BUSINESS BRIEFS
BBB accepts Torch applications

Less than three weeks remain to apply for your Better Business Bureau Foundation of Northwest Florida's 2008 Torch Award for Marketplace Ethics.

The Torch Award was created to recognize businesses and charities that insist on exceptionally high standards of behavior in dealing with customers, vendors and employees.

To be considered for the 2008 Torch Award, a company or 501 (c)(3) charity must have been in business for one year or more with the same ownership and may not hold an unsatisfactory record with your BBB. BBB Accreditation is not required to enter, however, applicants must be physically located within the BBB of Northwest Florida's service area: Bay, Calhoun, Escambia, Franklin, Gadsden, Gulf, Holmes, Jackson, Liberty, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa, Wakulla, Walton or Washington counties. Past Torch Award recipients are eligible after a three-year waiting period. Businesses and charities can apply without being nominated.

In addition to the awards ceremony for businesses and charities, a total of nine high school students will be named as BBB Student Ethics Scholarship winners and will receive $1,000 scholarships for their commitment to ethical behavior and personal integrity.

The application deadline is April 4. All awards will be presented at the Torch Award for Marketplace Ethics luncheons on May 8 in Pensacola, May 13 in Panama City and May 15 in Destin.

For an application guide and entry form, suggestions for completing an application for the Torch Award or information on the Student Ethics Scholarship, please visit www.nwfl.bbb.org/TorchAward or call 1-800-729-9226.

State regulates bio-fuels

Florida Agriculture and Consumer Services Commissioner Charles H. Bronson recently announced new fuel quality standards for gasoline blended with ethanol.

All motor fuels sold in Florida, including those containing ethanol, are required to meet fuel quality standards adopted by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to ensure proper consumer vehicle performance. Motor fuels not meeting these standards are not permitted to be sold to consumers.

These changes specifically target selected fuel quality standards for gasoline blended with 10 percent or less ethanol. They take into account the effect ethanol has on the properties of gasoline when the two are mixed together.