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- WRN Daily: Monday kicks off World Bat Week
As Wisconsin marks World Bat Week, wildlife experts are highlighting the important role bats play in controlling insects and supporting the state’s agricultural industry. Jennifer Redell, a conservation biologist with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, said bats are among nature’s most effective predators of night-flying insects, including mosquitoes. “Bats are the primary predator of […] Source: WRN.com [TheTopNews] Read More.1 week ago - USDOT Announces $1.6 Billion for Disaster Repairs Across 34 States
What will the federal funding cover? The U.S. Department of Transportation announced more than $1.6 billion in disaster repair funding on October 19, 2026, to restore roads, bridges, and other transportation infrastructure. The aid covers 34 states, plus Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands. Funding comes through the Federal Highway Administration’s Emergency Relief Program. The program addresses severe disaster damage. It supplements state and other public resources rather than funding routine highway maintenance. Where will major allocations go? North Carolina, Hawaii, and Texas are among the states highlighted in USDOT’s announcement. Their projects address damage from hurricanes, severe rainfall, and flooding. These allocations support repairs; they do not mean damaged routes have fully reopened. A North Carolina assessment identified $425 million in emergency repair needs and approximately $6 billion for public roads and bridges following Hurricane Helene’s widespread damage. North Carolina: $873 million for Hurricane Helene recovery. The September 2024 storm left more than 9,000 damaged sites and caused over 1,400 road closures in western North Carolina. Hawaii: $81 million following the March 2026 Kona Low storms, which caused widespread flooding. State officials estimated overall storm damage at $463.6 million. Texas: $52 million for flood-damaged transportation infrastructure, including washed-out bridges such as the FM 1431 bridge connecting Lago Vista and Marble Falls. Why is Interstate 40 important for freight? Interstate 40 through the Pigeon River Gorge is a key freight corridor severely damaged by Helene. Before the storm, approximately 30,000 vehicles used the affected section daily. One lane reopened in each direction near the North Carolina–Tennessee border in early 2025, but full reconstruction remains underway. NCDOT estimates the rebuilding project will cost $2.8 billion, with all four lanes expected to reopen by late 2029. These estimates may change as engineers assess ground conditions and construction requirements during ongoing rebuilding. The project’s full cost is separate from North Carolina’s latest $873 million emergency allocation. How do disasters affect trucking operations? Storm-damaged roads force some trucking companies onto longer detours and congested alternate routes. They also complicate deliveries of water, food, medication, and construction supplies. Transport Topics cited the Texas Freight Plan’s assessment that functioning freight infrastructure was crucial to community recovery after events including Hurricane Harvey in 2017. Meanwhile, demand for disaster assistance has grown alongside more frequent billion-dollar events. An analysis of NOAA data cited in the report found… [TheTopNews] Read More.1 week ago - Welcome to the Valley of Pain
This week could go down as the worst in the history of cybersecurity. On Wednesday, news emerged about two major vulnerabilities in PHP, a programming language used by 70 percent of websites, which prompted governments, hospitals, and companies around the world to take digital services offline as a precaution. There have already been millions of attempts to exploit these weaknesses.But the PHP vulnerabilities were just the most attention-grabbing in a series of alarming revelations. Security flaws in, or successful hacks of, several major software products and platforms—including some used by Netflix, PayPal, Walmart, and other big names—were announced that same day. Yesterday, Quest Diagnostics, which runs lab tests for a third of American adults each year, disclosed that it, too, had been breached. When I asked Sam Rubin, a senior vice president at the cybersecurity firm Palo Alto Networks, about the potential fallout from yet another hack—this one of the cloud platform Railway, which is used by Intuit and MGM Resorts, among others—he paused. “I didn’t see that one,” Rubin said. “It’s been quite a busy week.”