the company has announced at the NTEA's Work Truck Show in Indianapolis. The rating means that 90% of Isuzu 4HK1-TC engines are expected to last 375,000 miles before they require a major repair or rebuild. Previously, the 4HK1-TC engine carried a B10 rating of 310,000 miles. A B10-life rating is an industry-standard gauge provided by engine makers to help consumers determine the long-term durability of an engine. The number following the “B” indicates the percentage of an engine’s population that will require an overhaul before the indicated mileage. "We are proud to say that Isuzu diesel engines are already known worldwide for their long-term dependability," said Shaun Skinner, the company's president. "Our new B-10 rating is strong evidence that our engines are even more durable than ever." The turbocharged, intercooled 4HK1-TC four-cylinder diesel engine displaces 5.2L and generates 215 horsepower. Torque ratings vary depending on model. The engine is fitted to Isuzu NPR-HD, NPR-XD, NQR, and NRR models, as well as the new 2018 Isuzu FTR Class 6 truck. Each of these models is backed by a three-year/unlimited mileage powertrain limited warranty. .

Volvo displays truck platooning in California Today’s Trucking / March 13, 2017 Volvo Trucks, alongside Partners for Advanced Transportation Technology (PATH) from the University of California in Berkeley, successfully demonstrated partially automated highway truck platooning in a real world simulation last Wednesday. With only 50 feet between one another, three Volvo VNL 670 tractors, each hauling a cargo container, travelled at speeds of 55 miles per hour along Los Angeles' Interstate 110 in a simulation to showcase Volvo and PATH's Cooperative Adaptive Cruise Control (CACC) technology. CACC is an enhanced version of Adaptive Cruise Control(ACC) technology that allows closer and more accurate control of the gap between trucks with improved safety. With no interference from the driver, the vehicles maintained steady platoon speed and spacing with the aid of forward-looking sensors and vehicle-to-vehicle communication. “Truck platooning can benefit freight companies and professional drivers alike through safer, more fuel-efficient operations,” said Magnus Koeck, vice president of marketing and brand management for Volvo Trucks. “Vehicle-to-vehicle communication is pivotal for platooning systems; it helps reduce the reaction time for braking and enables vehicles to follow closer. Reducing the traveling distance between vehicles not only reduces the aerodynamic drag, but also allows for greater highway utilization, thereby helping to alleviate traffic congestion.” According to Volvo, platooning using CACC technology allows benefits like faster responses to hard braking while maintaining safety, superior longitude control while following a line, reduced emissions, and better traffic flow. Volvo says CACC technology makes platooning possible and is not meant to replace the driver but instead, serve as an aid for skilled professional drivers. CACC is being developed in partnership with PATH and has been sponsored by the U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Highway Administration Advanced Research Program and Caltrans. .

Fleet Owner / March 13, 2017 Volvo Trucks and Partners for Advanced Transportation Technology (PATH) at the University of California, Berkeley recently completed a successful demonstration of partially automated truck platooning, made possible by Cooperative Adaptive Cruise Control, or CACC, technology. Three Volvo VNL 670 model tractors hauled cargo containers at California's Los Angeles Port complex and along Interstate 110, highlighting for public officials and other stakeholders the technology’s potential for improving highway safety, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and increasing the capacity of transportation systems. "Truck platooning can benefit freight companies and professional drivers alike through safer, more fuel-efficient operations," said Magnus Koeck, vice president of marketing and brand management at Volvo Trucks. "Vehicle-to-vehicle communication is pivotal for platooning systems; it helps reduce the reaction time for braking and enables vehicles to follow closer. Reducing the traveling distance between vehicles not only reduces the aerodynamic drag, but also allows for greater highway utilization, thereby helping to alleviate traffic congestion." As described in a video showing the technology, "drivers [of the platooning trucks] continue to control the steering, and remain vigilant for any hazards in the driving environment." In what Volvo describes as "simulated real world" conditions, three Volvo VNL tractors traveled at 55 mph and were 50 ft. apart, "a closer distance than usual for on-highway tractors." Forward-looking sensors and vehicle-to-vehicle communication helps the trucks maintain speed and spacing without driver intervention. Staged and unplanned vehicle cut-ins showed how the technology handles common traffic changes. CACC technology is an enhancement to the current Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) technology that enables closer and more accurate control of the gap between trucks with increased safety. The advanced technology that makes platooning possible is meant to serve as an aid — not a replacement — for skilled professional truck drivers, Volvo Trucks notes. Benefits of platooning through CACC include faster responses to hard braking while maintaining safety, superior longitudinal control while following in a lane, reduced emissions, and improved traffic flow, according to Volvo Trucks. The CACC technology being developed in conjunction with PATH has been sponsored by the U.S. Department of Transportation/ Federal Highway Administration Advanced Research Program and Caltrans. Other project partners include Cambridge Systematics, Inc., the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and Gateway Cities Council of Governments. Volvo Trucks states that platooning "presents the best near-term opportunity for leveraging any level of autonomous technology for on-highway operations, where a skilled professional driver remains vitally important." The company notes it has demonstrated a fully autonomous truck working in a mining operation. Confined environments or jobs humans cannot perform remain the best and most feasible applications for fully autonomous vehicles. .

