The Nation

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has declared Houston-based motor carrier Adversity Transport Inc. to be an “imminent hazard” to public safety and ordered the motor carrier to immediately cease all interstate and intrastate operations. The motor carrier was served the Federal order on Jan. 25. On Dec. 10, 2021, Adversity Transport violated a standing out-of-service order issued for failing to permit an investigation into its safety fitness, according to the FMCSA. A subsequent FMCSA review of Adversity Transport’s roadside safety performance record found the motor carrier to be egregiously noncompliant with multiple Federal safety regulations, including: Driving of CMVs (49 CFR Part 392); Parts and Accessories Necessary for Safe Operations (49 CFR Part 393); drivers’ Hours of Service (49 CFR Part 395) and Vehicle Maintenance and Inspection (49 CFR Part 396). Two of Adversity Transport’s drivers were also found to be driving while prohibited or suspended. Adversity Transport’s vehicle out-of-service rate is 89%, compared to a national average of 21%, and its driver out-of-service rate is 50%, compared to a national average of 6%. Adversity Transport allegedly failed to ensure its drivers drive safely and its drivers have received numerous citations for violations such as speeding, texting while driving and possessing a controlled substance while driving. Adversity Transport also reportedly failed to ensure its vehicles were safe. Roadside inspections reported pervasive vehicle maintenance problems including unsafe tires, unsafe brakes and cracked frames. Adversity Transport is also accused of failing to ensure its drivers comply with the requirements to track their hours of service, designed to prevent fatigued drivers from continuing to drive. FMCSA’s imminent hazard out-of-service order states that Adversity Transport’s “… complete and utter disregard for the [federal safety regulations] substantially increases the likelihood of serious injury or death for your drivers and the motoring public if your operations are not discontinued immediately.” Failing to comply with the provisions of the Federal imminent hazard order may result in civil penalties of up to $28,142 for each violation. Adversity Transport may also be assessed civil penalties of not less than $11,256 for providing transportation in interstate commerce without operating authority registration, and up to $15,876 for operating a CMV in interstate commerce without USDOT Number registration. Knowing and/or willful violations may result in criminal penalties. A copy of the imminent hazard order issued to Adversity Transport is available here.  

CALERA, Okla. — Citizen-soldiers from the 1st Squadron, 180th Cavalry Regiment of the Oklahoma National Guard supported the Oklahoma Highway Patrol in Durant Thursday by stabilizing a semi-truck that slid off of U.S. 75/69 in Calera and preventing it from rolling over. The truck driver was not injured.

DALLAS — A tractor-trailer driver is dead after he was reportedly ejected during a crash on Interstate 45 in downtown Dallas and thrown onto Interstate 30. KXAS-TV reports that the tractor-trailer was going southbound on I-45 when it crashed at about 9:55 p.m. along the bridge over eastbound Interstate 30. The driver of the truck, who has not been identified, was ejected from the cab and found dead on the I-30 lanes below. The 18-wheeler was the only vehicle in the accident and investigators were working to determine what caused the wreck. Aside from the driver, a dog was also found dead at the scene WFAA reported that the southbound lanes at I-45 at I-30, near Deep Ellum, were closed following a fatal crash Wednesday night.  

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A major storm was leaving New Mexico on Thursday but leaving bitterly cold temperatures and roads slick from ice and packed with snow, prompting closures of schools and nonessential government services in some areas. The National Weather Service office in Albuquerque canceled winter storm warnings as conditions improved but urged drivers to be cautious as subfreezing temperatures across most of the state made travel hazardous. Public schools were closed Thursday in Albuquerque and Santa Fe due to icy road conditions, and Albuquerque closed government offices, senior centers, libraries, the ABQBioPark and two museums. Forecasters said light snowfall continued in southeastern New Mexico early Thursday but was expected to taper off by midday. Gradual warming was expected Friday into early next week, the weather service said. Highways with snowpacked or icy conditions early Thursday included Interstate 40 through Tijeras Canyon east of Albuquerque and Interstate 25 through Glorieta Pass near Santa Fe, the weather service said. The New Mexico Department of Transportation reported severe driving conditions on I-25 in the Socorro area.

