[naviga:h3]Tacoma rated best in truck crash tests[/naviga:h3]

RUCKERSVILLE, Va. — The Toyota Tacoma was the best performer among small pickups in insurance industry crash tests.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety gave its highest rating of “good” to both two-door and four-door cab versions of the Tacoma.

Four-door versions of the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon also earned “good” ratings, but two-door versions didn't. The Nissan Frontier was the worst performer.

The institute conducted a small overlap test, which replicates what happens when a vehicle runs off the road and hits a tree or a post. All the trucks tested were 2017 models.

No small pickup earned the institute's “Top Safety Pick” rating because they lack automatic emergency braking and their headlights don't perform well.

[naviga:h3]Flights canceled as hurricane nears[/naviga:h3]

Airlines are preparing to cancel Florida flights that are in the path of Hurricane Irma.

The hurricane is expected to reach Florida by the weekend. American Airlines says it will begin shutting down operations in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers, Sarasota and West Palm Beach by Friday afternoon and cancel flights through the weekend.

JetBlue Airways said Wednesday afternoon that it had canceled about 130 flights.

American, JetBlue, United and Delta offered waivers letting customers change travel plans to Florida and the Caribbean without the usual charges for changing a ticket.

JetBlue said it reduced fares to $99 to $159 one-way for remaining seats on flights leaving the hurricane's path including Florida and locations in the Caribbean.

[naviga:h3]United not punished in passenger case[/naviga:h3]

Federal officials decided not to punish United Airlines over an infamous incident in which a passenger was dragged off an overcrowded plane.

The Transportation Department said it found no evidence that United violated David Dao's civil rights in the April 9 incident in Chicago. There was also not enough evidence that the airline violated rules regarding bumping passengers to take the case further, the department said.

A Transportation Department lawyer told United about the decision in a May 12 letter but didn't make the matter public.

Paul Hudson, the president of Flyers Rights, criticized the lack of penalties against United and questioned how the Transportation Department could conduct an investigation so quickly. He called the manhandling of 69-year-old Dao “egregious in every sense of the word.”

[naviga:h3]Fed vice chairman to resign in Oct[/naviga:h3]

WASHINGTON — Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer will resign next month for personal reasons, leaving a fourth vacancy on the seven-member Fed governing board.

Fischer, 73, is a widely-respected economist who taught at MIT and was head of the Bank of Israel for eight years. His unexpected departure adds to a leadership vacuum at the top of the Fed as it navigates a difficult path.