The St. Joseph Hospital board has chosen Dawn Rudolph as its new chief executive officer, the hospital reported Thursday. Rudolph, now chief operating officer for Dupont Hospital, will assume her new duties Dec. 1. She replaces Kirk Ray, who became CEO at DeKalb Memorial Hospital.

J.C. Penney and the Salvation Army have created an online Angel Giving Tree program. From now until Dec. 14, Penney customers can adopt and shop online for Angels at www.jcp.com/angel, providing children and seniors facing hardship with gifts.

The online program allows customers to select a ZIP code, gender and age of a recipient and shop for him or her. In collaboration with FedEx Ground, gifts purchased through jcp.com can be shipped free to any Salvation Army collection center nationwide.

WASHINGTON — A gauge of future economic activity and a report on unemployment benefits signaled Thursday that the recovery likely will remain weak in the coming months.

The Conference Board's index of leading economic indicators rose less than expected in October. The index measures consumer expectations, building permits and other data.

And the number of newly laid-off workers seeking unemployment benefits remains above the level that would indicate the economy is adding jobs.