OTTAWA, Ontario — The police chief of Canada’s capital said Wednesday there is likely no policing solution to end a protest against vaccine mandates and other pandemic restrictions that has snarled traffic around Parliament. He also said there is a “significant element” of the protest’s funding and organization coming from the United States. Thousands of protesters descended on Ottawa over the weekend, deliberately blocking traffic around Parliament Hill. Police estimate the protest involved 8,000 to 15,000 people Saturday, but has since dwindled to several hundred. But trucks were still blocking traffic. “We are now aware of a significant element from the United States that have been involved in the funding, the organizing and the demonstrating. They have converged on our city and there are plans for more to come,” Ottawa Police Chief Peter Sloly said. Organizers, including one who has espoused white supremacist views, raised millions for the cross-Canada “freedom truck convoy” against vaccine mandates. There was a public GoFundMe page. The protesting truckers also have received praise from former U.S. President Donald Trump and tweets of support from Tesla billionaire Elon Musk. Ottawa residents frustrated with the incessant blare of truck horns and traffic gridlock are questioning how police have handled the demonstration. “There is likely no policing solution to this,” Sloly said. Many Canadians have been angered by some of the crude behavior of the protesters. Some urinated or parked on the National War Memorial. One danced on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. A number carried signs and flags with swastikas. The most visible contingent of protesters were truck drivers who parked their big rigs on Parliament Hill. Some of them were protesting a rule that took effect Jan. 15 requiring truckers entering Canada to be fully immunized against the coronavirus. The Canadian Trucking Alliance has estimated that 85% of truckers in Canada are vaccinated. Meanwhile, officials said there had been some movement toward resolving a protest blockade at the United States border in southern Alberta. Chad Williamson, a lawyer representing truckers blocking access to the crossing at Coutts, Alberta, said they spoke with police and agreed to open some blocked lanes. Royal Canadian Mounted Police Corporal Curtis Peters said there were indications that the lane openings might only be temporary. Demonstrators began parking their trucks and other vehicles near the crossing Saturday in solidarity with the protest in Ottawa. The tie-up stranded travelers and cross-border truckers for days. Police tried to peacefully break up the demonstration Tuesday, but demonstrators breached a nearby checkpoint.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Winter Storm Landon is dumping ice, snow, sleet and rain across a more than 2,000-mile path of the U.S., affecting roads and the supply chain as many 18-wheelers are idling to wait out the weather. Francisco Alvarez, the lead meteorologist for Convoy, a digital freight network, outlined for The Trucker just how Landon will affect the nation’s trucking industry. “We expect this storm to impact entire swaths of major interstates across and between major markets, coupled with freezing air sticking around practically all affected areas for two or three days after precipitation,” Alvarez said. “This means we could see some significant supply chain disruptions as the storm grows and moves for the next few days and into the weekend.” Alvarez said that there is a “real possibility of entire interstates being impacted across multiple states. For example, I-44 ranging from Oklahoma City to St, Louis, I-55 from Memphis, Tennessee, all the way north to Chicago, and I-70 from Missouri through Columbus, Ohio, are expected to all be impacted with snow and ice at some point from now through Thursday night, followed by continued freezing temps.” Alvarez added: “From a practical standpoint for truckers — and all drivers, for that matter — ice is always very dangerous to drive on, and this storm is forecast to bring a lot of ice from Texas all the way northeast to the Ohio River Valley. Throw in the heavy snowfall north of the ice and we’re looking at some very dangerous driving conditions for the next few days and into the weekend.” Specific forecast and impacts to supply chain Wednesday night through Thursday, “look for rain mixed with and eventually switching over to frozen precipitation for a swath area from Oklahoma through Illinois,” Alvarez said. “This is just the beginning, and as the storm progresses, the conditions will likely deteriorate as the precipitation begins to transition into freezing rain, sleet and snow.” Impacted areas are likely to include: Oklahoma City — I-40/44/35 interchange (Wintry mix transitioning to ice and snow). St. Louis — I-64/40/70 (Wintry mix transitioning to all snow by evening). Central Illinois — Biggest impact with almost all snow. Delays and closures seem likely if any sort of accident occurs for pretty much every major highway there. This means I-55, I-80, and connecting areas therein. Thursday through Friday morning, “the storm really ramps up, causing travel havoc due to snow from southwestern Missouri through southern Michigan, and even worse, a swath of ice from Dallas/Fort Worth all the way through southern Ohio,” Alvarez said. Some impacted areas include: Dallas/Fort Worth — I-35/I-30/I-20, especially since ice impacts drivers there worse than other areas accustomed to such weather. Expect snow and ice into Thursday. Memphis — I-40, I-55, again with ice. Not great, especially on bridge surfaces crossing the Mississippi. Expect ice and sleet through Thursday. Chicago/Joliet — Snow to continue through Thursday night. Louisville — I-64/I-65, rain/freezing rain Thursday morning transitioning over to all freezing rain, ice and sleet by Thursday night and through Friday morning. Friday morning and into the weekend, expect “very cold air will linger for a few days and likely keep temperatures below freezing for practically all of the affected areas, meaning hazardous driving conditions will persist across large sections of the U.S.,” Alvarez said. The storm will continue to move toward the Northeast, dropping more snow in upstate New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. “I am less concerned about this part of the storm, since those areas are better prepared and there will be less ice and snow overall,” Alvarez concluded.

