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Quick takes

HESS TOYS: Hess Corp., in association with Toys for Tots, will donate 1,500 of its 2016 Hess toy trucks and dragsters to underprivileged children in the area, according to officials. The Hess toy trucks are being delivered to Toys for Tots distribution centers in the Pittsburgh, Youngstown and Dellroy areas.

“The Hess toy truck has been a holiday tradition since 1964,” said Rob Williams, Utica operations manager, Hess Corp. “We’re pleased to partner with Toys for Tots to help brighten the holiday season for families in need in our community.”

NO NON-COMPETE: Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan says the Jimmy John’s sandwich chain has agreed to stop requiring low-level employees to sign agreements preventing them from seeking jobs with competitors.

Madigan said the Champaign-based chain also agreed to inform employees that previously signed agreements will not be enforced, tell franchise owners to rescind existing agreements and pay $100,000 to be used for public awareness of legal standards for non-compete agreements. Madigan sued Jimmy John’s in June.

A Jimmy John’s news release said the company is pleased to resolve the lawsuit.

The agreements forbade employees from working for any competitor near a Jimmy John’s that derived at least 10 percent of its revenue from submarine or deli sandwiches.

Jimmy John’s reached a similar settlement with the state of New York in June.

PHOENIX SALE: The federal government says it will allow one of the nation’s largest for-profit college companies to be sold if the new owners put up $385 million as insurance and agree not to increase enrollment, among other requirements.

Apollo Education Group owns the University of Phoenix and agreed in February to be purchased by a consortium of investors for $1.1 billion. But the deal required approval from the U.S. Department of Education.

The department on Wednesday announced the terms the new owners must meet for the sale to be approved, including the $385 million payment and increased reporting of finances and enrollment.

The department says the measures are intended to monitor the financial stability of the company, which has struggled recently.

Phoenix-based Apollo says it’s evaluating the terms.

DRILLER FINED: Pennsylvania environmental regulators have fined a natural-gas driller more than $3.5 million for violations at 10 well sites and six pipeline locations.

The Department of Environmental Protection said that subsidiaries of Rice Energy Inc. operated an unpermitted wastewater impoundment that leaked, improperly constructed wells, violated rules for erosion and sediment control, failed to obtain permits and committed other infractions.

Regulators say the violations took place over several years at sites in Washington and Greene counties.

Canonsburg-based Rice has already paid the fines. DEP has entered into several agreements with Rice and says the company has either fixed or is scheduled to fix the problems at its wells and pipelines.

A Rice Energy spokeswoman says the company is “pleased to have reached an amicable agreement” with DEP.

EU AND VW: The European Union is starting legal action against Britain, Germany, Spain and Luxembourg for not imposing penalties against Volkswagen for using illegal software to hide vehicle emissions.

The European Commission said it believes Britain and Germany “broke the law by refusing to disclose, when requested by the Commission, all the technical information” they gathered on Volkswagen emissions.

It said the technical information concerns “potential nitrogen oxide emissions irregularities in cars by Volkswagen Group AG and other car manufacturers on their territories.”

In the wake of the Volkswagen diesel emissions scandal, the Commission called on all EU states to test for so-called “defeat devices” on other makes of vehicles.

From staff and wire r

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