A Hoosier trucking industry expert says lack of consumer confidence and not much clarity from Washington are taking their toll on the nation‘s trucking companies.

Indiana Motor Truck Association President Gary Langston says trucking companies are seeing slow growth – at best – when it comes to the economy.

Langston says from his industry‘s perspective, they need to see three consecutive quarters of three percent growth each quarter. Langston says the American Truckers Association expects to see 2.2% total growth in the Gross Domestic Product this year and perhaps 2.4% total growth next year.

Langston says the trucking industry is directly indicative of what‘s happening in the economy because they ship orders.

Langston says when orders are down it‘s proof that companies and people simply aren‘t buying things.

He adds that the decline in American made products isn‘t helping. Langston says companies are beginning to address unemployment by bringing manufacturing jobs back to America.

When the 2016 campaign for governor rolls around, Democrats will likely have to look to someone other than the man who came close to beating Mike Pence in 2012.

John Gregg says he will not “actively seek” the Democratic Party‘s nomination for governor three years from now. Since losing to Pence by fewer than three-percentage points, the attorney and former House Speaker continued to make appearances across the state – “I never stopped campaigning.”

But Gregg says he decided recently that “life‘s events curb one‘s focus” – Gregg got married again last December, just over a month after the election, and he says he wants to focus on his family and some new business opportunities.

Gregg received almost 46.6 percent of the vote in 2012, with Pence receiving 49.5 percent – Libertarian Rupert Murdoch received just under 4 percent. Gregg lost by around 75,000 votes in a state President Obama lost to Republican nominee Mitt Romney by around 300,000 votes.

He says he believes he could have won in 2016 had he run again, but Gregg says when he decided to leave the race, he wanted to make the announcement now so that other Democratic candidates would not be deterred from running by having a veteran candidate in the race.