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 NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Holiday traffic in Tennessee will not be impeded by road construction. Tennessee’s Department of Transportation announced that road construction won’t delay travelers during the Christmas and New Year’s holidays as it suspends lane closure activity on interstates and state highways in anticipation of higher traffic volumes across the state. Additionally, no temporary lane closures will be allowed for construction on Tennessee roadways beginning at 11:59 p.m. Monday, December 23, 2024, through 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday, January 1, 2025. AAA expects an estimated 2.7 million Tennesseans to travel between December 21 and January 1 with 2.58 million of them driving. “Safety is our top priority and with so many people expected to travel Tennessee roadways during the holidays, we want to keep traffic moving and get everyone to their destinations,” said Deputy Governor & TDOT Commissioner Butch Eley. “As always, please wear your seatbelt, reduce your speed, avoid distractions, and move over for emergency vehicles.” Except for a few long-term closures that must remain for safety, all construction-related closures will be suspended during the holiday period.  Workers may still be on-site in some construction zones.  Drivers should obey all posted speed limits, particularly in construction areas.  Slower speeds are necessary in work zones due to the temporary layout of the roadway and will be enforced.  Drivers convicted of speeding through work zones where workers are present face a fine of $250 to $500, plus court fees and possibly increased insurance premiums.

Much like an afternoon at a trampoline park, what goes down, will eventually come up. After a deep dive last week, it only took a week for diesel prices to bounce back to a 4-cent increase. The national price per gallon climbed to $3.494 from $3.458 according to the Petroleum Administration for Defense District. Despite the increase, it is still less than the national price from two weeks ago before the sharp nosedive. A couple of regions had increased more than the others. The Lower Atlantic rose more than five cents fro $3.432 to $3.487. Meanwhile the Gulf Coast rose from $3.13 to $3.19. The California region was the only with a significant decline ticking down from $4.623 to $4.597.

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Truck drivers blocked some major highways in central Mexico last week to protest that the government hasn’t paid them for work they did on a tourist train line. The protest by truckers blocked two major highways leading north out of Mexico City for a few hours the morning of Tuesday, Dec. 10, and other highways on the Yucatan Peninsula, where they had worked carrying gravel and other materials for the government’s Maya Train project. President Claudia Sheinbaum acknowledged Tuesday that the subcontractor companies that hired the truck drivers hadn’t paid them because the government owed them money. “The payments to the companies have started, so that they, in turn, can pay the truck drivers,” Sheinbaum said. It was the latest in a series of complaints by workers and businessmen who said the cash-strapped government has fallen behind in payments. Mexico’s federal government is running big budget deficits to pay for ambitious pet projects and entitlement programs from the previous administration. Last month, suppliers and contractors for the state-owned oil company published an open letter saying they hadn’t been paid $5 billion for work they had done. “This situation … has caused adverse affects on our finances and on the regions where we work,” the Mexican Association of Petroleum Services Companies wrote in the letter. Under former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who was Sheinbaum’s political mentor, the government began transferring large amounts of money to the state-run Pemex oil company, started large building projects and implemented cash handout programs. That led to federal budget deficits of about 6% of Mexico’s gross domestic product in 2024. Mexico’s treasury department said it would aim to reduce the deficit to 3.9% of GDP in 2025, but it was unclear if it could achieve that. López Obrador left behind a lot of unfinished train and oil refinery projects, and Sheinbaum has expanded benefit programs for older people. In November, the Moody’s ratings agency said it had downgraded the government’s debt outlook from “stable” to “negative” while reaffirming Mexico’s Baa2 overall credit rating, saying increased government debt represented a risk for Mexico. The cash crunch has left Sheinbaum scrambling to find money with new and unusual taxes and funding sources. Earlier this week, Sheinbaum said that much of the money gained by eliminating independent oversight and regulatory agencies will go to the army to fund a rise in soldiers’ pay. In November, Mexico’s Congress approved charging every cruise ship passenger a $42 immigration fee, with much of that money also going to the armed forces. López Obrador and Sheinbaum have put the army in charge of everything airports, airlines and train lines, and many of the military-run projects appear to be big money losers, which may help explain the government’s urge to find extra funding for the armed forces. For example, the army largely built the “Maya Train,” a tourist line which runs in a loop around the Yucatan Peninsula. But the train has drawn only 20% of the ridership expected when it was proposed. The Maya Train started service on Dec. 16, 2023. While it’s not completely finished — two relatively little-used stretches are scheduled to enter service later this month — the most popular and heavily-travelled parts of the line are already in service. As of Dec. 8, authorities announced the train line had carried a little more than 600,000 passengers in its first 51 weeks. That is only one-fifth of the 3 million passengers authorities had claimed it would carry per year.