The Nation

CHICAGO — One of the six Amazon workers who were killed in a tornado Friday night in Illinois was a truck driver. Austin J. McEwen, 26, of Edwardsville, died in a bathroom trying to help others, according to a co-worker. “He was my friend and he didn’t make it,” coworker Brian Erdmann, who was on his way to make a delivery to the warehouse, told Reuters. “If I would have got back 45 minutes earlier, I probably would have been at the same place. I would have been right there with him.” Search efforts at the Amazon facility were expected to take several days, but authorities said they did not expect to find additional survivors. The Associated Press reported that the company has not said how many people were in the building not far from St. Louis when the tornado hit at 8:35 p.m. Friday — part of a swarm of twisters across the Midwest and the South that leveled entire communities. Authorities said they didn’t have a full count of employees because it was during a shift change and there were several part-time employees. Both sides of the warehouse used to prepare orders for delivery collapsed inward and the roof caved, according to Edwardsville Fire Chief James Whiteford. Authorities received reports of workers being trapped and the fire unit arrived within six minutes, Whiteford said. Police helped pull people from the rubble. While 45 employees survived, six people were killed and a seventh person was airlifted to a hospital. Whiteford said crews would search the rubble for several days. Madison County Coroner Stephen Nonn on Sunday identified the six people who were killed. Four, including McEwen, were from Illinois: 29-year-old Clayton Lynn Cope of Alton, 46-year-old Larry E. Virden of Collinsville and 62-year-old Kevin D. Dickey of Carlyle. Two others — 28-year-old Deandre S. Morrow and 34-year-old Etheria S. Hebb — were from St. Louis. “He would go out of his way for anyone,” she told The Associated Press in a written message. Nonn’s said Sunday there were no pending reports of missing people related to the building collapse. “Search efforts continue to ensure that there are no additional victims,” he said in a statement. The damage to the building was extensive; the structure’s steel support pillars were exposed after the walls and roof caved. “These walls are made out of 11-inch thick concrete, and they’re about 40 feet tall, so a lot of weight from that came down,” Whiteford said at a Saturday news conference. Employee Amanda Goss had just started her first week in a new job as an Amazon delivery driver when the tornado hit. “As I look up, the corner of the building was shaking, and it comes down the garage area and then I felt the gates coming in behind me,” Goss told KTVI-TV. “All I do is sit there in my van hoping it don’t move.” The Amazon facility, among three in Edwardsville, is a 1.1 million square foot “delivery station” that employs about 190 workers across several shifts, according to Amazon. The facility, which opened in July 2020, prepares orders for “last-mile delivery” to customers. Edwardsville is about 25 miles northeast of St. Louis. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims, their loved ones, and everyone impacted by the tornado,” Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel said in a statement. “We’re continuing to support our employees and partners in the area.” Amazon said that when a site is made aware of a tornado warning, all employees are notified and directed to move to a shelter. But company officials declined to answer specific questions about when employees were warned. A union representing retail employees that has pushed to organize Amazon employees blasted the company for “dangerous labor practices” for having employees work during the severe weather. “Time and time again Amazon puts its bottom line above the lives of its employees,” Stuart Appelbaum, President of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union Requiring, said in a statement. “Requiring workers to work through such a major tornado warning event as this was inexcusable.” The Associated Press contributed to this report.  

MAYFIELD, Ky. — One of several tornadoes that raked through the Mid-South and central sections of the U.S. Friday night and into early Saturday morning toppled big rigs along Interstate 55 near Steele, Missouri, before going on to create further devastation. Reports of injuries among drivers were not immediately available, though the video below shows significant debris and overturned 18-wheelers. A few minutes later, that monstrous tornado, carving a track that could rival the longest on record, ripped through Mayfield, Kentucky, as part of a stormfront that killed dozens and tore apart a candle factory, crushed a nursing home, derailed a train and smashed an Amazon warehouse. “I pray that there will be another rescue. I pray that there will be another one or two,” Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said, as crews sifted through the wreckage of the candle factory in Mayfield, where 110 people were working overnight Friday when the storm hit. Forty of them were rescued. “We had to, at times, crawl over casualties to get to live victims,” said Jeremy Creason, the city’s fire chief and EMS director. In Kentucky alone, 22 were confirmed dead by Saturday afternoon, including 11 in and around Bowling Green. But Beshear said upwards of 70 may have been killed when a twister touched down for more than 200 miles (320 kilometers) in his state and that the number of deaths could eventually exceed 100 across 10 or more counties. The death toll of 36 across five states