WGN Radio hires new program director

Tower Ticker | Bill White, operations director of WBT-AM and FM and WLNK-FM in Charlotte N.C., has been named the new program director at Chicago’s WGN-AM 720, effective Valentine’s Day.

The job at Chicago Tribune parent Tribune Co.’s radio station has been officially vacant since the exit of Kevin Metheny in November with Tom Langmyer, WGN-AM’s vice president and general manager, handling the programming responsibilities since then.

Apple topples expectations on iPhone, iPad strength

Apple Inc. reported better-than-expected results, fueled by blockbuster holiday sales of the iPhone and iPad that may help ease investor concern about Chief Executive Steve Jobs’ decision to take medical leave.

Shares in Apple, halted before the release, rose  4 percent, to about $354, after-hours, from a regular-session close of $340.65. Get the full story »

AIG names banks to manage sale of U.S. stake

AIG chose Bank of America, Deutsche Bank AG, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. to manage the sale of the government’s 92 percent stake in the insurer, a person familiar with the situation said on Tuesday.

Sources have said that the process likely will begin with a secondary offering in May that could be one of the 10 largest in history. The government is expected to sell at least $15 billion in AIG shares then, and the company is expected to sell another $3 billion.

Marchionne turns to revamping Chrysler minivans

Chrysler Group LLC Chief Sergio Marchionne said he wants to “re-think” the automaker’s iconic minivan and introduce a new concept as early as 2013.

Get the full story »

U.S. sued over elimination of Medicare benefits

Five New England residents and five national health care advocacy groups are suing the federal government, saying Medicare benefits are being cut improperly after their conditions are determined to be chronic. Get the full story »

United, American suing O’Hare expansion

A passenger plane takes off at O'Hare as work continues in foreground on the runway expansion project. (Chris Walker/Chicago Tribune)

United and American Airlines on Tuesday made good on their threat to sue Chicago to stop the city from issuing bonds to finance the remainder of the expansion project at O’Hare International Airport.

The airlines, which say they cannot afford to help pay for new runways that will not be needed for years, filed the lawsuit in Cook County Circuit Court just days after sending  a letter on Friday to Mayor Richard Daley,  asking for negotiations on the future of the O’Hare Modernization Program. The letter said the expansion must proceed based on future increases in flights. Get the full story »

Isaac Mizrahi in talks for Rush St. boutique

Isaac Mizrahi during New York Fashion Week 2011. (Donna Ward/MCT)

Isaac Mizrahi is in final talks to open a boutique on Rush Street in Chicago’s Gold Coast neighborhood, a move that would give the celebrity designer his first store outside of Manhattan and his second outpost nationwide, according to people familiar with negotiations.

The deal, if finalized, would bolster Rush Street’s budding reputation as a luxury strip. The thoroughfare, once known as a back alley to the glitzier North Michigan Avenue, has been attracting designer retailers in the past year from Marc Jacobs Collection to Ted Baker.
Get the full story »

Comcast wins FCC approval to take over NBC

The Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday gave Comcast Corp., the country’s largest cable company, the green light to take over NBC Universal, home of the NBC television network.

Four of the commission’s five members voted to let Comcast buy a 51 percent stake in NBC Universal from General Electric Co. for $13.8 billion in cash and assets. Michael Copps, one of the commission’s three Democrats and an opponent of media consolidation, voted against the deal. Get the full story »

Ford to invest $400M in Missouri plant

Ford Motor Co. will invest $400 million on upgrades at its assembly plant near Kansas City, Missouri, to build a new vehicle there, the automaker said on Tuesday. Get the full story »

FDA reviewers question Lilly Alzheimer’s test

U.S. health reviewers are concerned that clinicians may not be able to properly interpret brain scans using Eli Lilly & Co.’s imaging agent for Alzheimer’s and that the tests may be of limited use in assessing the degenerative disease.

The radioactive dye is intended for use with positron emission tomography, or PET, scans that help detect the presence of beta-amyloid plaques linked to Alzheimer’s disease. Get the full story »

New effort to make mortgage modifications easier

The Obama administration Tuesday stepped up efforts to make it easier for struggling homeowners to renegotiate their mortgages, though it could be more than a year before such efforts pay off.

The way mortgage servicers — firms that collect loan payments on behalf of a loan’s owner — are paid is “broken and should be fixed,” Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan said in a joint statement. Get the full story »

2 more conventions to return to McCormick Place

Chicago has lined up two significant meetings at McCormick Place, the latest in a string of bookings in the wake of a new state law aimed at making the city more competitive with rivals.

The American Society of Anesthesiologists will return to Chicago for its 2016 convention, which is expected to draw 17,000 attendees and to generate $42 million in spending here. The organization last held its convention in Chicago in 2006 and will  hold its 2011 convention here in October. Get the full story »

J. Crew settles investor suit on pending takeover

Clothing retailer J. Crew Group Inc. is set to settle a shareholder lawsuit over its proposed takeover by private equity firms TPG Capital  and Leonard Green & Partners LP.

A $2.86 billion deal to acquire J. Crew was announced on Nov. 23, with TPG Group and Leonard Green & Partners LP agreeing to buy the company for $43.50 a share, a premium of about 15 percent. Get the full story »

Facebook acts to make users’ data more secure

Facebook says it has disabled a feature that let users share their address and phone number with external Web sites and applications after criticism from security experts.

Facebook said in a blog post Tuesday that it is changing the feature to ensure that users share information only when they want to. Users, for example, could share their address with applications such as shopping Web sites for easier access. Get the full story »

Nielsen sees 6.5% revenue growth before IPO

TV ratings and consumer research company Nielsen Holdings B.V. reported its preliminary 2010 financial results Tuesday, saying it expects revenue to be higher than it was in 2009. The report comes a week before the company is expected to debut in an initial public offering.

For the year ended Dec. 31, the New York-based company expects revenue between $5.11 billion and $5.13 billion, up 6.3 percent to 6.7 percent from the company’s 2009 revenue, which totaled $4.81 billion. Get the full story »