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A tornado near a mall in central California swept up cars, uprooted trees and sent several people to the hospital. In San Francisco, authorities issued the first-ever tornado warning. Elsewhere, inclement weather plagued areas of the U.S., with dangerous conditions including heavy snow in upstate New York, a major ice storm in Midwest states and severe weather warnings around Lake Tahoe. The ice storm beginning Friday evening created treacherous driving conditions across Iowa and eastern Nebraska Friday and into Saturday and prompted temporary closures of Interstate 80 after numerous cars and trucks slid off the road. In upstate New York, more than 33 inches (84 centimeters) was reported near Orchard Park, which is often a landing point for lake-effect snow. On Saturday, a tornado touched down near a shopping mall in Scotts Valley, California, about 70 miles (110 kilometers) south of San Francisco, around 1:40 p.m. The tornado overturned cars and toppled trees and utility poles, the National Weather Service said. The Scotts Valley Police Department said several people were injured and taken to hospitals. Some trees toppled onto cars and streets and damaged roofs in San Francisco. The damage was being assessed to determine if the city was indeed hit by a tornado, which had not occurred since 2005, according to the weather service. Roger Gass, a meteorologist in the weather service’s office in Monterey, California, said the warning of a possible tornado in San Francisco was a first for the city, noting an advanced alert did not go out before the last tornado struck nearly 20 years ago. “I would guess there wasn’t a clear signature on radar for a warning in 2005,” said Gass, who was not there at the time. The fast-moving storm prompted warnings for residents to take shelter, but few people have basements in the area. “The biggest thing that we tell people in the city is to put as many walls between you and the outside as possible,” Meteorologist Dalton Behringer said. More than a foot (30 centimeters) of snow fell at some Lake Tahoe ski resorts, and a 112-mph (181-kph) gust of wind was recorded at the Mammoth Mountain resort south of Yosemite National Park, according to the weather service’s office in Reno, Nevada. Up to 3 feet (91 centimeters) of snow was forecast for Sierra Nevada mountaintops. The Tahoe Live music festival at Palisades Tahoe ski resort in California was expected to go ahead as planned Saturday and Sunday in spite of a winter storm warning for the area. Lil Wayne was scheduled to perform Saturday night, with Diplo as the headliner on Sunday, the festival’s website said. A winter storm warning was set to expire at 10 p.m. Saturday, but an avalanche warning remained in effect into the following night for elevations above 8,000 feet (about 2,400 meters) around Tahoe. Interstate 80 was closed along an 80-mile (130-kilometer) stretch from Applegate, California, to the Nevada line just west of Reno on Saturday. The California Highway Patrol reopened the road in the afternoon for passenger vehicles with chains or four-wheel drive and snow tires. The severe weather in the Midwest resulted in at least one death. The Washington County Sheriff’s office in Nebraska said a 57-year-old woman died after she lost control of her pickup on Highway 30 near Arlington and hit an oncoming truck. The other driver sustained minor injuries. Businesses announced plans to open late Saturday as temperatures rose high enough in the afternoon to melt the ice in most places. “Luckily some warmer air is moving in behind this to make it temporary,” said Dave Cousins, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s office in Davenport, Iowa. Tens of thousands of people in western Washington state lost electricity Saturday as the system delivered rain and gusty winds, local news outlets reported. Associated Press reporters Olga R. Rodriguez in San Francisco, Julie Walker in New York, Becky Bohrer in Juneau, Alaska, and Scott Sonner in Reno, Nevada, contributed.

HARRISON, N.Y. (AP) — A small plane crashed onto an interstate highway in New York, killing one of two people on board and injuring the other, authorities said. The crash shut down traffic on Interstate 684 in Harrison, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) northeast of Manhattan in Westchester County, around 7 p.m. Thursday. Video from the scene showed the damaged white plane against a guardrail in the center median, with emergency vehicles blocking all lanes of traffic. The Department of Environmental Conservation was on scene to clean up spilled aviation fuel, Gov. Kathy Hochul said. “My heart goes out to the loved ones of those on board during this tragic incident, and I am praying for a safe recovery for the injured individual,” Hochul said in a statement.

