JEFFERSON TWP — Concordia Lutheran Ministries signed with Sodexo to provide food services for its main campus and three assisted living residences.

Current Concordia food services staff will become Sodexo employees.

Rebecca Residence, Ridgewod Place and The Orchard locations also will be served by the North American company, which has facilities in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

Sodexo also agreed to help sponsor Concordia's Oktoberfest fireworks Oct. 3.

WASHINGTON — New U.S. home sales posted a tepid 0.7 percent increase last month, missing Wall Street expectations and providing more evidence the housing market recovery remains tentative.The Commerce Department said Friday sales inched up to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 429,000 from a downwardly revised 426,000 in July. Economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters had expected a pace of 440,000.

WASHINGTON — Orders for goods expected to last at least three years fell unexpectedly in August mainly because of a drop in demand for commercial aircraft. The worst reading since January for durable goods is evidence any recovery in manufacturing will be slow.Economists were disappointed with the report, but most said it reflected the uneven nature of the economy as it transitions out of the worst recession since the 1930s.The results are consistent with "the early stages of a business cycle recovery, and thus do not contradict perceptions that this is where the economy is now," Pierre Ellis, an economist at Decision Economics, wrote in a note to clients.The Commerce Department said Friday orders for durable goods dropped 2.4 percent in August, after increasing a revised 4.8 percent in July. Wall Street economists expected a 0.5 percent increase, according to a survey by Thomson Reuters. It was the second drop in three months.From staff and wire reports

<B>S&T Bancorp</B> declared a 15 cents per share cash dividend to be paid Oct. 23 to shareholders of record on Sept. 30.