WASHINGTON (September 20, 2013) – The Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation (the Foundation) has released the September 2013 Monthly Confidence Index for the Equipment Finance Industry (MCI-EFI). Designed to collect leadership data, the index reports a qualitative assessment of both the prevailing business conditions and expectations for the future as reported by key executives from the $725 billion equipment finance sector.

Award-winning author Dan McNichol headlines tour to raise awareness and identify solutions for America's crumbling infrastructure.

RACINE, Wis. (September 19, 2013) – CASE Construction Equipment has partnered with award-winning author and infrastructure expert Dan McNichol to tour the U.S. and bring awareness to the challenges facing the nation’s aging infrastructure. The tour — titled Dire States: The Drive to Revive America’s Ailing Infrastructure — will make stops at CASE dealers throughout the U.S.

RALEIGH, N.C. (September 16, 2013) – FMI (www.fminet.com), a provider of management consulting and investment banking* to the engineering and construction industry, released its Q3-2013 Construction Outlook. The markets continue to shift, reducing annual Construction-Put-In-Place predictions to $909.6 billion, down nearly $4 billion from previous predictions.

Initiative aims to develop additional qualified technicians for workforce.

MOLINE, Ill. (Sept. 12, 2013) — In partnership with RDO Equipment Co., John Deere is expanding its C&F Tech initiative to include North Dakota State College of Science in Wahpeton, N.D. The John Deere dealer technician job training program is a two-year associate’s degree that enables students to troubleshoot, service, repair and rebuild diesel equipment used by customers nationwide.

CHICAGO (September 11, 2013) - For the first time in the U.S., design professionals now have an authoritative resource on structural stainless steel with AISC Steel Design Guide No. 27, Structural Stainless Steel, authored by Nancy Baddoo, associate director at the Steel Construction Institute (SCI), UK.

DALLAS, Texas (September 9, 2013) – Ford Nassen announced that the firm’s shareholders George C. Baldwin, Jeffrey S. Chapman, James L. Deem, Jeffrey A. Ford, Timothy D. Matheny, John W. Nassen and Clayton C. Utkov have been named 2013 Texas Super Lawyers, who are recognized as among the state’s leading attorneys.

(September 4, 2013) - Nearly three-fourths of construction firms across the country report they are having trouble finding qualified craft workers to fill key spots amid concerns that labor shortages will only get worse, according to the results of an industry-wide survey by the Associated General Contractors of America. Association officials called for immigration and education reform measures to help avoid worker shortages.