FESTUS, Mo. — Missouri police and the Arkansas State Police are working together in an investigation regarding a shooting near Interstate 55 in the St. Louis suburb of Festus. Earlier this month the Associated Press reported that  Police in Missouri shot and wounded a suspect who they said opened fire after crashing his vehicle, in which investigators found the body of a female. Police in Festus received a call on Dec. 8 at 11:10 a.m. of a report of shots fired near a restaurant, Festus Police Chief Doug Wendel said. Officers, joined by police from nearby Crystal City, found the suspect on a highway and attempted to stop the black pickup he was driving, Wendel said. The vehicle struck a concrete median barrier and crashed near a store, Wendel said. The suspect, wearing body armor, exited the vehicle and fired shots, Crystal City Police Chief Chad Helms said. Two Crystal City police officers returned fire, wounding the man, who was taken to a hospital, Helms said. He had multiple gunshot wounds, Jefferson County Sheriff Dave Marshak said. The officers were uninjured, Helms said. In the vehicle, investigators found the body of a female they believe was dead before the shooting, Marshak said. Investigators are working to determine the cause of death, he said. Arkansas State Police said on Wednesday that its CID was requested to assist in the investigation because the deceased woman was identified as Clara Blaxton, 45, of Independence County, Ark. Updated information by the ASP revealed that the incident took place at a White Castle restaurant just off I-55, and that the report was of an active shooter. The suspect, later identified as Jarrett W. Cousins, 40, of Bradford, Ark., fled the scene in a Dodge Ram truck. Police officers from Festus and Crystal City attempted to stop the vehicle before it struck a concrete median, stopping in front of a Crystal City shopping center on Truman Boulevard. According to ASP’s release, Cousins exited the vehicle wearing body armor and armed with multiple firearms. The suspect discharged his weapons, and officers returned fire, striking the suspect. Cousins was transported to a Missouri hospital, where he remains in critical but stable condition. Officers found Braxton deceased in the front passenger seat of Cousins’ vehicle. No officers were injured during the exchange of gunfire. The Jefferson County (Missouri) Sheriff’s Office (JCSO) is investigating the officer-involved shooting. That agency has charged Cousins with one count of First-Degree Assault or Attempt – Serious Physical Injury or Special Victim and one count of Armed Criminal Action. He is being held without bond. Blaxton’s body was sent to the Missouri Crime Lab. JCSO requested assistance from ASP CID in investigating the death of Braxton, which investigators believe occurred in Arkansas.  ASP CID will prepare a case file for the Independence County, Ark., prosecutor to determine charges. 

DOVER, Del. — A UPS driver who crashed his truck after downing several beers while driving is not entitled to workers’ compensation for his injuries, a Delaware judge has ruled. Superior Court Judge Kathleen Vavala ruled late last week that Delaware’s Industrial Accident Board abused its discretion and erred as a matter of law in awarding compensation to Timothy Willis. “Voluntary intoxication while working deviates from the ordinary course of employment,” the judge noted, saying the board’s decision “exceeded the bounds of reason.” Willis crashed his semi-truck into a guardrail in Baltimore County, Maryland, in June 2021. He began his shift the night before in Delaware and drove to Pennsylvania before heading to Maryland to drop off the trailer portion of his rig. Willis was headed back to Delaware to drop off the semi-cab before driving home to New Jersey when he barreled into a guardrail at about 4 a.m. “Willis typically packs a cooler of beers to celebrate the end of his shift while driving back home; but on the day of the crash, he started early,” Vavala wrote, noting that Willis admitted drinking three beers. “Willis admitted he usually drinks beer and drives on the way home from work; attended AA meetings to curb his drinking; and was drinking and driving sometime before the crash,” the judge noted. Responding officers saw Willis throwing several beer cans out of the truck. Officers said he was slurring his speech, sweating profusely, smelled of alcohol and had defecated on himself. Officers found an open can of Miller Lite on the running board of the truck, two cans on the ground, and another in the cooler. Willis refused to perform field sobriety checks, but two blood tests taken hours later registered blood alcohol levels of 0.19 and 0.181, both more than twice the legal limit. He was charged with drunken driving but avoided a formal conviction by entering a “probation before judgment” agreement. The Industrial Accident Board refused to consider the blood alcohol tests because they were not properly authenticated. It also excluded statements Willis made during his Maryland court hearing. Board members then awarded Willis compensation, saying the accident occurred at a time and place where he was reasonably expected to be while working. They also concluded that violation of UPS’s zero-tolerance alcohol policy did not in itself mean the accident was “outside the course and scope of employment.” They also said UPS failed to demonstrate that Willis was intoxicated at the time. The board noted that the alcohol in question was light beer with lower alcohol content compared to other beers and that it was unclear when he had been drinking. The board also lent some credence to Willis’ claim that he crashed after swerving to avoid a deer. Vavala said the board correctly noted that Willis had not been convicted of DUI and it correctly excluded the breathalyzer results. She determined, however, that the board abused its discretion in prohibiting cross-examination of Willis about statements he made during his Maryland plea hearing. She also said the board erred in finding that Willis was acting within the course and scope of his employment when he crashed. “A truck driver cannot reasonably drink, nor is he expected to drink, alcohol while operating a semi-trailer weighing thousands of pounds on curving back roads at close to four in the morning,” Vavala wrote. “Such conduct not only violates company policy — it is also prohibited by law.” “Finally, to affirm the board’s decision would set a dangerous precedent that employees can get away with driving impaired on the job — as long as it’s light beer — despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary,” Vavala concluded. The judge’s ruling did not indicate Willis’ employment status with UPS.