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ConMet, Protean Electric partner to develop electric in-wheel drive system Fleet Owner / March 13, 2017 Consolidated Metco (ConMet) announced it is partnering with Protean Holdings Corp. (Protean Electric) to develop an electric in-wheel drive system to provide hybrid-electric solutions for the medium and heavy-duty commercial vehicle markets. “We are combining our decades’ long expertise in wheel hubs for commercial vehicles with Protean Electric’s success with drive systems for electrified passenger vehicles,” stated Beto Dantas, ConMet VP of Marketing, Innovation, and Strategy. “The result is the development of an innovative wheel end product that will provide lower lifecycle costs, improved fuel economy, added torque, increased power, and better overall vehicle performance.” “This agreement enables us to expand the market reach of our ProteanDRIVE technology into the commercial vehicle market,” explains Andrew Whitehead, Chief Commercial Officer at Protean Electric. “ConMet has the commercial vehicle market and wheel hub experience we have been looking for to help develop this solution” The ConMet/Protean in-wheel electric drive system will enable ConMet’s OEM and fleet customers to address the continued tightening of safety and emissions regulations, increasing demands for improved fuel efficiency, weight and drivetrain packaging optimization, and shifts in vehicle demands for long-haul and urban delivery, according to the company. In addition, the jointly developed electric wheel end system, which is compatible with existing vehicles, will provide vehicle packaging advantages, reduce complexity, and minimize drivetrain losses for truck, tractor, and trailer applications. ConMet will feature the new electrified hub in its booth at the MidAmerica Trucking Show March 23-25, 2017 in Louisville, KY.

Ford Motor Co. Press Release / March 13, 2017 .

Reuters / March 13, 2017 Fourteen million Americans would lose medical insurance by next year under a Republican plan to dismantle Obamacare that would also reduce the budget deficit, the nonpartisan U.S. Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said on Monday. The CBO report forecast that 24 million more people would be uninsured in 2026 if the plan being considered in the House of Representatives were adopted. Obamacare expanded insurance to about 20 million Americans. The report could influence sentiment toward a bill already under fire from Democrats and some Republicans, who have long vowed to repeal the 2010 Affordable Care Act. The CBO projected that 52 million people would be uninsured by 2026 if the bill became law, compared with 28 million who would not have coverage that year if the law remained unchanged. Two House of Representatives committees have approved the legislation to dismantle Obamacare that was unveiled by Republican leaders a week ago, but it faces opposition from not only Democrats but also medical providers including doctors and hospitals and many conservatives. The CBO, however, said federal deficits would fall by $337 billion between 2017 and 2026 under the Republican bill. Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price said Trump's plan would cover more individuals at a lower cost and it was "virtually impossible" to envision that 14 million people would lose insurance coverage by next year. Democratic leaders in Congress said the bill could result in elderly people being kicked out of nursing homes as it simultaneously gives tax cuts for the richest Americans. "How can they look their constituents in the eye when they say 24 million of you no longer have coverage and those of you who do have it, will have less coverage at more cost to you," House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said. PREMIUMS TO RISE The Affordable Care Act aimed to help restrain U.S. healthcare spending, which is about 17 percent of the nation's economy, but it has continued to grow faster than inflation. The proposal would end the Obamacare expansion of the Medicaid insurance program for the poor and would replace Obamacare's income-based subsidies with fixed tax credits for the purchase of private insurance. The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center on Monday said the Republican plan would benefit the wealthiest U.S. households far more than middle-income families. A family making $51,600 to $89,400 a year, including fringe benefits like employer-provided health insurance, would get a tax cut averaging $300. The top 0.1 percent of earners with incomes of at least $3.9 million would get a tax cut of about $207,000, the study said. The CBO estimated that insurance premiums would rise 15 percent to 20 percent in both 2018 and 2019 because fewer healthy people would sign up after the repeal of the Obamacare penalty for declining to obtain insurance. But it said the hikes would be offset after 2020 by a $100 billion fund allocated to states in the bill and deregulation in the insurance market. While the federal government would lose