Gas tax to rise 8 cents a gallonHARRISBURG — Motorists in Pennsylvania will be hit with the third and final step in the gradual gas tax increases that are being phased in as part of a 2013 state law that’s supposed to raise billions to improve bridges, highways and other transportation modes.The Jan. 1 increase will be about 8 cents per gallon. The increase will leave motorists paying about 76 cents per gallon in state and federal taxes. Pennsylvania already imposes the nation’s highest gas tax.The law that was passed under Republican Gov. Tom Corbett also imposed a range of higher fees.

Outbreak costs company millionsALBANY, Ga. — A decade after hundreds of Americans got sick from eating Peter Pan peanut butter contaminated with salmonella, the company that sold it paid with an embarrassing courtroom guilty plea and an agreement to pay the largest criminal fine ever in a U.S. food safety case.The president of a ConAgra subsidiary entered a guilty plea on behalf of his company Tuesday to a single misdemeanor count of shipping adulterated food. A U.S. District Court judge then approved a deal ConAgra reached with prosecutors to pay an $8 million fine plus $3.2 million in cash forfeitures.The plea deal resolved a long criminal investigation into a nationwide salmonella outbreak blamed on tainted peanut butter that sickened at least 625 people in 47 states.

J&J ends talks for drugmakerJohnson & Johnson said Tuesday it has ending talks to buy Swiss drugmaker Actelion Pharmaceuticals.The New Brunswick, N.J.-based health care giant said it was unable to reach a deal that would have created “adequate value” for its shareholders. Last month, it said the two were in early-stage talks about a possible deal.Actelion late Tuesday confirmed the negotiations with Johnson & Johnson had been broken off. It added, however, that it was in talks another party.