January 29, 2015: Report says lift “restrictions” on transpo funding; Port labor strife hurts truckers; Paris mayor seeks ban on buses & trucks.

Here is a look at what is happening in the world of transportation this morning:

• The Center for American Progress claims in a new report that U.S. transportation funding “restrictions” need to be “eliminated.”
• A local group of public health advocates seeks to ban older diesel trucks from Oregon’s roads, notes The Portland Tribune.
• A fire idles work at Western Star’s Portland, OR, assembly plant and causes an estimated $510,000 in damage, reports Oregon Live.
• Daimler Trucks North America is on the hunt for the “Einsteins and Edisons” of information technology, according to Computer World magazine.
• A labor dispute at U.S. west coast ports is hitting the wallets of trucking firms hard, notes KTVU News.
• Debate begins at Triple Pundit over a new “sustainable fuel study” aimed at the transportation industry.
• A former trucking company executive accused of embezzlement wins a continuance at the preliminary hearing of his court case, reports Gant Daily.
• A trucking company owner pleads guilty to several offenses connected to a deadly 2013 roadway crash, according to News Item.
• A jury is selected for the trial against a trucking contractor accused of bribery as well as scamming the federal government “out of millions of dollars,” according to WALB 10 News.
• The mayor of Paris vows to ban “polluting buses and trucks” from the City of Light’s streets, notes Phys Org.
• Georgia’s state legislature unveils its long-awaited transportation funding bill, reports the Atlanta Business Journal.
• Smaller states, such as Vermont, say passage of a comprehensive long term highway bill is particularly vital to their economies, according to the Burlington Free Press.
• New York’s lawmakers continue to review the proposed budget for the Empire State, notes The Times Union – especially its transportation funding proposals.
• CNET is sharing passenger reactions to the “insane mode high acceleration setting” on the P85D version of the Tesla Model S all-electric super car, which is capable of pumping out 691 horsepower and accelerating from zero to 60 in just three seconds.