INDIANAPOLIS — A major winter storm sweeping across the nation has caused several areas to restrict tractor-trailers. INDIANA TOLLWAY From 12 a.m. Eastern Standard Time Wednesday, Feb. 2, until 6 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on Thursday, Feb. 3, the following vehicles are not permitted on the Toll Road: All Triple tractor-trailers All Doubles High-profile steel haulers High-profile oversize permit loads. OHIO TURNPIKE The Ohio Turnpike has issued a travel ban for all high-profile vehicles from Toll Plaza 2 to Toll Plaza 239, effective from 7 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 2, through 12 p.m. Friday, Feb. 4. The implemented travel ban will be continually evaluated throughout the duration of the storm. When a travel ban is placed into effect, the following types of vehicles shall be banned from traveling the Ohio Turnpike until the travel ban is canceled: All triple-trailer combination commercial vehicles Box-type double-trailer combination commercial vehicles in excess of ninety (90) feet in length. Mobile home / Office trailers. Boat and horse trailers towed by passenger vehicles or pickup trucks. High-profile campers and enclosed trailers, which are defined as trailers designed for a person of average height to stand in. In response to weather expected Thursday, PennDOT has announced Tier 1 Restrictions on the following roadways: Tier 1: Empty Tractor Trailers Effective from 12 p.m. Thursday if conditions warrant I-80: OH Line to I-99 I-86: I-90 to NY Line I-90: OH Line to NY Line I-79: I-80 to End of I-79 Effective from 6 p.m. Thursday if conditions warrant I-79: WV Line to I-80 I-99: PA Turnpike to I-80 I-279: PA 28 to I-79 I-376: I-80 to PA Turnpike I-70: WV State Line to MD Line I-80: I-99 to NJ Line I-579: I-376 to I-279 I-180: US 15 to I-80 I-84: I-81 to NY Line I-380: I-80 to I-81 I-81: I-80 to NY Line Tier restriction info can be found here. Updates to these restrictions can be found at www.511PA.com.                    

TIPPECANOE COUNTY, Ind. — The Indiana Department of Transportation (IDOT) took to Twitter Wednesday afternoon to warn drivers along Interstate 65 Wednesday afternoon about treacherous driving conditions that had already caused at least one big rig to jackknife. A major winter storm is currently making its way across a large section of the nation, spreading snow, ice, freezing rain and sleet. Traffic was backed up for miles in Tippecanoe County, Indiana, where the 18-wheeler jackknifed, according to IDOT. There was no word about the condition of the truck driver. IDOT officials urged everyone to “slow down.”

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Forecasters say driving conditions were expected to worsen and cause road closures Wednesday in northern and central New Mexico due to snowfall from a major storm forecast to intensify into the night. The National Weather Service reported poor road conditions from the storm were expected to hamper Albuquerque’s evening commute and said a winter storm warning would be in effect for much of the state until noon Thursday. “Travel could be very difficult to impossible,” resulting in significant delays, the weather service said. Schools were closed Wednesday in Santa Fe and mountainous areas on Albuquerque’s eastern outskirts because of the storm. In Las Cruces, New Mexico’s second most populous city, schools on Thursday will shift to remote learning due to the potential for icy road conditions, officials said. “We understand families and educators have to plan, and with our flexibility to go remote, this is what we need to do,” said Superintendent Ralph Ramos. Expected snowfall amounts in New Mexico on Wednesday and early Thursday included 6 inches in Albuquerque, 5 inches in Las Vegas and 8 inches in Clines Corner along Interstate 40. Up to 14 inches of snow were forecast for the highest peaks in several mountain ranges.