revenues through the repeal of Obamacare’s individual and employer mandates’ tax penalties, CBO said the loss would be surpassed by savings on insurance subsidies and Medicaid payments that Washington would no longer have to provide for people who lost coverage. At the same time, CBO said the repeal of the individual mandate’s tax penalties would mean higher health insurance premiums for those who retained coverage, because insurers would still have to cover any applicant without being free to raise premiums for older, sicker people, despite lower numbers of younger, healthier customers who are cheaper to insure. Craig Garthwaite, director of the healthcare program at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management, said the CBO estimates made it harder for Republicans to sell their proposal. "Overall, this is a really bad number for the AHCA. Far more people are predicted to lose coverage than many estimated - and these losses are going to happen more quickly than we would have thought," he said. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan, a key backer of the plan called the American Health Care Act, said the CBO estimates showed it would ultimately lower premiums. "Our plan is not about forcing people to buy expensive, one-size-fits-all coverage. It is about giving people more choices and better access to a plan they want and can afford. When people have more choices, costs go down," Ryan said.

Bob, they are imported as CKD (completely knocked down) kits, which are then assembled by Spartan. Most Isuzu trucks sold around the world are assembled locally from either CKD or SKD (semi knocked down) kits. Another example, the Hino FF and FG medium trucks sold in the US during the 1980s were assembled from SKD kits by Jim Moran's Southeast Toyota Distributors in Jacksonville, Florida where they arrived via the port. .

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Los Angeles Times / March 13, 2017 The unmarked 18-wheelers ply the nation’s interstates and two-lane highways, logging 3 million miles a year hauling the most lethal cargo there is: nuclear bombs. The covert fleet, which shuttles warheads from missile silos, bomber bases and submarine docks to nuclear weapons labs across the country, is operated by the Office of Secure Transportation, a troubled agency within the U.S. Department of Energy so cloaked in secrecy that few people outside the government know it exists. The $237-million-a-year agency operates a fleet of 42 tractor-trailers, staffed by highly armed couriers, many of them veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, responsible for making sure nuclear weapons and components pass through foggy mountain passes and urban traffic jams without incident. The transportation office is about to become more crucial than ever as the U.S. embarks on a $1-trillion upgrade of the nuclear arsenal that will require thousands of additional warhead shipments over the next 15 years. The increased workload will hit an agency already struggling with problems of forced overtime, high driver turnover, old trucks and poor worker morale — raising questions about its ability to keep nuclear shipments safe from attack in an era of more sophisticated terrorism. “We are going to be having an increase in the movements of weapons in coming years and we should be worried,” said Robert Alvarez, a former deputy assistant Energy secretary who now focuses on nuclear and energy issues for the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington. “We always have to assume the worst-case scenario when we are hauling nuclear weapons around the country.” That worst case would be a terrorist group hijacking a truck and obtaining a multi-kiloton hydrogen bomb. “The terror threat is significant,” said one high-level Energy Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the program publicly. “If you are in one of the communities along the route, you have something to worry about.” The Times reviewed government documents dating back two decades and interviewed dozens of government officials, former military officers and arms control advocates to examine the agency. The picture that emerges is an organization hampered by an insular management, a crisis of morale among the rank-and-file and outdated equipment. Among the findings of the Times investigation: The agency is 48 agents short of its planned staffing of 370, a result of budget cuts. Weapons and tactics classes were canceled in 2011 and 2012 for lack of money. More than a third of the workforce has been putting in more than 900 hours a year of overtime, which former couriers and Energy Department officials say has contributed to a breakdown in morale and rapid turnover. In 2010, an inquiry by the Energy Department’s inspector general found widespread alcohol problems. It cited 16 alcohol-related incidents over a three-year period, including an agent on a 2007 mission who was arrested for public intoxication and two agents on a 2009 mission who were handcuffed and detained by police after a fight at a bar. In 