includes six people in Illinois, where an Amazon facility was hit; four in Tennessee; two in Arkansas, where a nursing home was destroyed; and two in Missouri. If early reports are confirmed, the twister “will likely go down perhaps as one of the longest track violent tornadoes in United States history,” said Victor Genzini, a researcher on extreme weather at Northern Illinois University. The longest tornado on record, in March 1925, tracked for about 220 miles (355 kilometers) through Missouri, Illinois and Indiana. But Genzini said this twister may have had touched down for nearly 250 miles (400 kilometers). The storm was all the more remarkable because it came in December, when normally colder weather limits tornadoes, he said. Debris from destroyed buildings and shredded trees covered the ground in Mayfield, a city of about 10,000 in western Kentucky. Twisted metal sheeting, downed power lines and wrecked vehicles lined the streets. Windows and roofs were blown off the buildings that were still standing. The missing at the candle factory included Janine Denise Johnson Williams, a 50-year-old mother of four whose family members kept vigil at the site Saturday. “It’s Christmastime and she works at a place that’s making candles for gifts,” her brother, Darryl Williams, said. “To give up the gift of life to make a gift. We haven’t heard anything, and I’m not presuming anything. But I’m expecting for the worst.” He said Johnson Williams called her husband overnight to report the weather was getting bad, the last time anyone heard from her. Kyanna Parsons-Perez, an employee at the factory, was trapped under 5 feet (about 1.5 meters) of debris for at least two hours until rescuers managed to free her. In an interview with NBC’s “Today,” she said it was “absolutely the most terrifying” event she had ever experienced. “I did not think I was going to make it at all.” Just before the tornado struck, the building’s lights flickered. She felt a gust of wind, her ears started popping and then, “Boom. Everything came down on us.” People started screaming, and she heard other workers praying. Kentucky State Trooper Sarah Burgess said rescue crews were using heavy equipment to move rubble at the candle factory. Coroners were called to the scene and bodies were recovered, but she didn’t know how many. She said it could take a day and potentially longer to remove all of the rubble. Rescue efforts were complicated because Mayfield’s main fire station and emergency services hub were also hit by the tornado, Creason said. After a wall at a nursing home in Mayfield collapsed, Vernon Evans said he rushed to help firefighters pull people out, only to find one resident lying dead in a few inches of water. “All I could do is sit there and hold their head up,” he said. “I never experienced nothing like this.” President Joe Biden approved an emergency disaster declaration for Kentucky on Saturday and pledged to support the affected states. “I promise you, whatever is needed — whatever is needed — the federal government is going to find a way to provide it,” Biden said. Six people were killed in the collapse of the Amazon warehouse in Edwardsville, Illinois, with another injured worker airlifted to a hospital, fire Chief James Whiteford said. Investigators searched the rubble throughout the day for additional victims and 45 people survived, Whiteford said. Authorities were uncertain Saturday evening whether anyone was still unaccounted because workers were in the midst of a shift change when it was struck by the tornado about 8:30 p.m. Friday. “This is a devastating tragedy for our Amazon family and our focus is on supporting our employees and partners,” Amazon spokesperson Richard Rocha said in a written statement. The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, which has been trying to organize workers at an Amazon facility in Alabama, criticized the company for keeping the Illinois site open during a weather emergency. Missouri Gov. Mike Parson’s office said the storms killed at least two people in the state and initial assessments indicate they destroyed or did major damage to hundreds of homes and buildings. Workers at a National Weather Service office had to take shelter as a tornado passed near their office in Weldon Spring, Missouri, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) west of St. Louis. “This was an incredible storm that lasted a long time and covered a lot of territory,” said Larry Vannozzi, meteorologist in charge of the National Weather Service office covering the Nashville area. Meteorologists haven’t determined whether the storm spawned a single tornado or multiple tornadoes, he said. In Arkansas, a tornado struck a nursing home in Monette, killing one and trapping 20 people inside as the building collapsed, Craighead County Judge Marvin Day told The Associated Press. Another person died when the storm hit a Dollar General store in nearby Leachville, Gov. Asa Hutchinson said. “Probably the most remarkable thing is that there’s not a greater loss of life,” Hutchinson said after touring the wreckage of the nursing home. “It is catastrophic. It’s a total destruction.” Gov. Bill Lee on Saturday toured tornado-torn parts of western Tennessee in which four people had been killed. Lee traveled to Tiptonville and then Dresden, a small town of about 3,000 that saw its downtown corridor ripped to shreds. “This is about the saddest thing I’ve ever seen,” Lee said, who has had three fatal tornadoes rip through the state during his first term in office. “The whole town, the whole town.” The Trucker Staff contributed to this report.