PITTSBURGH — The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation has ordered structural reviews of five other bridges with similar construction to the Pittsburgh bridge that collapsed  Friday. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that department officials ordered the reviews of the five bridges that share what is known as a k-frame design, where weight is placed on single supports that are not bolstered by secondary supports. A department spokeswoman said all five bridges are rated fair or better— meaning none of them are currently rated “poor” like the The Forbes Avenue bridge over Fern Hollow Creek in Frick Park that collapsed. Experts have cautioned  that thousands of bridges are rated poor nationally based on inspections, but that does not signal imminent danger or collapse. The rating means there is noticeable deterioration or corrosion and steps like weight limitations, rehabilitation or increased inspections may be needed until repairs are necessary or made. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating what caused the bridge to collapse. The five Pennsylvania bridges that will be reviewed are the Canon-McMillan Alumni Bridge in North Strabane, the Shenango Road Bridge in Beaver, the Philip J. Fahy Memorial Bridge in Bethlehem, the McCallum Street Bridge in Philadelphia and the bridge over Beechwood Boulevard at Murray Avenue in Pittsburgh.

CHICAGO — A major winter storm with millions of Americans in its path spread rain, freezing rain and heavy snow further across the country on Thursday, knocking out power to more than 100,000 homes and businesses and disrupting flights at the busy Dallas Fort Worth International Airport. A long stretch of states from New Mexico to Maine remained under winter storm warnings and watches and the path of the storm stretched further from the central U.S. into more of the South and Northeast. Heavy snow was expected from the southern Rockies to northern New England, while forecasters said heavy ice buildup was likely from Texas to Pennsylvania. “We have a lot of real estate covered by winter weather impacts this morning,” Andrew Orrison, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in College Park, Maryland, said early Thursday. “We do have an expansive area of heavy snow, sleet and freezing rain occurring.” Parts of Ohio, New York and northern New England were expected to see heavy snowfall as the storm moves to the east with 12 to 18 inches of snow possible in some places through Friday, Orrison said. Along the warmer side of the storm, strong thunderstorms capable of damaging wind gusts and tornadoes were possible Thursday in parts of Mississippi and Alabama, the Storm Prediction Center said. More than 20 inches of snow was reported in the southern Rockies, while more than a foot of snow fell in areas of Illinois, Indiana and Michigan. Sleet and freezing rain were occurring early Thursday in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and in parts of Oklahoma and Arkansas. More than 100,000 homes and businesses were without power, mostly in Texas, Tennessee and Arkansas, according to the website poweroutage.us, which tracks utility reports. “Unfortunately we are looking at enough ice accumulations that we will be looking at significant travel impacts,” Orrison said. Ice began accumulating Thursday in parts of West Tennessee including Memphis, Tennessee, causing power outages and dangerous road conditions during the morning commute. Trees sagged under the weight of ice, resulting in fallen tree limbs and branches. Parked cars had a layer of ice on them and authorities in several communities around Memphis warned of some cars sliding off slick roadways. Texas had about 70,000 power outages Thursday morning, far from the more than 4 million outages that paralyzed the state during the February 2021 freeze in one of the worst blackouts in U.S. history. The return of subfreezing weather and ice in Texas was unsettling to many residents after last year’s catastrophic outages. In San Antonio, where roughly 30,000 homes were without power Thursday morning, officials stressed the outages were local disruptions — such as downed power lines — and not grid failures. South Bend, Indiana, reported a record snowfall for the date on Wednesday with 11.2 inches, eclipsing the previous record of 8 inches set on the date in 1908, said Hannah Carpenter, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s office in Syracuse, Indiana. Once the storm pushes through, she said temperatures will see a big drop, with Friday’s highs mostly in the upper teens followed by lows in the single digits in northern Indiana, along with bone-chilling wind chills. “It’s definitely not going to be melting real quick here,” Carpenter said Thursday morning. The frigid temperatures settled into areas after the snowy weather, with Kansas residents awakening to dangerous wind chills of around 15 below zero. In New Mexico, schools and nonessential government services were closed in some areas Thursday because of the icy roads. The disruptive storm began Tuesday and moved across the central U.S. on Wednesday’s Groundhog Day, the same day the famed groundhog Punxsutawney Phil predicted six more weeks of winter. The storm came on the heels of a nor’easter last weekend that brought blizzard conditions to many parts of the East Coast. Airlines canceled nearly 7,000 flights in the U.S. scheduled for Wednesday or Thursday, the flight-tracking service FlightAware.com showed. More than 1,000 flights were canceled Thursday alone at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, and more than 300 were canceled at nearby Dallas Love Field.  

