Trucking news and briefs for Monday, Sept. 21, 2026:
K&B Transportation boosts pay for ‘Road Warrior,’ home weekly drivers
K&B Transportation (CCJ Top 250, No. 120) this month announced pay increases for its Road Warrior and Home Weekly division truck drivers.
K&B’s Road Warrior option offers the company’s highest starting pay at 82 cents per mile, along with a $1,886 guaranteed weekly minimum. Road Warrior drivers stay out for 8 weeks and then receive 10 days of home time. For drivers who live outside K&B’s hiring area, the company offers a free round-trip flight home for home time.
The company’s Home Weekly option also received an increase to starting at 75 CPM. As the name suggests, drivers on this option get home every week.
[Related: Roehl announces second driver pay increase of 2026]
Nebraska troopers stop truck moving $50M in drugs, recover stolen cargo
The Nebraska State Patrol this month has made two high-profile interdictions involving tractor-trailers, taking nearly 20,000 pounds of drugs off the street and recovering a trailer full of stolen electronics and other items in separate incidents
“The Nebraska State Patrol is a tremendous law enforcement agency. Our troopers do amazing work to keep us safe -- through their patrols in the air, as well as on the ground,” said Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen. “Both of these seizures happened because our troopers are highly trained and are ready to investigate when it appears criminal activity is underway.”
The first incident occurred Friday, Sept. 4, at approximately 8 a.m., when a trooper performed a traffic stop on a tractor-trailer near mile marker 228 on I-80. During the stop, the trooper performed an inspection and detected the odor of marijuana.
Troopers searched the vehicle and located thousands of pounds of marijuana, THC products, and psilocybin products in the trailer.
In total, there were 27 pallets of boxes in the trailer containing a total of approximately 5,200 pounds of marijuana, 13,600 pounds of THC products, and 1,000 pounds of psilocybin products.Nebraska State Patrol
The street value of the drugs has been estimated at over $50 million. NSP believes this is the largest volume drug interdiction in agency history.
The driver, William Gomez, 44, of Virginia, was arrested for possession of controlled substances and possession with intent to deliver. He was lodged in Dawson County Jail.
The second incident happened Wednesday, Sept. 9. That evening, NSP was alerted that a truck in Nebraska may be transporting stolen professional speaker equipment valued at $250,000. At approximately 5:30 p.m., a trooper located the truck parked at a truck stop near Gothenburg. The trooper contacted the driver and discovered that the driver’s delivery paperwork was false. The driver was placed out of service and not allowed to continue driving.
Troopers then obtained a search warrant for the trailer, which revealed that approximately half of the trailer contained miscellaneous items that were intended for Walmart facilities in Florida. The other half of the trailer contained the high-end commercial speakers that were destined for Las Vegas.
Further investigation led to the discovery that all the items had been stolen from Illinois and New York. Investigators are still working to determine the total value of the stolen items, but the speakers alone have an estimated value of $250,000.
After being placed out of service, the driver fled. An arrest warrant has been issued for the driver, who was identified as Ashwani Kumar by his New Jersey non-domiciled CDL, NSP said.
Both investigations remain ongoing.
Inspectors spread human trafficking awareness over summer soccer tournament
Commercial motor vehicle law enforcement personnel in 10 U.S. states and three Canadian provinces participated in the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s special human trafficking awareness, identification and prevention initiative associated with this summer’s World Cup soccer competition.
Participating jurisdictions distributed 4,484 human trafficking awareness materials, including 2,851 wallet cards, 767 window decals, 704 postcards and 162 posters. Enforcement personnel also delivered 37 presentations, hosted 11 public events and made 41 media contacts before and during the event. Data was collected from June 1 through July 30.
The goal of the special initiative was to increase awareness of human trafficking risks associated with large-scale international events, such as the football/soccer competition, and educate commercial motor vehicle drivers, motor carriers, law enforcement officers and the public about the warning signs of human trafficking and how to report suspected activity.
Reported outreach activities included discussing human trafficking reporting resources with drivers at the conclusion of inspections, incorporating anti-trafficking information on inspection reports, distribution of wallet cards and decals, and media outreach to promote the campaign.
CVSA added that roadside inspections present an opportunity for enforcement personnel to potentially identify human trafficking situations. As such, inspections were also a part of this initiative.
Inspectors conducted 4,340 Level I, II and III Inspections and reported 237 commercial motor vehicles with passengers, 244 authorized passengers and three unauthorized passengers.
CVSA’s Human Trafficking Prevention Program seeks to reduce human trafficking throughout North America through coordinated enforcement, investigation and education within the commercial motor vehicle industry. The program offers free resources, outreach materials and more.
If you suspect someone is in a human trafficking situation or you are the victim of human trafficking, call 888-373-7888 in the U.S., 833-900-1010 in Canada or 800-553-3000 in Mexico.