2014, the commander of the agency’s operation at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee threatened to kill an employee in an altercation, but no disciplinary action was taken. The agency’s top executive in 2009 was charged with drunk driving after police found him parked on a sidewalk with an open bottle of beer and a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.15%, nearly twice the legal limit, according to New Mexico court records. The agency’s truck fleet is antiquated by commercial standards and well past its operational life even under the department’s own guidelines. About half the tractors are more than 15 years old. The high-security trailers used by the agency are even older, designed before the current era of terrorist threats. How the agency wound up in this state is a story of neglect that begins at the end of the Cold War. After the Soviet Union broke apart in 1991 and chances of a nuclear attack faded, the U.S. dramatically reduced its nuclear stockpile and gave it less attention as military priorities shifted. The transportation office budget stagnated, and was hit by big cuts in some years, leading to staffing shortages and delays in updating equipment. Drivers had to start working long hours of overtime, which led to morale problems and management breakdowns. Despite these problems, the agency asserts that it has maintained a high level of security and has never lost a weapon, though it has been involved in several accidents. The agency denied repeated requests for interviews with top managers. It issued a statement touting its safety record: “For more than 40 years — even after driving the equivalent distance of a trip to Mars and back — no cargo has ever been damaged in transit,” it said. Yet even one of its most stringent security measures was breached, the inspector general found in 2014, when an “unauthorized” employee had access to a nuclear weapon on a convoy mission. According to two knowledgeable sources, the person in question had lost his human reliability rating, which is based on screening for drugs, alcohol abuse or mental health problems, among other things. Under the agency’s rules, the unidentified employee should not have been allowed on the mission. The employee was discovered at a military base and removed from the assignment. Overseers in Congress say the transportation office is less prepared for an attack than it used to be. "It clearly needs a reinvestment,” Rep. Mac Thornberry, the Texas Republican who chairs the House Armed Services Committee, said in an interview. “Like other parts of the nuclear enterprise, the agency has been allowed to atrophy as the country has focused on other things.” ‘Transportation is the Achilles’ heel of nuclear security’ The United States has 4,018 nuclear warheads. About 450 are in underground silos in Wyoming, Colorado, Montana, Nebraska and North Dakota. An additional 1,000 or so are on submarines, which dock at bases in Washington and Georgia. Hundreds more bombs are assigned to the U.S. strategic bomber fleet, which is based in Louisiana, North Dakota and Missouri. And a reserve stockpile sits in bunkers near the transportation office headquarters at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico. Each weapon — a complex physics machine that contains as many as 6,000 parts, including tanks of gas, wheels and gears, batteries, wiring, plastic-type explosives and radioactive materials — requires routine inspection, testing and maintenance. The workers who perform those services don’t travel to the weapons. The weapons go to them. They are picked up by the transportation office and driven to the government’s sole plant for working on live nuclear warheads, the Pantex Plant outside Amarillo in the Texas panhandle. From there, various pieces are parceled out to government plants and laboratories across the country. Uranium assemblies travel to Tennessee, plutonium parts to New Mexico, radioactive gas canisters to South Carolina, non-nuclear classified parts to California and firing mechanisms to Kansas City. Those parts are then returned to Texas so the warheads can be reassembled and trucked back to their silos or military bases. The system dates back to the 1950s and the rapid buildup of nuclear arms that accompanied the Cold War. Weapons were spread across the nation to ensure that a significant number could not be destroyed in a focused missile strike. The same went for the facilities that service those weapons. But exactly where they wound up — and where they are today — largely came down to politics, as members of Congress schemed to bring high-paying jobs to their districts. The result is an unwieldy system that requires some of the most dangerous and vulnerable components of the nation’s defense system to be routinely shipped on long-distance journeys from one end of the country to the other — and the shipments, with the coming modernization effort, are only expected to multiply. “This has a classic footprint of an antiquated and inefficient supply chain management system