Business news in brief

VantaCore Partners L.P., a Philadelphia-based quarry and asphalt plant operator, agreed to be acquired by Natural Resource Partners L.P., of Houston, for $205 million, NRP said. VantaCore has construction-materials operations in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Louisiana and is currently owned by a consortium of institutional investors. It will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of NRP after the acquisition, which is expected to close in the fourth quarter. VantaCore will continue to be managed by its CEO, Colin Oerton, and CFO Perry Donahoo, NRP said. - Reid Kanaley

Showboat Atlantic City will end gambling operations on Aug. 31 at 4 p.m., according to an order by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement approving closing plans for the casino that employed 2,133 people last month. Gamblers will have another hour, until 5, to redeem gambling vouchers and chips, the order said. Aug. 30 will be the last night for hotel guests at Showboat. Revel's closing plan, under review by gaming regulators, calls for gambling to cease at 5 a.m. Sept. 2, according to an attorney who spoke in bankruptcy court Monday. Hotel operations at Revel are expected to end on Labor Day as guests check out. - Harold Brubaker

Crozer-Keystone Health System continued fighting the negative trends in inpatient admissions that are common to most hospital systems, but Crozer, Delaware County's largest health-care provider, dramatically slowed its operating losses in the three months ended June 30. During that quarter, Crozer had an operating loss of $1.3 million, after posting an operating loss of $31.6 million in the first nine months of the fiscal year that ended June 30, according to financial statements released for bond investors. For the fiscal year, Crozer's total revenue was $765.83 million, down 4.6 percent from $803.14 million the year before. Its full-year net income fell to $4.6 million from $14.1 million. Hospital inpatient admissions of 29,438 were down 7.6 percent. On the plus side, Crozer reported a 19 percent increase in surgeries, thanks to the 2013 acquisition of the Surgery Center of Pennsylvania in Haverford. A union contract for 600 nurses at Crozer-Chester Medical Center expired in June, but negotiations continue, a union leader said. - Harold Brubaker

Uber Technologies Inc., the ride-sharing company battling established taxi companies in Pennsylvania and much of the nation, has hired former Obama campaign manager David Plouffe as senior vice president of policy and strategy, the company said. Plouffe will help Uber lobby lawmakers and regulators and devise strategy for breaking into new markets. Uber said he will oversee "all global policy and political activities, communications and Uber branding efforts." Plouffe ran Obama's successful presidential campaign in 2008 and was a senior adviser to the president from 2011 to 2013. - Paul Nussbaum

MGM Resorts International and billionaire Kirk Kerkorian's investment arm paid $225,000 to settle New Jersey claims they let a former board member continue to work with the casino operator after a wiretapping conviction. Terry Christensen was convicted of conspiracy and illegal wiretapping in a case unrelated to the casino company, the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement said in a July letter posted on its website. Christensen continued to work for MGM after resigning from the board at the request of regulators. MGM Resorts and Tracinda Corp. are paying the settlement in connection with the casino company's effort to regain permission to operate in New Jersey. - Bloomberg News

Exelon Corp., of Chicago, filed with the Maryland Public Service Commission for approval to acquire Pepco Holdings, the utility serving 537,000 customers in Washington's Maryland suburbs. The deal announced in April, valued around $6.8 billion, will cement Exelon's hold on the Mid-Atlantic power market by adding Atlantic City Electric, Delmarva Power, and Pepco to the utilities Exelon already owns: Baltimore Gas & Electric, Commonwealth Edison, and Philadelphia-based Peco Energy. The process, which follows similar filings in Washington, New Jersey, and Delaware, is expected to take 12 to 15 months for approval in all jurisdictions. - Washington Post

Meager wage improvements since 2009 have barely kept up with a similarly tepid pace of inflation, raising the real value of compensation per hour by only 0.5 percent. That marks the weakest growth since World War II, with increases averaging 9.2 percent at a similar point in past expansions, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data compiled by Bloomberg. - Bloomberg News

Former Microsoft Corp. CEO Steve Ballmer, 58, is stepping down from the company's board, closing a chapter on 34 years with the software giant. Ballmer says he plans to devote more time to his ownership of the Los Angeles Clippers, civic contributions, study, and teaching a business class at Stanford University in the fall. - AP