Here are five things worth knowing today:
- Today marks the 14th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. And, like most of us, Ashland resident Patrick A. McKuen will never forget 9/11. According to the Ashland Daily Press, McKuen, now a professional land surveyor, was an Army specialist stationed at Fort Myers, VA, when the Pentagon was attacked. He was at a retirement ceremony when he and his unit were ordered to return to base immediately, according to the report. McKuen was part of the many servicemen and women who took part in rescue-recovery efforts. The Daily Press has more.
- A long-haul truck driver could be the next governor of Mississippi, according to Today News. Robert Gray “raised no money, had no website and had a primary campaign so non-existent that his own mother didn’t even know about it,” yet he was elected in the primary as the Democratic candidate for governor. Today has more.
- A Jacksonville News 4 report says that more women are joining the truck driving workforce amid the growing truck driver shortage. According to the report, in 2014, women made-up 5.8% of the 3.4 million truck drivers in the U.S. – that’s up from 4.6% in 2010. News 4 has more.
- Fontaine Fifth Wheel has agreed to recall nearly 6,800 of its Ultra LT units and replace them at no charge to tractor owners. Heavy Duty Trucking reports that the recall comes after an accident in early 2014, in which a fifth wheel semitrailer decoupled and hit two pickup trucks on an Ohio highway, killing both their drivers. According to the report, Fontaine said the Ohio Highway Patrol found that the unit was not defective, but the company has agreed to the recall anyway.
- Christopher Whitman, owner of United Industrial of Georgia trucking company, was sentenced to 22 years in prison and ordered to pay more than $18 million in restitution after he was convicted of bribery, Valdosta Today reports. According to the report, Whitman was convicted of 57 counts of bribery and defrauding the government. Prosecutors maintained Whitman and two others participated in bribes to over-bill the Marine Corps Logistics Base in Albany by tens of millions of dollars for trucking contracts between 2008 and 2012.