WASHINGTON — Drivers, beware: Speed cameras could be on their way to a location near you thanks to President Joe Biden’s infrastructure law. Under new federal guidance issued Wednesday, states can now tap billions of federal highway dollars for roadway safety programs such as automated traffic enforcement. They are being told that cameras that photograph speeding vehicles are an established way to help bring down rising traffic deaths. It’s all part of the Transportation Department’s new national strategy to stem record increases in road fatalities with a broad-based “safe system” approach that promotes better road design, lower speed limits and more car safety regulations. The guidance by the Federal Highway Administration cites speed cameras in particular as a proven enforcement tool against hazardous driving. The Federal Highway Administration’s goal “is to help state and local transportation agencies across the country deliver projects that make streets, highways and bridges safe and accessible for all users,” agency Deputy Administrator Stephanie Pollack said. “States now have more flexibility and funding to make highway safety improvements.” Automated traffic enforcement isn’t widely embraced. Speed cameras have been slow to be accepted in communities, even after the National Transportation Safety Board urged greater use of them in 2017 to deter crashes, due to concern from residents that they will be used unnecessarily and excessively as a revenue-generating tool. Eight states specifically forbid the use of speed cameras. But as traffic deaths have spiked up during the coronavirus pandemic, auto safety groups have increasingly pointed to automated traffic enforcement as yielding more equitable and consistent results than police traffic stops. They released a checklist last summer aimed at providing a roadmap to build community support. “Automated speed enforcement, if deployed equitably and applied appropriately to roads with the greatest risk of harm due to speeding, can provide significant safety benefits and save lives,” according to the Transportation Department’s safety strategy released last week. The department said that under the previous five-year transportation bill, states were mostly confined to spending highway safety money for hard infrastructure projects, such as building sidewalks; use of federal money for speed cameras was prohibited except in school zones. Now, under Biden’s new law, states have the option to use up to 10% of the $15.6 billion in total highway safety money available over five years for specified non-infrastructure programs, such as public awareness campaigns, automated enforcement of traffic safety laws and measures to protect children walking and bicycling to school. About $3 billion of the highway safety money was distributed to states in December. The new guidance also requires at least 15% of a state’s highway safety improvement program funds to address pedestrians, bicyclists and other nonmotorized road users if those groups make up 15% or more of the state’s crash fatalities. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has stressed the need to improve safety for all road users and not just drivers, noting that safer roads for all open up transit options. According to government data, traffic fatalities involving bicyclists and pedestrians are more likely to impact non-white, lower-income people.

BISMARCK, N.D. — North Dakota officials on Tuesday shut down Interstate 29 from Grand Forks to the Canadian border because of blowing snow due to zero visibility and icy roads. The National Weather Service issued a blizzard warning for all of eastern North Dakota and western Minnesota counties that border North Dakota. The weather service said wind gusts in some areas could be as high as 65 mph. North Dakota Highway Patrol spokesman Lt. Troy Hischer said the weather was causing life-threatening weather conditions and warned motorists who drive around gates to get on the highway will be fined. “Motorists who drive past road closures put themselves and others, including rescuers, at risk,” Hischer said.

