Pennsylvania’s employers aren’t using just one strategy to save money on employee benefits amid rising health care costs.

Lancaster-based Community First Fund is bolstering its executive team and growing staff to prepare for greater lending growth across the communities it serves in Central Pennsylvania, the Lehigh Valley and suburban Philadelphia.

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Homesale Realty, the midstate's largest residential brokerage, is expanding its footprint in Maryland. The Lancaster County-based company has opened a new office in Bel Air, Maryland.

Iron Valley Real Estate has grown to 11 offices over the last three years. The Lebanon County-based real estate company recently turned to franchising, hoping to expand its footprint across the Mid-Atlantic region.

Silver Spring Township has been the second-fastest growing township in Pennsylvania this decade; Lebanon and Mount Joy were each fifth among cities and boroughs.

Hallcon Corp., a Kansas-based provider of outsourced transportation and fleet maintenance services, is laying off 84 employees in Pennsylvania after losing a contract with railroad company Norfolk Southern Corp.

Cumberland County accounting and business consulting firm Brown Schultz Sheridan & Fritz has acquired RLH CPAs & Business Advisors in Hanover, expanding its office footprint in Central Pennsylvania and into Maryland.

Home prices in Central Pennsylvania continue to rise amid a dwindling supply of homes for sale.

The marketing director of a York County line painting and traffic control products company is organizing a new southcentral Pennsylvania chapter for the National Association of Women in Construction.

Cumberland County remains the fastest-growing county in the commonwealth, but Lebanon and Lancaster counties are not far behind.