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. — There are likely to be at least 50 deaths after a devastating outbreak of tornadoes that ripped through Kentucky and other U.S. states late Friday and early Saturday, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear said. “It’s devastating,” Beshear told a news conference early Saturday, adding that he had declared a state of emergency and activated 181 guardsmen from the National Guard. “We believe our death toll from this event will exceed 50 Kentuckians and probably end up closer to 70 or 100 lost lives,” he said. “We will make it through this,” he added. “We will rebuild, we are strong, resilient people.” Three people died in severe weather in Tennessee, one person died and several were injured in an apparent tornado at an Arkansas nursing home, and emergency crews in southern Illinois were responding to reports of workers trapped inside an Amazon warehouse after its roof collapsed from storm damage. At least one fatality was also reported in Missouri as severe storms, some believed to be tornadoes, swept across the Midwest and parts of the South late Friday and into Saturday morning. In Tennessee, two storm-related fatalities were reported in Lake County in the state’s northwestern corner, said Dean Flener, spokesman for the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency. A third death was reported in neighboring Obion County. Flener said the Tennessee Department of Health confirmed the deaths, however there were no other details immediately released. A tornado struck the Monette Manor nursing home in Arkansas on Friday night, killing one person and trapping 20 people inside as the building collapsed, Craighead County Judge Marvin Day told The Associated Press. Five people had serious injuries, and a few others had minor ones, he said. The nursing home has 86 beds. Day said another nursing home about 20 miles (32 kilometers) away in Truman was badly damaged but no injuries were reported. The residents were being evacuated because the building is unsafe. Workers at a National Weather Service office had to take shelter as a tornado passed near their office in Weldon Spring, Missouri, about 30 miles west of St. Louis. One person died and two others were injured in building collapses near the towns of Defiance and New Melle, both just a few miles from the weather service office. At least 100 emergency vehicles descended upon the Amazon warehouse near Edwardsville, Illinois, about 25 miles east of St. Louis, where a wall that was about the length of a football field collapsed, as did the roof above it. It wasn’t immediately clear how many people were hurt, but one person was flown by helicopter to a hospital. Edwardsville Police Chief Mike Fillback said several people who were in the building were taken by bus to the police station in nearby Pontoon Beach for evaluation. By early Saturday, rescue crews were still sorting through the rubble to determine if anyone was trapped inside. Fillback said the process would last for several more hours. Cranes and backhoes were brought in to help move debris. “Please be patient with us. Our fire personnel are doing everything they can to reunite everyone with their loved ones,” Fillback said on KMOV-TV. The Belleville News-Democrat reported that the Amazon fulfillment center in Edwardsville opened with two warehouses in 2016, with 1.5 million square feet of space. The warehouses are used to store items until they are shipped to mail-order customers. “The safety and well-being of our employees and partners is our top priority right now,” Amazon spokesperson Richard Rocha said in a written statement Friday night. “We’re assessing the situation and will share additional information when it’s available.” In the southwestern Kentucky community of Mayfield, several buildings collapsed during the severe weather, said Sarah Burgess, a trooper with the Kentucky State Police. She said several people were trapped inside a damaged candle factory in Mayfield and that a shift was ongoing when the storm hit. “The entire building is essentially leveled,” she said. Although no deaths were immediately reported in Mayfield, coroners were summoned to the community, Burgess said. “We do expect loss of life,” she said. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear declared a state of emergency early Saturday for what he said was major tornado damage in several western counties. Beshear said the National Guard has been summoned to respond to the region. “We have had multiple tornadoes touch down in dozens of Kentucky counties,” Beshear told The Associated Press in a phone interview early Saturday. Photos posted to social media from Mayfield showed uprooted trees, a courthouse steeple sheered off and business windows blown out in the storms. Farther east in Bowling Green, Western Kentucky University said on Twitter that emergency crews were assessing significant storm damage and that no injuries were immediately reported.

HELENA, Mont. — More U.S. drivers could find themselves stuck on snowy highways or have their travel delayed this winter due to a shortage of snowplow drivers — a reality that could hit home Friday as winter storms start dumping snow from the Intermountain West to the Upper Great Lakes. States from Washington to Pennsylvania, including Montana and Wyoming in the Rocky Mountains, are having trouble finding enough people willing to take the comparatively low-paying jobs that require a Commercial Driver’s License and often entail working at odd hours in dangerous conditions. “We want the traveling public to understand why it could take longer this season to clear highways during winter storms,” said Jon Swartz, the maintenance administrator for the Montana Department of Transportation, which is short about 90 drivers. “Knowing this helps motorists to plan ahead and adjust or even delay travel plans.” The labor shortage and lingering concerns about the pandemic have left employers scrambling to find enough school bus drivers, waiters, cooks  and even teachers. The shortage comes as the number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits dropped last week to the lowest level in 52 years and some are seeking a better work-life balance. Several states are either already feeling the crunch or could be soon: Heavy snow is predicted in the coming days in large swaths of the country, including Utah and Colorado, where more than a foot is forecast in higher elevations. Over a half a foot could drop in parts of Nebraska and Iowa. Parts of Nevada and New Mexico also expect winter storms. State transportation departments say there are several reasons for a lack of snowplow drivers: the record low unemployment rate, an aging workforce and an increased demand for diesel mechanics and CDL drivers in other industries. Private companies can also be more nimble — raising salaries and offering bonuses to drivers — than state agencies, which usually have to get legislative approval to change salaries. “Everyone’s sort of competing for the same group of workers and private companies can often offer higher salaries than the state government,” said Barbara LaBoe, spokesperson for Washington state’s Department of Transportation. Along with the competitive market, LaBoe said Washington also lost 151 winter operations workers who did not want