Website

Things slow down a bit in the summer, but that doesn't mean small-business owners should flip the sign on the door to "closed" and head to the beach until Labor Day. Taking a few days off is a great idea, but the more relaxed summer months are also a good time for company owners to step back and look for ways to improve their businesses. If you don't own a seasonal business such as an ice cream or surf shop, here are a few things that can help you set up for a profitable end to the year.

Students enrolled at the Marlton campus of CDM Institute reported Friday that the New Jersey-based chain of technical and vocational schools appeared to have gone out of business with no warning or explanation. A sign posted Friday on the door of the Marlton location read "CDM Institute is closed," with no additional information. CDM's website offered no indication that the for-profit, nine-location chain had closed its doors, and did not say how many students were enrolled. Calls to numerous phone numbers posted on the website also went unanswered.

The national spotlight shone on David A. Mahoney and his buddies six decades ago, when they sang as the Four Aces, four men from Delaware County whose 1950s records topped the charts. But when his performing days ended, so did his singing, his son, Blair, recalled. Not even at family gatherings? "Never. That was business. And family was family. And the two never really crossed paths. " Mr. Mahoney, 86, former owner of the David A. Mahoney Insurance Agency in Woodlyn, Delaware County, died Sunday, July 8, of complications from Alzheimer's disease at his home in Chadds Ford.

PAULA'S NOT SOLD on the college dating scene. Because of her workload as a Temple University biochemistry student, she's more likely to be found cracking open books in her dorm than beers at a frat party. Besides, she thinks that guys her age are, like, so immature. "I've always been attracted to older men," she said. "They've been through more and know how to treat women better. " Paula (not her real name) has a new strategy for finding potential mates, one that can also help pay her tuition.

The vehicle identification numbers of a 1951 Rolls-Royce, a 2012 Jaguar, and eight Ferraris are among the 30,000 that appear on an official New Jersey website to warn consumers about vehicles damaged by the monster storm that hit the coast last fall. But after checking the online list ( njconsumeraffairs.gov/floodedcars/ ), consumers should not be complacent. The site provides the VINs of fewer than half the 72,000 vehicles in the state reported damaged by Hurricane Sandy. "There could be a dealer out there who's unscrupulous, or a person out there who might clean a car up and try to sell it," said Mike Horan, spokesman for the state Motor Vehicle Commission, which helped build the website.

OLD CITY is where developer Michael Yaron built his small empire in the last decade. The former Israeli soldier came to the United States with nothing, earned a doctorate from the University of Oxford in England, and later rubbed shoulders with some of Philadelphia's most powerful people. But as he walked alone the other afternoon past his buildings on North 3rd Street and on Arch, the narrow streets seemed to be closing in on him. Yaron and three others recently were found guilty of federal wire- and mail-fraud charges in a $2 million kickback scheme to get lucrative asbestos-removal contracts at a New York hospital.

Amanda Steinberg was 2 years old when her parents divorced. She grew up driven by something her mother stressed: Never be financially dependent on anyone. Now 35 and a Mount Airy mother of two going through her own divorce, Steinberg became "a maniacal entrepreneur," she says. She had 15 people working for her by the time she was 23 and had formed six companies in 10 years specializing in website development, app creation, and consulting. She's not too proud to admit that "most of them failed.

The Camden City School Board approved a $1.2 million contract Tuesday evening with a South Jersey-based substitute-teacher placement agency for the 2012-13 school year. Officials said the board's decision to privatize substitute services by hiring Source 4 Teachers L.L.C. was prompted both by a high teacher-absentee rate in the district and by difficulty obtaining certified teachers as substitutes. Between teachers calling out sick and those on leave, the district must find substitutes each day for as much as 40 percent of its teaching staff.

NEW YORK - Pet food isn't cheap. Americans are expected to spend $21.3 billion on pet food this year, up 3 percent from $20.6 billion in 2012, according to the American Pet Products Association. Walk through any pet shop and you can see why. Store shelves are stocked with high-end meals, from organic cat food to frozen raw dog food. While pricier options might have less filler and more protein, and can be healthier, they are not always necessary, says Liz Hanson, a veterinarian at Corona Del Mar Animal Hospital in Newport Beach, Calif.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - A video company paid homeless men $50 to be filmed while scantily clad women punched, kicked and whipped them, according to a lawsuit filed this month in a Florida court. Attorneys for two homeless men said that the website www . shefights.net sells videos on the Internet of the so-called "beatdowns," starting at $2.99 for a two-minute "sparring session" clip and increasing in price to $33.99 for a 33-minute clip of two women beating a man. The lawsuit contends that the beatings violate a state hate-crimes law that specifically protects the homeless.