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Missouri business groups announced Monday that they have filed a lawsuit to try to stop a voter-approved law that will raise the state’s minimum wage and require employers to give workers paid sick leave. The powerful Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry, restaurant and grocers associations say the law violates a state constitutional requirement that ballot measures only address one issue because it included the minimum wage increase and paid sick leave. The law will increase the state’s minimum wage from the current $12.30 an hour to $13.75 in January and $15 in 2026. It gives workers up to seven paid sick days per year starting in May. Leaders of the minimum-wage campaign said businesses are trying to undo the will of voters. “Missouri’s working class, in lockstep with allies across the state, went to the ballot box on Nov. 5 to overwhelmingly voice our need for paid sick days and fair wages in a free and fair election,” said Terrence Wise, of the Fight for 15. “It’s sickening to me that corporations are trying to steal our victory away and quiet the will of the voters who made this win possible.” The business groups asked the Missouri Supreme Court to find the law unconstitutional. “While Proposition A is bad policy and will have extreme and detrimental effects on Missouri’s businesses, that is not the basis of this action,” the petition states. “Instead, the election irregularities and the constitutional violations are so significant that the election results must be overturned and Proposition A must be declared invalid.” Missouri was among a several states where the minimum wage or sick leave was on the ballot this year. Alaska voters approved a similar measure, while voters in California rejected an effort to raise the minimum wage for most workers to $18 an hour. In Arizona, voters rejected a measure that would have allowed businesses to pay tipped workers 25% less than the minimum wage, provided that tips pushed their total pay above the minimum wage. In Massachusetts, voters defeated a measure that would have gradually raised the minimum wage for tipped employees until it matches the rate for other employees. Nebraska voters approved a measure to require many employers to provide sick leave, but it will not change wages. Business groups also argue that Missouri voters were misled about how much the law will cost local governments and which companies and workers it will apply to. For example, government employees and workers at businesses that make less than $500,000 a year are exempt from the paid sick leave entitlements. A short summary of the ballot measure provided to voters did not describe all exempt employees. No hearings have been scheduled yet for the lawsuit.