to comply with the state’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate. One of the main competitors for states seeking workers with a Commercial Driver’s License are private trucking companies that have been raising driver pay, in some cases several times this year, to fill their own shortages and meet the increasing demand to move freight and clear supply chain bottlenecks. The American Trucking Associations estimates there will be a record shortage of just over 80,000 drivers this year, and that doesn’t include the shortfall in drivers for school buses, public transportation or snowplows. The ATA says the shortage has many roots, including many drivers nearing retirement age, the pandemic causing some to leave the industry and training schools churning out fewer new drivers in 2020. Others may leave the industry because they don’t like being away from home while an increase in the number of states legalizing marijuana leads to more drivers being unable to pass a drug test, the ATA says. Some states are willing to hire snowplow drivers and pay for their CDL training, but it’s not likely those hires will be ready to work this winter, officials said. Some snowplow drivers work year-round in highway maintenance jobs, while seasonal workers are hired to fill the additional shifts in the winter. The shortage is leading states to make plans to shift mechanics and other full-time employees who have Commercial Driver’s Licenses into plows, which can cause problems if a plow needs maintenance work and the mechanic is out driving. Wyoming has priorities for which roads will be plowed first and for how many hours per day plows will operate on each roadway. Interstate 80, the major east-west corridor across the southern part of the state, can be plowed around the clock while plowing stops on other roads, such as Interstates 90 and 25, between midnight at 4 a.m. Those guidelines may come into play more this year, said Luke Reiner, director of Wyoming’s Department of Transportation. In Washington, LaBoe said some roads and mountain passes will be closed longer than usual during and after significant storms and some roads may not receive the same level of service. Brief or isolated storms won’t cause problems in most states, in part because departments can move drivers and equipment around based on the weather forecast. “If we have a series of storms over several days or if it hits the whole state at once, (the shortage) is going to become more evident because we don’t have as deep a bench,” LaBoe said. Washington is still short about 150 seasonal and full-time workers, but things have improved since October when it was short 300 workers. Even if states are able to hire drivers with commercial licenses, they still have to train them to run a snowplow and load the truck with salt and sand before learning a route. “When you’re plowing the road you need to know where the bridge abutment is and where the expansion joints are so you don’t hook that with a plow,” LaBoe said. Pennsylvania is short 270 permanent positions and 560 temporary ones, but the Department of Transportation said that doesn’t mean the roads will be treacherous this winter. “Our goal is to keep roads safe and passable rather than completely free of ice and snow,” said Alexis Campbell, spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. The roads will be cleared once the snow stops, she said. Ease of travel is important to businesses. Capitol Courier has contracts with deadlines to deliver electronic replacement parts from their warehouse in Helena, Montana, to about 30 businesses around the state as soon as they call. “The roads are critical to what we do,” said Shawn White Wolf, co-manager of Capitol Courier. Snowplow drivers are devoted to their jobs, understanding their work is critical to the safety of the traveling public and to emergency responders, said Rick Nelson director of the winter maintenance technical service program for the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. Still, he understands that convincing newcomers “to be out there in the worst conditions” can be difficult. Nelson said the shortage means states will be shifting resources when they can and making sure roads are clear during times of peak demand while “you try to recruit, get out there and beat the bushes and convince folks that jumping in a plow in the middle of the night at Christmastime is a good career choice.”  

WASHINGTON — The Senate narrowly approved a resolution Wednesday to nullify the Biden administration’s requirement that businesses with 100 or more workers have their employees be vaccinated against the coronavirus or submit to weekly testing The vote was 52-48. The Democratic-led House is unlikely to take the measure up, which means the mandate would stand, though courts have put it on hold for now. Still, the vote gave senators a chance to voice opposition to a policy that they say has sparked fears back home from businesses and from unvaccinated constituents who worry about losing their jobs should the rule go into effect “Every so often Washington D.C. does something that lights up the phone lines. This is one of these moments,” said Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont. At home, he said, “this issue is what I hear about. This issue is a top-of-mind issue.” Lawmakers can invalidate certain federal agency regulations if a joint resolution is approved by both houses of Congress and signed by the president, or if Congress overrides a presidential veto. That’s unlikely to happen in this case. Under the rule, private-sector companies with 100 or more workers must require their employees to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or be tested for the virus weekly and wear masks on the job. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration said it would work with companies on compliance but would fine them up to more than $13,000 for each violation, though implementation and enforcement is suspended as the litigation unfolds. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Americans who have refused to get vaccinated are the biggest impediment to ending the pandemic. He implied that some of the resistance to mandated vaccines is based on politics. “Some of the anti-vaxxers here in this chamber remind me of what happened 400 years ago when people were clinging to the fact that the sun revolved around the Earth. They just didn’t believe science. Or 500 years ago when they were sure the Earth was flat,” Schumer said. Schumer said social media has played a role in spreading falsehoods about the vaccine, and “so has the far right.” He urged senators to vote against the resolution, sponsored by Sen. Mike Braun, R-Ind. Republicans said they are supportive of the vaccine, but that the mandate amounts to government overreach. “His mandates are under fire in the courts. Main Street job creators are complaining against it, and tonight, the U.S. Senate must send a clear message: back off this bad idea,” Braun said. Some argued that the mandate may even contribute to people not getting vaccinated. “I think, actually, the mandate has made it worse in terms of hardening people who don’t want to be told what to do by the government,” said Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., said a telephone town hall she recently held with constituents made clear they are concerned about keeping their jobs if the mandate goes into effect. “If you look at my state, 40% of my state’s workforce stands to lose their job under this mandate,” Capito said. “It will be a killer to our economy.” In the end, two Democratic lawmakers voted with 50 Republicans to void the mandate, Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Jon Tester of Montana. Manchin had said in a tweet that he does not support any federal vaccine mandate for private businesses. Tester’s office said his opposition is based on conversations with Montana businesses who “expressed deep concerns about the negative effect on their bottom lines and our state’s economy during this fragile recovery period.” Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., sided with the Biden administration, noting that the pandemic is still raging and that deaths are overwhelmingly among the unvaccinated. “How on earth does it make sense right now to undercut one of the strongest tools that we have to get people vaccinated and stop this virus?” Murray said. “In what world is that a good idea?” The White House released a statement earlier this week stating that Biden’s advisers would recommend he veto the resolution in the unlikely event it makes it to his desk. “The president wants to see Americans back on the job, and Americans back at work should not face risk from those who are not vaccinated and who refuse to be tested,” the White House said. Deaths in the United States stemming from COVID-19 are running close to 1,600 a day on average. The overall U.S. death toll less than two years into the pandemic could soon reach 800,000.  

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Along with speeding tickets, truck drivers in California could soon have to worry about pollution tickets while traveling the state’s roads. State regulators on Thursday will consider cracking down on heavy duty trucks weighing more than 14,000 pounds (6,350 kilograms) — those big semi-trailers that make up just 3% of all vehicles in California but spend so much time on the road they account for more than half of all pollution from cars and trucks each year. The rules would require these big trucks — including ones from other states passing through California — to be tested at least twice per year to make sure they meet the state’s standards for particulate matter and ozone pollution. Passenger cars are already required to get smog checks. Newer trucks have sensors on board that can monitor emissions and send data to the state. But regulators also plan to use roadside monitoring devices to catch trucks that pollute too much, along with automated license plate readers to identify the offenders. The state has two of these unattended monitoring devices in place and plans to install more. The devices resemble toll booths and capture a sample of the truck’s exhaust as it passes through without stopping. Environmental advocates say the rule would be the most significant action in a dozen years to clean up California’s air, which consistently ranks among the dirtiest in the country. If enacted, state officials estimate the rules would prevent more than 7,000 premature deaths because of respiratory illnesses by 2050, avoiding more than $75 billion in health care costs. “(The rules) have some significance for climate, but what we’re really talking about here is the smog and the particulate matter that is making people sick and killing people,” said Bill Magavern, policy director for the Coalition for Clean Air, a statewide advocacy group. The proposal is one of a flurry of forthcoming changes that could dramatically reshape consumer and industry behavior in the nation’s most populous state that, were it an independent country, would have the world’s fifth-largest economy. Also on Thursday, the California Air Resources Board will consider banning the sale of new products run by small gas-powered engines, including leaf blowers, lawn mowers and portable generators — a rule recently mandated by the state’s Democratic-dominated state Legislature. Next year, regulators are poised to tighten emission standards for barges, ferries, fishing boats and tugboats that line California’s coastal cities. And, further down the road, regulators plan to ban the sale of all new gas-powered cars by 2035. “These are the decisions we have to make if we’re serious about reducing our reliance on fossil fuels and leaving future generations with healthier communities,” said Assemblyman Marc Berman, a Democrat from Palo Alto who authored the law requiring the ban on new gas-powered lawn equipment. While the new smog check rules for big trucks will have the largest impact on air quality — preventing more than 680,000 tons of smog by 2050 — banning the sale of new gas-powered lawn equipment will be the rule consumers notice the most. Car engines have advanced over the years to pollute less. But the small engines that power most lawn equipment haven’t made as much progress. State regulators say the amount of pollution that comes from running a gas-powered leaf blower for one hour is comparable to driving a gas-powered car about 1,100 miles (1,770 kilometers) — or roughly the distance between Los Angeles and Denver. “Nobody will have to give up or stop using equipment they already own. The force of this regulation falls on manufacturers,” Berman said. The rules would have the biggest impact on professional landscapers, who rely on gas-powered equipment to do multiple jobs per day. California lawmakers included $30 million in the most recent state budget to assist these companies converting to battery-powered equipment. But on Thursday, some landscapers testified that equipment would not be as reliable. Trucking companies and small engine manufacturers have mostly complained about how fast these new standards would imposed. Both the smog check rules for trucks and the ban on the sale of new gas-powered lawn equipment would be fully implemented by 2024, while a similar bans sales of new gas-powered generators would take effect in 2028. Chris Shimoda, senior vice president for government affairs with the California Trucking Association, said the industry is suffering from a shortage of drivers and parts because of global supply chain disruptions. He said one sensor that measures diesel exhaust fluid that normally costs around $300 now can cost $7,000 or more. “We just want to make sure that, again, anybody experiencing those sort of issues is not left high and dry,” Shimoda said. Jeff Coad, vice president for marketing and product management for the small engine manufacturer Briggs & Stratton, said the company is ambivalent about how their products are powered but said it won’t have enough time to fully comply. “Converting a product such as a large zero turn mower from gas to lithium battery power is not just a matter of replacing the engine with the battery,” he said, adding the development time can take up to two years. Liane Randolph, chair of the California Air Resources Board, said the state is sensitive to those concerns, adding that regulators do a careful analysis of both the costs and the health benefits of any proposed rule. “These regulations result in less trips to the emergency room, less long-term health impacts, and, frankly, less medical costs for the community,” she said.