DANVILLE, Pa. — The airline that carried monkeys part of the way to a U.S. research laboratory before they were involved in a highway crash in Pennsylvania says it will stop the shipments. Kenya Airways will not renew its contract with the shipper when it expires in February, airline CEO Allan Kilavuka said in an email to The Associated Press. Kilavuka did not identify the shipper who paid the airline to fly the animals from Mauritius, an island nation in the Indian Ocean, to New York. The move by the African airline is the latest skirmish in a long-running battle between animal-rights groups and researchers — with airlines caught in the middle — over the use of animals in medical experiments. On Jan. 21, a truck towing a trailer with 100 monkeys collided with a dump truck on a Pennsylvania highway. Several of the monkeys escaped. Authorities said later that three were shot and killed and they accounted for the rest. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which assisted local authorities after the crash and escape of some of the monkeys, said they were headed to an approved quarantine facility. The CDC did not give the location of the facility or say what the lab intended to do with the monkeys, and it did not respond Tuesday to requests for that information. Cynomolgus monkeys are often used in medical research because their DNA resembles that of humans, and they have been in high demand since the beginning of the pandemic for testing vaccines. Monkeys were in short supply even before the pandemic. A 2018 report by the National Institutes of Health said half of researchers had trouble finding enough animals, which led to talk of talk of creating a “strategic monkey reserve.” The use of animals in research is controversial, however, and animal-rights groups have called for banning or limiting the practice. After the Pennsylvania crash, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals lobbied Kenya Airways to stop shipping monkeys to the unidentified lab in the U.S. The group said monkeys sent to labs are “tormented in experiments” that can cripple or kill them, and the research fails to produce treatments for humans. On Tuesday, PETA asked U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to investigate shipments of primates for research, saying it believes shippers are violating rules governing hazardous materials — in this case, monkeys that might carry disease. Animal-rights groups in the United Kingdom and the United States have targeted airlines to stop shipping monkeys for research since the 1990s. Primate expert Jane Goodall and various celebrities pressured Air France to end such flights. Some airlines, including United Airlines and British Airways, have stopped carrying research animals. That prompted a biomedical trade group in 2018 to file a discrimination complaint with the U.S. Transportation Department; the matter has drawn more than 1,000 comments.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) has published a Notice of Funding Opportunity for $1.5 billion in grant funding through the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) discretionary grant program. RAISE discretionary grants, which were originally created under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act as TIGER grants, can be used for a wide variety of projects. Recent examples of funded projects include dedicated bus lanes in Baltimore, highway and bridge repair in New Mexico, dock replacements in Alaska and a rail-to-trail project in Arkansas. Overall, DOT has awarded $9.9 billion to more than 700 projects. “The RAISE program helps communities large and small fix and modernize their infrastructure,” DOT Secretary Pete Buttigieg said. This is the first discretionary funding program to accept applications as directed by President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The $1.5 billion in available funding for 2022 represents a 50% increase in available funds compared to last year when applicants requested $10 in funding for every $1 available. In 2021, RAISE funded 90 projects in 47 states, the District of Columbia and Guam. Projects will be evaluated on statutory criteria of safety, environmental sustainability, quality of life, economic competitiveness and opportunity, state of good repair, partnership and innovation. This year RAISE applications will also be evaluated on the criteria of mobility and community connectivity. The DOT will assess projects for universal design and accessibility for travelers, as well as consider how proposals increase mobility for freight and supply chain efficiency. At least $15 million in funding is guaranteed to go towards projects located in areas of persistent poverty or historically disadvantaged communities. Under the bipartisan infrastructure law, RAISE expands the number of communities eligible for 100% federal share of funding, specifically those in rural communities, areas of persistent poverty and historically disadvantaged communities. This year the DOT is also encouraging applicants to consider how their projects can create workforce development opportunities. Applicants can be more competitive in the process if they are creating jobs with free and fair choice to join a union and good labor standards, creating jobs that underserved communities can access, or are supporting worker opportunities and training.

MANSFIELD, Mass. — A tractor-trailer crash on Route 495 near Mansfield, Massachusetts, left the driver of the vehicle dead early Monday morning. At approximately 3:35 a.m. Monday, Massachusetts State Troopers assigned to the State Police-Foxboro Barracks responded to a crash on Route 495 southbound in Mansfield. When Troopers arrived on the scene, they found a 2022 Freightliner approximately 150 feet into the wood line. Preliminary investigation indicates that the tractor-trailer, while northbound on 495, and for reasons still under investigation, crossed the median and all three southbound lanes and crashed into the woods. No other vehicles were involved. Troopers located the operator, Peter Fennell, 55, of Missouri, removed him from the vehicle, and performed CPR until Foxboro and Mansfield EMS arrived on the scene. Despite the efforts of all first responders, Fennell succumbed to his injuries on the scene. The facts and circumstances of the crash, including what caused the operator to lose control of the vehicle, remain under investigation by Troop H of the Massachusetts State Police along with the State Police Collision Analysis Reconstruction Section, Crime Scene Services Section and the State Police Detective Unit assigned to Bristol County. Troopers were assisted on scene by Foxborough and Mansfield Fire and EMS, and MassDOT.  

FLAGLER BEACH, Fla. — A small plane crashed Monday after attempting an emergency landing on a Florida interstate, authorities said. A preliminary investigation revealed the single-engine aircraft lost power, and the pilot was attempting an emergency landing on the northbound lanes of Interstate 95, just north of Daytona Beach, according to a Florida Highway Patrol news release. As the pilot was attempting the landing, the aircraft’s wing struck a tractor-trailer and then turned into nearby trees, officials said. The pilot and co-pilot were able to exit the aircraft on their own with minor injuries. The truck driver was uninjured. The plane was traveling from the New Smyrna Beach area to Flagler Executive Airport, about 35 miles to the north, officials said. It wasn’t immediately clear what caused the plane to lose power. The National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the crash.