[Read: ‘If anything happens to this guy … everyone is screwed’]Yet what’s most alarming about the past few days is that by next year, this stretch of incidents—which some security experts are calling “Black October”—may be remembered as normal, or even tame. “It’s going to feel like, over and over and over again, we’re finding more and more bugs in very critical pieces of software,” Matthew Prince, the CEO of the internet infrastructure and security company Cloudflare, told me. “This story, which feels unique and fresh right now—in a few months, it’s going to feel like we get one of these every week.” Prince said he knows of still more vulnerabilities that will be announced in the near future.For the next year or two, if not longer, the internet is going to feel a bit touch and go, and more dangerous than we’ve come to expect. “It’s going to feel like the sky is falling” for a while, Prince said. There’s a decades-long backlog of bugs in software written without much review or scrutiny—which was more or less fine so long as there was a very small number of skilled hackers. Over the past two decades, companies, governments, and individuals have been lulled into a false sense of security: Most people don’t think twice about punching credit-card numbers into the website of a local… [TheTopNews] Read More.2 weeks ago - WRN Daily: Election could reshape balance of power at State CapitolControl of the Wisconsin Legislature is also on the ballot this November, with political observers watching to see whether Democrats can break Republican majorities that have lasted for more than a decade. Republicans currently hold an 18-15 majority in the state Senate. University of Wisconsin-La Crosse political science professor Anthony Chergosky says Democrats appear to […] Source: WRN.com [TheTopNews] Read More.2 weeks ago
- Derek Leathers Elected 82nd Chairman of American Trucking Associations
Who is ATA’s new chairman? Derek Leathers, chairman and CEO of Werner Enterprises, is the American Trucking Associations’ 82nd chairman. ATA’s board elected him during its 2026 Management Conference & Exhibition in Charlotte, North Carolina. The association announced the election on October 21, 2026. Leathers succeeds Greg Hodgen, CEO of Groendyke Transport. What experience does Leathers bring? Leathers brings more than 30 years of transportation and logistics experience, including leadership of Omaha, Nebraska-based Werner Enterprises. He joined Werner in 1999 after eight years with Schneider National. During his career, he helped establish Werner’s Mexico operations and oversaw its asset-based transportation businesses. He became Werner’s CEO in May 2016 and chairman in May 2021. Previously, he served as president from 2011 until January 2024. His background includes several years working in Mexico City and an economics degree from Princeton University. Beyond Werner, Leathers chairs the American Transportation Research Institute. He also serves on SkyWest’s board and Creighton University’s board of trustees. His community involvement includes helping establish the PlaySmart Leadership Academy, an Omaha nonprofit serving young people. What priorities did ATA’s leaders highlight? Leathers emphasized cooperation and the responsibility to strengthen ATA for future industry leaders. He said the association’s longevity depends on bringing trucking companies together to address shared problems. Meanwhile, Hodgen encouraged members to remain involved and pledged his continued support after completing his term. ATA Chief Advocacy and Public Affairs Officer Henry Hanscom thanked Hodgen for his service. He welcomed Leathers’ appointment. Hanscom said the chairman, members, and staff would work together to advance advocacy and deliver value for members. In a separate Transport Topics interview, Leathers identified stronger safety enforcement and action against lawsuit abuse as priorities for his chairmanship. He also described a leadership approach built around transparency, practical solutions, and decisions grounded in data. These comments provide additional context beyond ATA’s election announcement. His term also overlaps with another leadership change. ATA has appointed Mark Colson as its next president and CEO, effective December 1, 2026. Colson’s appointment is separate from Leathers’ election to the chairman’s role. Who else will serve on ATA’s leadership team? ATA’s board also selected four other officers, electing two vice chairs and retaining its secretary and treasurer. The appointments include executives from PGT Trucking, UPS, CRST International Holdings, and J&M Tank Lines. Their roles are: First vice chair: Gregg Troian, president of PGT Trucking in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania. Second… [TheTopNews] Read More.2 weeks ago - Dominion still has pending lawsuits against election deniers such as Rudy Giulia...
[TheTopNews] Read More.2 weeks ago
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