that was created at a time of national emergency," said Nick Vyas, an industrial logistics expert at USC. “If this were a private operation, it would be out of business in less than 90 days,” he said. “No person in their right mind would subscribe to a service like this.” More serious than the inefficiencies in moving so many parts is the vulnerability inherent in placing nuclear bombs on the highways, several experts said. “Transportation is the Achilles’ heel of nuclear security and everyone knows that,” said Bruce Blair, a retired Air Force missile officer, Princeton University researcher and founder of Global Zero, a nonprofit group that seeks elimination of nuclear weapons. The danger is not a traffic accident — even a fiery crash is not supposed to explode a warhead — but a heist. “In an age of terrorism, you’re taking a big risk any time you decide to move nuclear material into the public space over long distances via ground transport,” Blair said. “Bad things happen.” The high-security trailers that carry the weapons present potential intruders with formidable obstacles, including shock-delivering systems, thick walls that ooze immobilizing foam, and axles designed to explode to prevent a trailer from being towed away, according to independent nuclear weapons experts. “The trucks will kill you,” a scientist involved in the matter said. The Energy Department recruits ex-soldiers and special operations commandos for its courier jobs, usually veterans of U.S. wars. Incoming agents train for 21 months at Ft. Chaffee in Arkansas, focusing on how to counter a roadside attack by terrorists set on stealing a weapon. The couriers must pass yearly psychological and medical assessments. They spend months each year working out in private gyms, rehearsing tactics and training with high-powered weapons to counter an attack. The work itself is mundane and tiring, involving long hours on the road under a constant state of high alert. Workers often put in 75 hours a week, according to numerous reviews of the agency. Matt Hill joined the transportation office after 13 years in the Marine Corps and three deployments to Iraq. He was looking for civilian employment that would tap into his military experience. But the job was not what Hill expected. Life on the road meant long weeks away from his family. The pay, about $73,000 a year with overtime, was less than he made in the Marines. Couriers have been quitting, many of them the experienced veterans so crucial to maintaining safety, Hill said. Finally in February 2016, after just three years on the job, Hill quit too. "The senior agents are all leaving," he said. “People at the top won’t listen.” ‘Ominous symptoms’ of structural problems The agency has been the target of worker complaints for years. In the 1990s, a nuclear courier named Jim Bailey alleged that on-the-job radiation exposure had damaged his DNA and led to birth defects in his daughter. A panel of experts found that was unlikely. But in a 67-page report issued in 1998, it laid out a number of other deep problems within the agency, finding that “low morale, distrust and poor communications” among agents are “the ominous symptoms of progressively worsening structural problems” in working conditions. Two-thirds of couriers had symptoms of sleep disorders, including irritability, and the cramped trucks led to knee and back ailments, the report found. Bailey was fired but sued and won a small amount of back pay and the right to return to his job. He never did. After the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the government turned its attention to the nation’s most critical vulnerabilities and concluded that more needed to be done to prevent terrorists from obtaining a nuclear bomb. In a 2005 letter to Congress, then-Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman called the transportation office a “top priority” and asked lawmakers for money for more agents, special weapons, tougher armored vehicles and improved tactics. The goal was to increase staffing from about 290 to 420 couriers by 2008. But the agency never reached that level, as lawmakers rejected most of the funding request. Today it aims to employ 370 agents but has 322. The long hours couriers must work — identified as a chronic problem by the inspector general — contribute to poor morale and a tense work environment. Those tensions can boil over, as when the supervisor in Tennessee threatened to kill an employee. The same supervisor had been involved in seven verbal and physical incidents that weren’t reported, including “uncontrolled anger, hostility and aggression toward fellow workers and authority figures,” according to a 2014 report by the inspector general. The failure to discipline the employee posed a grave danger, the report found, concluding that it raised the risk that “unsuitable individuals could be allowed to protect nuclear weapons, weapon components and special nuclear material, raising possible national security concerns." As for the alcohol issues cited by the inspector general, the agency has