WORTHINGTON — Sugar Creek Rest and Meadow Lake Manor, both Quality Life Services facilities, held their annual employee awards banquet.

Twelve employees were recognized for perfect work attendance and given embroidered company windbreakers.

Employees of the Year for 2008 are John Osche, a nursing assistant at Sugar Creek Rest, and Darla Confer, a nursing assistant at Meadow Lake Manor. Osche has been with Quality Life Services almost 20 years and lives in Cabot. Confer has been with the company for a year and a half and lives in Rimersberg.

NATRONA HEIGHTS — Highland Tire and Uniroyal Tire have raised more than $1,800 in funds and equipment for the Freeport Area Soccer Association and the Highlands Area Soccer Club.The program, a national giving program through Uniroyal, has been a supporter of youth soccer for nine years. Alongside its tire dealers, Uniroyal Tire has donated nearly $11 million in funds, including more than 818,000 soccer balls, since 2000."We were excited to be a part of the soccer program," said Brad Bonnett of Highland Tire. "It's been a great way to do our part for the community. It's a wonderful feeling to support our youth, especially through organizations such as Freeport Area Soccer Association and Highlands Area Soccer Club. I love seeing everyone who comes in, and the kids are ecstatic when they get the soccer ball."

The Petroleum Valley Regional Water Authority in Petrolia celebrated its official grand opening on Oct. 28 with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.The 23-mile, $22 million water line has been serving its more than 800 customers for about a year now.The system was paid for by the state's Hazardous Sites Cleanup Act, after multiple sites in the Petroleum Valley were found to be used as unauthorized dump sites of toxic waste from area manufacturing plants and that groundwater in certain areas was contaminated.The Allegheny River is the water source for the authority.

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department has approved a $52 billion beer merger between Belgian brewer InBev and Anheuser-Busch.But InBev's buzz comes with a slight hiccup: it must sell subsidiary Labatt USA before regulators let the Belgian company buy out St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch.That's because Anheuser-Busch brews Budweiser and Bud Light compete directly with Labatt Blue and Labatt Blue Light in upstate New York. Without the sell-off condition, the Justice Department said beer prices could increase in metropolitan Buffalo, Rochester, N.Y., and Syracuse, N.Y.InBev and Anheuser-Busch don't compete in most other beer markets around the country. InBev brews Stella Artois and Lowenbrau.

WILKES-BARRE — The owners of two Pennsylvania formal wear businesses are accused of buying hundreds of thousands of dollars in stolen designer formal wear from a competitor's employee.Robert Riviello, the owner of Tuxedo Junction in Dickson City, and Michael Pantano of Tuxedo Junction in Hanover Township, appeared in district court Thursday to face several charges. They allegedly purchased stolen merchandise from a shipping supervisor at Sarno & Son Formal Wear in Scranton.According to court records, detectives seized more than $130,000 worth of tuxedos, suits and accessories belonging to Sarno & Son from the two stores.

<B>Joseph Marks II </B>of New Wilmington has been promoted to the position of principal in the Canfield, Ohio-based certified public accounting and business advisory firm of Schroedel, Scullin & Bestic. He earned a bachelor's of science in business administration from Slippery Rock University.