Page 16 - ATR 6 2013 digital

News iN brief, September, the fastest since early 2012. trUckErs dElivEr 10-PoUNd
Continued from page 15 Some investors remain cautious, BaBy at arkaNsas dENNy’s
Congress has filled the gap by however, as a stronger U.S. economy Visiting family in Fulton, Ark.
transferring about $54 billion from the would pave the way for the Federal for the Thanksgiving holiday, Kaycee
general fund since 2008, according to Reserve to pull back on its monetary Triana, who lives in Kentucky, was
the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). stimulus program. The Fed has been watching movies with her husband and
But the Highway Trust Fund will be buying $85 billion a month in bonds to sister when she began having pain at
$15 billion short in 2015, and the gap stimulate the economy, also known as about 9 p.m. About 4:45 a.m., she was
will continue to grow unless Congress quantitative easing. The program has certain she was in labor. She and her
backfills from the general fund, slashes kept interest rates low and has boosted sister quickly headed for Texarkana and
spending or boosts revenue, the agency the appeal of commodities like oil to the nearest hospital.
said. investors looking for larger profits. “My contractions were three min-
CBO estimates a 10-cent increase Prices were receiving support, mean- utes apart. I knew I wasn’t going to
would be sufficient to keep the Highway while, from data showing that China’s make it,” Kaycee said. Desperate for
Trust Fund solvent. Had fuel taxes been imports of crude oil rose an annual 3.2 help, her sister whipped off at Denny’s,
indexed to inflation in 1993, the diesel percent during the first 11 months of just off Interstate 30, thinking the
tax today would be about 39 cents per the year. Brent crude, a benchmark for sisters’ mother, Suzy Nettles, who is
gallon, according to CBO. international oils, was down 58 cents employed there, would be working and
The American Society of Civil at $111.03 a barrel on the ICE Futures could give them help.
Engineers estimates the U.S. should exchange in London. “I ran straight into Denny’s. I was
invest at least $500 billion by 2020 hurting so bad and screaming for some-
in its surface transportation system cNg to rock city one to help me, but people just sat there
to meet economic and transportation In January, the City of Little Rock looking at me. I guess it sounds crass,
needs, according to the legislation. will open a compressed natural gas but I just had to yank down my pants
“For all the talk of the budget defi- (CNG) fueling station at 501 Ferry so someone would see I was having a
cit, we’re facing an infrastructure defi- Street, just off of Interstate 30. The sta- baby and help me,” Kaycee said. “I was
cit,” Blumenauer said. tion, which will house the largest supply hurting so bad I thought I was going to
Blumenauer also introduced a sec- of CNG in central Arkansas, will be pass out. I was going to the floor when
ond House bill, the “Road Usage Fee equipped to service private vehicles and this truck driver who’d got up to come
Pilot Program,” under which grants corporate and government fleets over and help me caught me.” She said
would be issued to states to test meth- The City of Little Rock will reduce a second truck driver also helped while
ods of taxing drivers based on how its annual fuel budget by $200,000 over she was giving birth.
many vehicle miles they travel. Oregon the next 18 months by converting and Kaycee remembers one of the truck
has tested such a tax in recent pilot purchasing 25 CNG vehicles during the drivers saying the baby wasn’t breathing
programs. first quarter of 2014. and was blue because the umbilical cord
was wrapped around his neck. “The
oil NEars $98 as U.s. EcoNoMy next thing I know, I hear him (baby)
shoWs iMProvEMENt crying. Then, the truck driver laid him
The price of oil remained close to on my chest.”
$98 a barrel in December after figures Before long, an ambulance arrived
showing stronger U.S. hiring suggested to take Kaycee and her newborn son
demand for crude could increase. to a hospital. Andrew, Andi for short,
U.S. data has been showing strong weighed 10 pounds, 4 ounces at birth.
signs of economic recovery, helping the Kaycee said little more than 30 minutes
New York Mercantile Exchange con- elapsed from the time she went into
tract rise in early December by nearly 6 labor until Andrew’s birth at 5:17 a.m.
percent, its largest gain since early July. “That those two truck drivers were
The Labor Department said the unem- there at that time and happened to
ployment rate fell to a five-year low of have some medical experience is a God
7 percent in November after employers thing. They kept their composure, kept
added 203,000 jobs last month, more my daughter calm and helped keep the
than expected. Earlier data showed crowd away,” said Kaycee’s mother.
the U.S. economy grew at a 3.6 per-
cent annualized rate in July through 

16 arkaNsas TruckiNg reporT | issue 6 2013