Safeway has converted its fleet of more than 1,000 trucks to biodiesel, which the California-based grocery chain says equals removing almost 7,500 cars from the road annually.

Announced Jan. 18, the change is part of Safeway’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Initiative and its effort to manage its carbon footprint, address climate change and reduce air pollution.

Steve Burd, company CEO, and Calif. Lt. Gov. John Garamendi declared the conversion at Safeway’s “green” store in Dublin, Calif., which operates on solar and wind energy.

The company’s environmental programs include participation in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s SmartWay Transport Partnership for companies and organizations that commit to a baseline fleet fuel efficiency and a decrease in carbon emissions.

Safeway also is part of the EPA’s Grow & Go program, which promotes the benefits of renewable fuels.

Safeway buys enough wind energy annually to power 300 fuel stations and more than 50 of its 1,738 stores across North America.

Some cities have converted their entire fleets to biodiesel, including San Francisco, which completed the switch in November on its 1,500 diesel vehicles.

Diamond Companies Inc. announced that the company will bring several truck and bus dealerships, along with IdeaLease locations, under the brand name Diamond International.

The companies will operate under the single name and logo beginning Feb. 1, including Mid-America International Trucks located in Memphis.

Management will remain the same at all company locations.

Based in Memphis, Diamond Companies Inc. is one of the largest Navistar International dealers in the country with more than 600 employees at 17 locations spanning four states.

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The blown tire caused the Garbage truck to cross the center line, he said, and strike the smaller-sized SUV. Police were still investigating the cause of the original collision, he said.

The crash was reported at 10:08 a.m., Tyler said. The woman, who was conscious afterwards, was transported by ground ambulance to Hartford Hospital. Police had not released her name by early Friday afternoon.

The road was closed for more than two hours after the crash. The crash occurred on the section of the road that is just west of the intersection with Garden Street

The garbage truck that was stolen from the Graham city garage late Wednesday turned up in Durham Thursday.

The Durham Police Department found the truck on Oak Drive in Durham, said Graham Police Lt. Brad Shirley.

“The vehicle appeared to be abandoned on the side of the road,” Shirley said. “There were no suspects with the vehicle and no arrests have been made.”

Graham Police have searched for the 1991 Ford sanitation truck since it was taken at about 11:45 p.m. Wednesday. Someone entered the garage complex and drove the vehicle, which was worth about $71,000, through the gate. Damages to the gate are estimated at about $300.

The dark green truck was spotted in Elon and Gibsonville early Thursday.

RCMP have publicly identified the log truck driver killed near Fort St. James on Wednesday as Robert Joseph Kandler, 44, of Prince George. He died in a collision with another logging truck near the 62-kilometre mark of the North Road, near Fort St. James. The road connects Fort St. James to Germanson Landing.

No information is yet available about what might have caused the two trucks to collide. The investigation is ongoing.

It’s the first fatality involving a logging truck in northern B.C. in 14 months. Logging truck drivers lead the death toll in the forest sector in northern B.C. Although no logging truck drivers were killed in 2007 in northern B.C., more than 30 logging truck drivers and other forestry drivers have been killed since 1995.

Toyota Motor Corp President Katsuaki Watanabe said on Sunday the Japanese automaker will launch a diesel-powered Tundra pickup truck and Sequoia SUV in the United States soon, in an about-face to its hybrid-centered product strategy.

Toyota, which likely unseated General Motors Corp as the world’s biggest automaker last year, has repeatedly hesitated to committing a diesel vehicle for the U.S. market, which is slowly warming to the fuel-efficient drivetrain, especially for use in larger vehicles.

“I am happy to confirm that a new clean-diesel V8 engine will be offered in both the Tundra and the Sequoia in the near future,” Watanabe told a news conference at the North American International Auto Show.

The diesel vehicles were one way to meet new fuel economy regulations agreed by the U.S. Congress that require a fleet average of 35 miles per gallon by 2020, Watanabe said.

He added that Toyota will also expand its hybrid line-up by launching world premieres of two all-new, dedicated hybrid models - one for Toyota and one for its luxury Lexus brand - at next year’s Detroit auto show.

“We will not wait until the deadline to comply (with the fuel economy standards),” Watanabe said. “I have issued a challenge to our engineers to meet the new standard well in advance of 2020.”

Toyota, which brought the world the first mass-produced gasoline-electric hybrid, has a goal of selling 1 million hybrid cars a year soon after 2010. In the 10 years since the launch of the first-generation Prius in late 1997, Toyota sold 1.25 million hybrid cars.

At the press conference, Toyota also unveiled a new hybrid pickup truck concept called A-BAT, which stands for the Advanced-Breakthrough Aerodynamic Truck.

Toyota is due to unveil another concept, the Venza, on Monday.

Americans bought more Toyota Prius hybrid petrol-electric hatchbacks in 2007 than Ford Explorer sports utility vehicles, the top-selling SUV for more than a decade.

The change of fortune, buried in US vehicle sales data for 2007 and unthinkable a few years ago, will find an echo at this year’s Detroit auto show, which starts on Sunday.

While Americans’ love for powerful gas-guzzlers remains strong, the slowing economy and high fuel prices are forcing buyers to lower their sights. Pressure on manufacturers to offer more fuel-efficient vehicles increased last month with a law requiring them to improve vehicles’ average fuel efficiency by 40 per cent over the next 12 years.

While Prius sales soared 69 per cent in 2007, demand for the Explorer was less than a third of its 2000 peak. Many Americans are replacing truck-based SUVs with crossover vehicles, which are built like cars, thus offering a smoother ride and better fuel efficiency. Toyota began selling the Prius in North America in 2000, the same year Explorer sales reached a record 445,000 units.

“It’s a combination of an ascending star and a falling star,” says George Magliano, director of automotive industry analysis at consultant Global Insight.

The Explorer led the SUV charge in the 1990s to replace the minivan as the family car. Baby-boomers craving space, a protective cocoon high above the ground and the power of a V-8 engine have driven about 6m out of showrooms over the past 18 years. But filling an Explorer fuel tank now costs close to $70, against $30 five years ago. The traditional SUV “is a dead market”, Mr Magliano says.

Toyota has pushed Prius sales hard in the past year, but in one respect, the car has become like most other North America vehicles – its sales have been buoyed by special promotions.

In Detroit, Ford will unveil a crossover vehicle, Explorer America – a signal that the traditional SUV’s days are numbered. The Explorer America will come with a fuel-efficient engine and the eight-cylinder version will be dropped.

Toyota, Honda, Subaru, Saab and BMW are among other carmakers showing off new crossover models at the auto show. Ford will also be exhibiting a four-door version of its Verve hatchback.