PHOENIX — Arizona Governor Doug Ducey and the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) announced two initiatives Thursday designed to help relieve the supply chain strain and make life easier on truckers. Ducey said the state is reopening two long-closed rest stops so commercial drivers have additional opportunities to rest and is extending the validity of commercial driving learner’s permits. Arizona will also be working closely with other states to pass similar measures, Ducey’s office said. “We are working to make sure commercial drivers and Arizona families have the support they need this holiday season,” Ducey said. “Prices are rising and commercial drivers are under an incredible amount of stress as they transport goods. Today’s action will help alleviate this stress. My thanks to the Arizona Department of Transportation for streamlining requirements for commercial drivers and strengthening Arizona’s supply chain.” ADOT Director John Halikowski said that his state’s highways “are critical for our economy, and the trucking industry is one of the key transportation modes for moving goods through our state and around the country. We are pleased to take these steps to make processes easier, while enhancing safety for commercial drivers at this important time of the year.” To facilitate more commercial drivers being able to obtain credentials, through executive order, the governor will extend the validity of the commercial learners’ permit (CLP) from six months to one year, in alignment with federal law. This gives a student more time to fulfill training requirements without having to reapply for a new permit. The purpose of the CLP is to allow a student to operate a commercial motor vehicle for training purposes with a licensed driver present. The executive order, in alignment with the current federal waiver, will temporarily allow a commercial driver to keep their CDL past the date that the person’s medical certification is required, until Feb. 28, 2022. CDLs are regulated by the federal government. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) previously initiated a series of waivers, including one that allows a driver to keep their CDL active temporarily after the expiration of a medical certificate. Arizona will adopt this practice temporarily, until Feb. 28, 2022, to keep current CDL holders on the road and alleviate supply chain challenges. CDL holders can upload documents online, as well as verify the status of their Arizona medical certificate, at azmvdnow.gov. Using recent guidance provided by FMCSA, ADOT will move forward with rulemaking to open commercial driver license services to Authorized Third Party providers. During the 2021 legislative session, HB 2134 was signed into law, allowing ADOT to expand commercial driver license services to its authorized third party providers. As CDLs are regulated primarily by the federal government, ADOT requested and received guidance from FMCSA to determine which actions would be permitted under federal law. Once fully implemented, individuals will have expanded options to receive CDL services from Authorized Third Party providers, providing an increase in convenience and accessibility to obtain a license. Accessibility to rest stops Last week, Ducey directed ADOT to reopen two previously closed rest areas at Parks (Interstate 40) and Christiansen (Interstate 17). Both are now open to serve the public, providing additional opportunities for drivers to park and rest. This is a temporary measure, however, as these rest areas will only be open through Jan. 18, 2022. The move is to provide relief for critical deliveries during the holiday season, state officials said. Arizona officials are also launching the Arizona Transportation Consultancy Project, which, they say, will strengthen and further enable ADOT to collaborate with other states and adopt similar improvements that Arizona has implemented. “Jumpstarting the supply chain is a cross-jurisdictional issue that requires the improvement of processes across multiple states,” a news release stated. “Arizona has undertaken many successful initiatives to make obtaining a CDL and the necessary permits simpler and more accessible to drivers, including the expansion of online services.” ADOT is also upgrading the Medical Examiner Certificate (MEC) submission process to allow handwritten MECs to be processed digitally, using advanced technology; expanding CDL services to authorized third party providers; and preparing to modernize its commercial vehicle permitting system. “While these efforts have produced excellent results for Arizona, improvements can’t be confined to Arizona to solve our nation’s supply chain issues,” the news release stated. “The Arizona Consultancy Project will help other states achieve similar improvements. By sharing best practices and ideas found in the Arizona Management System, providing technical assistance on implementation of programs and sharing state-created intellectual property, processes can be improved across the country.”