banned beer kegs at parties at the Fort Chaffee dormitory for trainees and mandated random alcohol testing and suspension of agents with a blood alcohol concentration above 0.02%. And after years of lean budgets — and sometimes outright cuts — the agency requested a 19% increase in fiscal 2017, to $283 million. But Congress didn’t approve it, and the agency’s funding for this year is less than what it received in 2012. The agency has been able to purchase five new rigs a year. More potent self-defense systems for the trucks are on the way in a trailer dubbed the Mobile Guardian, which the Energy Department is spending $670 million to develop. But the new trailers are not expected to hit the road until 2023 — long after the weapons modernization program is underway. Meanwhile, the older rigs are well maintained and log fewer miles than comparable commercial trucks, and agency officials are confident they will be able to do the job, said Al Stotts, a spokesman for the nuclear administration. “They don’t send them out with problems,” he said. Video - http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-nuclear-couriers-20170310-story.html

Why is GM clinging to Cadillac in Europe? Michael Wayland, Automotive News Europe / March 11, 2017 As General Motors bids au revoir to its Opel/Vauxhall operations, the automaker has confirmed it will remain in the European premium market with Chevy performance cars and Cadillac. But why? The answer arguably is threefold: • Why not? Cadillac's European operations are separate from Opel, and given their size, there's little downside to sticking around. • The vehicles for sale have higher profit margins and help the reputations of both brands. • It's a long-term play to defend Cadillac's and Chevy's statuses -- to an extent -- as global brands. "Having some presence is better than having no presence at all," said IHS Automotive senior analyst Stephanie Brinley. "It doesn't have to be high-volume. It has to be profitable." Cadillac has spent a decade trying to gain traction in Europe against BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi. The three German juggernauts account for roughly 85 percent of the region's premium market. Each sold between 820,000 and 840,000 vehicles in the region in 2016, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers Association. Cadillac's 45 dealerships in Europe -- mostly in Germany and Switzerland -- sold just 781 vehicles last year, up 33 percent from 2015, according to GM. Add in the Chevrolet Camaro and Corvette, which are sold alongside Cadillac in many dealerships, and sales remain lower than many niche exotic brands that sell cars for millions of dollars apiece. "I don't know the benefits of keeping Cadillac there," said Rebecca Lindland, senior analyst for Kelley Blue Book. "Anytime brands like Bentley or Ferrari outsell you, that's not a positive." Bentley sold 2,676 vehicles in Europe in 2016; Ferrari sold 3,610. She added: "I can better understand keeping Corvette and Camaro -- those types of American cars -- more than Cadillac." Indeed, the success of Ford's Mustang in Europe suggests there's still a viable market for out-of-the-mainstream American sports cars with some heritage. Ford sold 15,300 Mustangs in Europe in 2016, a 44 percent increase from the previous year. GM said it sold just more than 1,800 Corvette and Camaro cars in Europe last year. Between the Cadillac and Chevrolet models, GM wants to reach 5,000 annual sales in Europe by the end of the decade, which would remain a tiny sliver of the overcrowded, 15 million-plus-vehicle European market. "It's a big mountain to climb," Brinley said. "That's the reality of it." Johan de Nysschen seemed bullish on Cadillac's expansion into Europe when he took over as brand president in summer 2014. But a year into his tenure, he said the company was pushing back those plans to "beyond 2020." The move is part of Cadillac's long-term attempt to become a larger player in the global premium market. It continues to grow in China and many developing markets, including the Middle East. The U.S. and China are Cadillac's "volume hubs" while it eyes "disciplined growth in Europe," according to the company. "Cadillac global growth plan continues, and is making progress," Cadillac said in an emailed statement to Automotive News. "Realistically, we see our brand as playing more of a boutique role in Europe -- an alternative to the traditional luxury establishment." Cadillac is continuing with plans "to considerably increase" its dealership network "over the next few years," spokesman Andrew Lipman said. In Europe, Cadillac sells the ATS compact sedan and coupe; CTS midsize sedan; CT6 full-size sedan; XT5 midsize crossover; and Escalade full-size SUV. The ATS-V and CTS-V high-performance versions also are available. GM's plans to remain in Europe with the Chevrolet sporty cars and Cadillac are similar to its plans for Russia, which included focusing on the premium market with Cadillac. In Russia, the brand sells the CTS/CTS-V, XT5 and Escalade/Escalade ESV.