WASHINGTON — Donald Trump said he can’t guarantee that his promised tariffs on key U.S. foreign trade partners won’t raise prices for American consumers and he suggested once more that some political rivals and federal officials who pursued legal cases against him should be imprisoned. The president-elect, in a wide-ranging interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” that aired Sunday, Dec. 8, also touched on monetary policy, immigration, abortion and health care, and U.S. involvement in Ukraine, Israel and elsewhere. Trump often mixed declarative statements with caveats, at one point cautioning “things do change.” A look at some of the issues covered: Trump hems on whether trade penalties could raise prices. Trump has threatened broad trade penalties, but said he didn’t believe economists’ predictions that added costs on those imported goods for American companies would lead to higher domestic prices for consumers. He stopped short of a pledge that U.S. an households won’t be paying more as they shop. “I can’t guarantee anything. I can’t guarantee tomorrow,” Trump said, seeming to open the door to accepting the reality of how import levies typically work as goods reach the retail market. That’s a different approach from Trump’s typical speeches throughout the 2024 campaign, when he framed his election as a sure way to curb inflation. In the interview, Trump defended tariffs generally, saying that tariffs are “going to make us rich.” He has pledged that, on his first day in office in January, he would impose 25% tariffs on all goods imported from Mexico and Canada unless those countries satisfactorily stop illegal immigration and the flow of illegal drugs such as fentanyl into the United States. He also has threatened tariffs on China to help force that country to crack down on fentanyl production. “All I want to do is, I want to have a level, fast, but fair playing field,” Trump said. Swift action on immigration is coming. Trump repeatedly mentioned his promises to seal the U.S.-Mexico border and deport millions of people who are in the U.S. illegally through a mass deportation program. “I think you have to do it,” he said. He suggested he would try to use executive action to end “birthright” citizenship under which people born in the U.S. are considered citizens — although such protections are spelled out in the Constitution. Asked specifically about the future for people who were brought into the country illegally as children and have been shielded from deportation in recent years, Trump said, “I want to work something out,” indicating he might seek a solution with Congress. But Trump also said he does not “want to be breaking up families” of mixed legal status, “so the only way you don’t break up the family is you keep them together and you have to send them all back.” Trump commits to NATO, with conditions, and waffles on Putin and Ukraine. Long a critic of NATO members for not spending more on their own defense, Trump said he “absolutely” would remain in the alliance “if they pay their bills.” Pressed on whether he would withdraw if he were dissatisfied with allies’ commitments, Trump said he wants the U.S. treated “fairly” on trade and defense. He waffled on a NATO priority of containing Russia and President Vladimir Putin. Trump suggested Ukraine should prepare for less U.S. aid in its defense against Putin’s invasion. “Possibly. Yeah, probably. Sure,” Trump said of reducing Ukraine assistance from Washington. Separately, Trump has called for an immediate cease-fire. Asked about Putin, Trump said initially that he has not talked to the Russian leader since Election Day last month, but then hedged: “I haven’t spoken to him recently.” Trump said when pressed, adding that he did not want to “impede the negotiation.” Trump suggests retribution for his opponents while claiming no interest in vengeance. He offered conflicting statements on how he would approach the justice system after winning election despite being convicted of 34 felonies in a New York state court and being indicted in other cases for his handling of national security secrets and efforts to overturn his 2020 loss to Democrat Joe Biden. “Honestly, they should go to jail,” Trump said of members of Congress who investigated the Capitol riot by his supporters who wanted him to remain in power. The president-elect underscored his contention that he can use the justice system against others, including special prosecutor Jack Smith, who led the case on Trump’s role in the siege on Jan. 6, 2021. Trump confirmed his plan to pardon supporters who were convicted for their roles in the riot, saying he would take that action on his first day in office. As for the idea of revenge driving potential prosecutions, Trump said: “I have the absolute right. I’m the chief law enforcement officer, you do know that. I’m the president. But I’m not interested in that.” At the same time, Trump singled out lawmakers on a special House committee who had investigated the insurrection, citing Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., and former Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo. “Cheney was behind it … so was Bennie Thompson and everybody on that committee,” Trump said. Asked specifically whether he would direct his administration to pursue cases, he said, “No,” and suggested he did not expect the FBI to quickly undertake investigations into his political enemies. But at another point, Trump said he would leave the matter up to Pam Bondi, his pick as attorney general. “I want her to do what she wants to do,” he said. Such threats, regardless of Trump’s inconsistencies, have been taken seriously enough by many top Democrats that Biden is considering issuing blanket, preemptive pardons to protect key members of his outgoing administration. Trump did seemingly back off his campaign rhetoric calling for Biden to be investigated, saying, “I’m not looking to go back into the past.” Trump says Powell is safe at the Fed, but not Wray at the FBI. The president-elect said he has no intention, at least for now, of asking Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell to step down before Powell’s term ends in 2028. Trump said during the campaign that presidents should have more say in Fed policy, including interest rates. Trump did not offer any job assurances for FBI Director Christopher Wray, whose term is to end in 2027. Asked about Wray, Trump said: “Well, I mean, it would sort of seem pretty obvious” that if the Senate confirms Kash Patel as Trump’s pick for FBI chief, then “he’s going to be taking somebody’s place, right? Somebody is the man that you’re talking about.” Trump is absolute about Social Security, not so much on abortion and health insurance. Trump promised that the government efficiency effort led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy will not threaten Social Security. “We’re not touching Social Security, other than we make it more efficient,” he said. He added that “we’re not raising ages or any of that stuff.” He was not so specific about abortion or his long-promised overhaul of the Affordable Care Act. On abortion, Trump continued his inconsistencies and said he would “probably” not move to restrict access to the abortion pills that now account for a majority of pregnancy terminations, according to the Guttmacher Institute, which supports abortion rights. But pressed on whether he would commit to that position, Trump replied, “Well, I commit. I mean, are — things do — things change. I think they change.” Reprising a line from his Sept. 10 debate against Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump again said he had “concepts” of a plan to substitute for the 2010 Affordable Care Act, which he called “lousy health care.” He added a promise that any Trump version would maintain insurance protections for Americans with preexisting health conditions. He did not explain how such a design would be different from the status quo or how he could deliver on his desire for “better healthcare for less money.” By Bill Barrow and Will Weissert. Barrow reported from Atlanta. Associated Press writers Adriana Gomez Licon in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and Jill Colvin and Michelle L. Price in New York contributed to this report.

The Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT) is stepping up its parking game. The DOT announced Friday, Dec. 6, that it has launched a $31 million statewide project aimed at expanding truck parking facilities at five key locations across the state. “This project addresses a longstanding challenge within the trucking industry,” the release stated. Those needs include more truck parking spaces to support drivers’ safety and operational efficiency. The first phase of the project is underway at the Middletown rest area on Interstate 91 northbound. That particular $3.8 million expansion will add 11 new truck parking spaces, increasing capacity at this location by more than 40%, according to CTDOT. By the end of the decade, CTDOT plans to add more than 180 new truck parking spaces across the five locations in Middletown, Madison, Southington, Southbury, and Vernon. The parking capacity at these sites will increase by more than 300%, significantly improving safety and accessibility for truck drivers throughout the state. “During the COVID-19 pandemic, we heard truckers loud and clear when they called for more places to safely park on state highways,” said CTDOT Commissioner Garrett Eucalitto. “We are excited to begin these projects to improve safety for the trucking community, which keeps our economy moving.” “The Motor Transport Association of Connecticut (MTAC) wholeheartedly applauds Commissioner Eucalitto and the Connecticut Department of Transportation for addressing the truck parking shortage issue head on,” said MTAC President John Blair. “The truck parking shortage has plagued the trucking industry for decades, and the consequences of insufficient capacity are as wide ranging as they are severe. The scarcity of truck parking spaces across the country decreases safety for all highway users, exacerbates the industry longstanding workforce challenges, diminishes trucking productivity, and results in unnecessary greenhouse gas emissions. The effort here in Connecticut will undoubtedly make our roads safer.” “In Connecticut and nationally, truck parking shortages are a major safety concern,” said John McAvoy, division administrator for the Federal Highway Administration’s Connecticut Division. “With the projected growth in e-commerce and truck traffic, the demand for truck parking will continue to outpace the supply of public and private parking facilities and will only increase the truck parking problems experienced in Connecticut. It is essential that commercial truck drivers have access to safe, secure and accessible truck parking.” CTDOT says Connecticut’s freight transportation system supports more than 451,000 jobs and producing $50.5 billion annually in gross regional product. The statewide truck parking expansion project will be completed in phases over the next few years, significantly improving the availability of safe and secure parking for truck drivers throughout Connecticut. These projects are fully covered by state funds.

DELAWARE COUNTY, Ohio — According to a Columbus, Ohio television station, authorities are investigating a serious crash involving a semi and a car early Thursday morning, Dec. 6, on the off-ramp of I-71 southbound, near SR-37. WSYX television reported that the accident happened shortly after 4 a.m. Deputies say that a semi-truck driven by 51-year-old Stephanie Cardenaz and a Toyota Camry driven by 64-year-old Patrick O’Neal collided. According to the report, O’Neal’s Camry was disabled on the side of the road after a previous, unrelated crash on I-71 southbound. Two Delaware County Sheriff’s cruisers were on scene with their cruiser lights active, assisting O’Neal, when Cardenaz lost control of the semi. The semi then struck a Delaware County Sheriff’s deputy and O’Neal’s Toyota Camry. The deputy who was hit, who’s been identified as 27-year-old Nickolas Golden, as well as O’Neal, were taken to Grant Medical Center with serious injuries. A friend of Cardenaz told WSYX that she sought treatment at a local hospital for back pain after leaving the crash scene.