OKLAHOMA CITY – Love’s Travel Stops announced Thursday the opening of four new stores. Combined, the locations will offer 280 big rig parking spaces and add 190 jobs. The new stores are in Great Falls, Montana, Drayton, North Dakota, Pacific Junction, Iowa, and Dalhart, Texas. “Love’s is continuing to open new locations into the holidays to help get professional drivers and four-wheel customers to their destination safely and quickly,” said Greg Love, co-CEO of Love’s. “Whether it’s fuel, fresh food and drinks or a gift for a loved one – like a toy or today’s latest electronics – customers can get what they need when they stop at one of our over 570 locations across the country.” In honor of the grand openings, Love’s will donate $2,000 to nonprofits in each town. The donation will go to CASA-CAN in Great Falls, Montana; the Twilight Fund in Dalhart, Texas; an organization chosen at a later date in Drayton, North Dakota, and it will be split between Glenwood Public Schools and the Glenwood Public Library in Pacific Junction, Iowa. Following is a breakdown of each locations’ amenities: PACIFIC JUNCTION, IOWA More than 10,000 square feet. Subway. 84 truck parking spaces. 51 car parking spaces. Three RV spaces. Six diesel bays. Five showers. Laundry facilities. CAT scale. Bean-to-cup gourmet coffee. Brand-name snacks. Fresh Kitchen concept. Mobile to Go Zone with the latest GPS, headsets and smartphone accessories. Dog park. DALHART, TEXAS More than 8,000 square feet. Chester’s Chicken and Godfather’s Pizza. (Opening Dec. 13) 77 truck parking spaces. 48 car parking spaces. Five RV spaces. Five diesel bays. Four showers. Laundry facilities. CAT scale. Bean-to-cup gourmet coffee. Brand-name snacks. Fresh Kitchen concept. Mobile to Go Zone with the latest GPS, headsets and smartphone accessories. Dog park. DRAYTON, NORTH DAKOTA More than 7,000 square feet. Taco John’s. (Opening Dec. 13) 63 truck parking spaces. 45 car parking spaces. Six RV spaces. Six diesel bays. Four showers. Laundry facilities. CAT scale. Bean-to-cup gourmet coffee. Brand-name snacks. Fresh Kitchen concept. Mobile to Go Zone with the latest GPS, headsets and smartphone accessories. Dog park. GREAT FALLS, MONTANA More than 9,000 square feet. Chester’s Chicken, Godfather’s Pizza and Subway. (Opening Dec. 13) 56 truck parking spaces. 49 car parking spaces. Five diesel bays. Four showers. Laundry facilities. CAT scale. Bean-to-cup gourmet coffee. Brand-name snacks. Fresh Kitchen concept. Mobile to Go Zone with the latest GPS, headsets and smartphone accessories. Dog park.

TUXTLA GUTIERREZ, Mexico — A cargo truck jammed with people who appeared to be Central American migrants rolled over and crashed into a pedestrian bridge over on a highway in southern Mexico on Thursday, killing at least 49 people and injuring nearly five dozen others, authorities reported. The migrants were likely on their way to an eventual illegal crossing into the United States, some local officials said at the scene. Luis Manuel Moreno, the head of the Chiapas state civil defense office, said a preliminary estimate listed 49 dead and 58 injured. He said about 21 of the injured had serious wounds and were taken to local hospitals. The crash occurred on a highway leading toward the Chiapas state capital. Photos from the scene showed victims strewn across the pavement and inside the truck’s freight compartment. Later, rescue workers arranged the dead in rows of white sheets, side by side, on the asphalt. The victims appeared to be immigrants from Central America, though their nationalities had not yet been confirmed. Moreno reported that some of the survivors said they were from the neighboring country of Guatemala. Sitting on the pavement beside the overturned trailer, survivor Celso Pacheco of Guatemala said the truck felt like it was speeding and then seemed to lose control under the weight of the migrants inside. Pacheco said there were migrants from Guatemala and Honduras aboard and estimated there were eight to 10 young children. He said he was trying to reach the United States, but now he expected to be deported to Guatemala. Rescue workers tried to excavate survivors from a pile of humanity in the flipped trailer, separating the injured from the dead. Dazed wounded stumbled among the wreckage. Marco Antonio Sánchez, director of the Chiapas Firefighter Institute, said ambulances raced victims to three hospitals, carrying three to four injured each. When there weren’t enough ambulances they loaded them into pickup trucks, he said. Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei wrote on Twitter: “I deeply regret the tragedy in Chiapas state, and I express my solidarity for the victims’ families, to whom we will offer all the necessary consular assistance, including repatriation.” Moreno said that it appeared that speed and the weight of the truck’s human cargo may have caused it to tip over, and that as the vehicle toppled over it hit the base of a steel pedestrian bridge. There was a curve in the road near the accident scene that may have contributed to the crash. That meant at least 107 people were crowded into the vehicle. It is not unusual for freight trucks in Mexico to be carrying so many people in migrant-smuggling operations in southern Mexico. Rescue workers who first arrived at the scene and who were not authorized to be quoted by name said that even more migrants had been aboard the truck when it crashed and had fled for fear of being detained by immigration agents. One paramedic said some of those who fled into surrounding neighborhoods were bloodied or bruised, but still limped away in their desperation to escape. The truck