Pennsylvania's unemployment rate for July rose by two-tenths of a percentage point over June, reaching 5.4 percent, according to a report from the Department of Labor and Industry yesterday. Pennsylvania's unemployment rate remains below the nationwide rate of 5.7 percent. Both the state and national unemployment rates are up from July 2007, when they were 4.3 percent for Pennsylvania and 4.7 percent for the nation.

Allegheny Energy yesterday said it would build its transmission operations headquarters on a 9-acre site in Fairmont, W.Va. The headquarters, which will be staffed by about 150 employees, is expected to be completed by mid-2011.

Koppers Holdings Inc. posted higher second-quarter sales and earnings and raised its guidance on earnings per share and sales for the full year. The company reported net income of $24.3 million, or $1.16 per diluted share, on sales of $375.3 million, vs. $22.3 million, or $1.07, on sales of $326.7 million a year ago. Excluding a charge related to a boiler failure at a plant in West Virginia, the company earned $25.2 million, or $1.20 per diluted share, in the most recent quarter. Koppers increased its guidance on earnings per share to a range of 37 percent to 41 percent from 2007 earnings per share of $2.49 and sales in a range from 14 percent to 17 percent from 2007 sales of $1.26 billion.

Uni-Marts LLC, the State College-based operator of convenience stores, has decided to sell its assets to Atlantis Petroleum LLC for at least $17.7 million, according to The Deal.com. According to a filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware, Uni-Marts canceled an auction scheduled for this past Thursday after failing to receive a bid that it could accept as a competing bid. Atlantis Petroleum had served as a stalking horse for Uni-Marts as it sought higher bids, The Deal.com said. Atlantis Petroleum owns Getty and Lukoil brand gas stations.

PreVu Inc., formerly known as Wilsons The Leather Experts, has dropped a plan to convert to a mall accessories store concept. It will be liquidating goods in remaining stores, including a location at Ross Park Mall that had been using the brand name "Studio." The process should be completed this fall. The company earlier agreed to sell its Wilsons outlet stores to another operator.

Online DVD rental leader Netflix Inc. resumed normal shipments after its distribution centers were crippled by three days of severe technical problems, a spokesman said. The company offered a 15 percent credit to customers whose discs were delayed by the outage ... Hershey Co. said it would raise prices on its products by an average of 11 percent as it tries to stem the impact of soaring commodities costs, which it said would grow by more than $110 million this year.