Republicans scramble to defend healthcare reform despite party divide The Guardian / March 12, 2017 The Trump administration claimed on Sunday that no Americans would lose money under the controversial Republican plan to overhaul healthcare, an extraordinary promise that experts have so far widely contradicted. Tom Price, Trump’s health and human services secretary, told NBC’s Meet The Press that “nobody will be worse off financially” under the party’s Affordable Care Act replacement proposal, which has come under withering bipartisan criticism. Analysts have concluded that the Republican plan, the American Health Care Act, would in fact drastically cut tax credits for many people who buy health insurance on the open market; allow insurance companies to charge older people more; and sharply cut Medicaid, the government program that provides free or low-cost healthcare to the poorest Americans. Insurance industry figures have also warned that, by scrapping the government mandate that forces Americans to buy health insurance, the plan will push more younger and healthier people away from buying coverage, which would sharply increase prices for those who do. At the same time, tax cuts within the plan would save people earning $1m a year or more about $157 billion over the next ten years, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation, a non-partisan congressional panel. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, the former Democratic presidential candidate, said on Sunday that the Republican bill was an “absolute disaster” and “a disgrace” that had been put forward with a “cowardly” lack of transparency. “What this has everything to do with is a massive shift of wealth from working people and middle income people to the very richest people in this country,” Sanders said on CBS’s Face The Nation. The Congressional Budget Office, a non-partisan research office, is expected to say early next week in its “scoring” of the plan that the overhaul would also result in millions of people losing health insurance coverage. Paul Ryan, the House speaker, claimed on Sunday that while “on paper” the Republican plan indeed appeared to provide coverage to fewer Americans than the existing Affordable Care Act (also known as Obamacare), ultimately the Republican plan would encourage more coverage by “lowering the cost”. “But we’re not going to make an American do what they don’t want to do,” Ryan told CBS. “You get it if you want it. That’s freedom.” The plan also continued to come under heavy fire from within the Republican party. Rightwing members of the House of Representatives complain that it does not go far enough in dismantling Obama’s system, while members of the Senate warn that it is too radical to pass the upper chamber. Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas, who has become one of the party’s most outspoken critics of the bill, said it “would have adverse consequences for millions of Americans” and had no chance of being passed by the Senate in its current form. Although far to the right of many of his Senate peers, Cotton said the plan could well be toxic for Republicans in the 2018 midterm elections. “I’m afraid that if they vote for this bill, they’re going to put the House majority at risk next year,” Cotton said of his colleagues who control the lower chamber on ABC’s This Week. Representative Mark Meadows of North Carolina, the chairman of the hardline conservative Freedom Caucus, told CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday that he and his colleagues were “not even close at this point” to supporting the Republican plan, which he said required significant alterations. Republican governors, too, have moved against the plan. Ohio governor John Kasich, a former presidential candidate, flatly rejected Vice-President Mike Pence’s claim that the bill would give his state resources to “literally offer our most vulnerable citizens even better coverage”. Appearing on NBC’s Meet the Press, Kasich was asked: “Is he right?” “No, he’s not right,” Kasich answered, citing his state’s 700,000-person Medicaid expansion, which would be rocked by changes to coverage for mental health, drug addiction and chronic illness. “The bill needs a fix. The current system doesn’t work,” he said. “But you don’t want to throw the baby out with the bathwater.” A report by the Kaiser Family Foundation, a healthcare nonprofit, concluded last week: “Generally, people who are older, lower-income, or live in high-premium areas (like Alaska and Arizona) receive larger tax credits under the ACA than they would under the American Health Care Act replacement.” The Kaiser analysis estimated that a 60-year-old in a rural, Trump-voting West Virginia county, earning $30,000 a year, would face an $8,000 reduction in tax credits under the Republican plan. When reminded of this finding on Sunday, Price said this failed to take into account that the person in question should have more choice under the Republican plan’s marketization. “Who knows what that 60-year-old wants? I know that the federal government doesn’t know what that 60-year-old wants,” said Price. [So Tom Price is saying that the federal government is actually clueless about what the American people want. How then can they be creating health care legislation?]

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