had originally been a closed freight module of the kind used to transport perishable goods. The container was smashed open by the force of the impact. It was unclear if the driver survived. Those who spoke to survivors said the migrants told of boarding the truck in Mexico, near the border with Guatemala, and of paying between $2,500 and $3,500 to be transported to Mexico’s central state of Puebla. Once there, they would presumably have contracted with another set of migrant smugglers to take them to the U.S. border. In recent months, Mexican authorities have tried to block migrants from walking in large groups toward the U.S. border, but the clandestine and illicit flow of migrant smuggling has continued. In October, in one of the largest busts in recent memory, authorities in the northern border state of Tamaulipas found 652 mainly Central American migrants jammed into a convoy of six freight trucks heading toward the U.S. border. Irineo Mujica, an activist who is leading a march of a couple of hundred migrants who have been walking for more almost 1 1/2 months across southern Mexico, blamed Mexico’s policies of cracking down on migrant caravans for the disaster. Mujica and his group had almost reached the outskirts of Mexico City on Thursday, after weeks of dealing with National Guard officers who tried to block the march. Mujica said the group would stop Thursday and offer prayers for the dead migrants. “These policies that kill us, that murder us, is what leads to this type of tragedy,” Mujica said. In fact, they are two very different groups. Caravans generally attract migrants who don’t have the thousands of dollars needed to pay migrant smugglers. Migrants involved in serious accidents are often allowed to stay in Mexico at least temporarily because they are considered witnesses to and victims of a crime, and later Thursday Mexico’s National Immigration Institute said it would offer the humanitarian visas to the survivors. The agency also said the Mexican government would help identify the dead and cover funeral costs or repatriation of their remains. Mass deaths of migrants are something that President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has been desperate to avoid, even as his administration has accepted requests from the U.S. government to stem the flow of migrants moving north. “It is very painful,” he wrote on his Twitter account. It was one of the worst single-day death tolls for migrants in Mexico since the 2010 massacre of 72 migrants by the Zetas drug cartel in the northern state of Tamaulipas.

SALEM, Ore. – Oregon’s electric vehicle infrastructure is about to get supercharged. The state is set to receive $52 million of additional funding over the next five years for EV charging infrastructure. The money is part of the $1.2 billion in additional transportation funding from the recently passed federal infrastructure package. The federal government makes the initial decisions on how that $52 million can be spent. ODOT should receive the first set of federal guidelines in February 2022. Suzanne Carlson, ODOT Climate Office director, says her office expects the federal guidelines will steer the funding to Alternative Fuel Corridors, which are national highways that are eligible for federal grant funding to add public EV charging and other alternative fuel infrastructure. The program is overseen by the Federal Highway Administration. Oregon has seven corridors designated under the program: Intestates 5, 84 and 82, and U.S. 26, 101, 20 and 97. Forming public-private partnerships to award the funding may be a key component, based on past rounds of federal funding. ODOT already has experience here. Earlier this year, ODOT invested $4.1 million to support EV Charging Solutions’ upgrades to Oregon’s slice of the West Coast Electric Highway. The agency also partnered with local firms Forth, Kittelson & Associates, and Rocky Mountain Institute to complete a future electrification needs study in 2020-21, which examined Oregon’s EV charging needs over the next 15 years. Jeff Allen, Forth’s executive director, is optimistic about Oregon’s EV future. “Oregon’s early leadership and hard work means we are extremely well-positioned to make good use of this federal funding to build out a charging network that will make it easy for Oregonians to drive electric wherever they go across the state,” said Allen. According to ODOT data, Oregonians are adopting EV’s at a swift rate. New EV registrations in 2021 are on track to increase by about 70 percent compared to 2020. That increased adoption rate coincides with results from ODOT’s future electrification needs study, which presents a clear roadmap for ODOT and partners to follow to electrify the system for multiple types of vehicles. “With the study’s findings, we can be more strategic and keep up momentum on EV adoption rates,” said Carlson. “Our role will be to make targeted state investments, secure more federal grant funding, and make sure public EV charging is equitable and practical.” Transportation electrification is high on the agency’s list of strategic priority outcomes and is a key component in state government’s effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from transportation. About 40% of the state’s total GHG emissions come from the transportation sector, including freight and aviation. “Moving quickly to electrify transportation is just one piece of Oregon’s emission reduction plan,” said Carlson. “Together with other ongoing investments in bike and pedestrian programs, public transit, and climate resiliency, we’ll be able to make strong progress on our work to address climate change in Oregon.”