Gov. Pat Quinn says a Wisconsin trainmaker is welcome to move its jobs to Illinois.
Quinn is inviting Talgo Inc. to come to the state after Wisconsin’s newly elected Republican governor said he wanted to give back federal money for a proposed high-speed rail project or use it for something else.
Amazon is no longer selling a self-published guide for pedophiles. It wasn’t immediately clear whether Amazon.com Inc. had pulled the item, or whether the author withdrew it. Amazon did not immediately return messages Thursday.
From CNNMoney | Google has fired an employee who leaked news that the search giant is giving a 10 percent across-the-board pay raise to it workers. Google CEO Eric Schmidt announced the salary hike in a memo late Tuesday, which was then posted on several blogs, including Business Insider. Get the full story »
US antitrust regulators approved Simon Property Group’s purchase of Prime Outlets on Wednesday on condition that it sell an outlet center in Ohio and remove restrictions on some tenant leases in Chicago and Orlando. Get the full story »
Rates on fixed mortgages dropped to their lowest levels in decades this week after the Federal Reserve unveiled a massive bond-buying program to help spur economic growth. Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac says the average rate for 30-year fixed loans fell to 4.17 percent from 4.24 percent last week. That’s the lowest on records dating back to 1971. Get the full story »
From Ad Age | Kraft Foods has pulled longtime agency DraftFCB from four key accounts: Jello, Cool Whip, A1 Steaksauce and Bull’s-Eye barbeque sauce.
Motorola Mobility, the division of Motorola Inc. that makes mobile devices and television set-top boxes, has countersued Microsoft Corp. over patent infringement. Get the full story »
The U.S. Transportation Department has issued a final order granting antitrust immunity to allow United Continental Holdings Inc. to join with one of Japan’s major airlines to jointly schedule schedule flights to Asia and conduct sales activities. Get the full story »
Tent city outside the new Wheaton Chick-fil-A. (WGN-TV)
The third and latest edition of the chicken restaurant opened at 6 a.m. in Wheaton with more than a hundred customers outside, many having spent the night and before that in sleeping bags and tents.
Some said they had been there since 4:30 a.m. Wednesday, taking advantage of the near record early November temperatures, in an effort to be one of the first hundred customers and receive a free weekly meal for a year.
Some who camped out since yesterday repeated their slumber parties when the chain opened two Chicagoland restaurants, most recently in Orland Park in October.
“This is Disneyland compared to Orland Park,” said Don Braaten, who stood in line with his older brother, Gary. Braaten was referring to the chain’s most recent opening, Oct 28.
“This is my third opening. I went to Aurora, Orland Park, and now here,” he said.
One man boasted of having hundreds of free certificates following the chain’s openings around the country.
Heidi Rewerts said she has probably eaten about 500 chicken sandwiches since the chain first opened in Atlanta 20 years ago.
“We’ve been waiting for 20 years for them to move here, and now we’re near two of them. I think it’s great,” she said. “I’ve been here since 4:30 yesterday morning.”
The chain says it has plans to open more restaurants in Chicago next year.
– Pat Curry
From the Chicago Sun-Times | SMG, which runs Soldier Field, and Global Spectrum, a unit of Comcast Corp., have filed applied to manage operations at McCormick Place. Merchandise Mart Properties Inc., run by Christopher Kennedy, and International Facilities Group LLC, whose leadership includes Michael Reinsdorf, expressed interest earlier but did not apply by the Tuesday deadline. The Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority plans to make a decision by May 27.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is going for the jugular in the holiday retailing war, announcing Thursday that it will offer free shipping on nearly 60,000 online items — with no minimum purchase requirement. Get the full story »
A sharp uptick in initial foreclosure filings in Illinois meant the state did not follow the pattern of the nation as a whole, which saw a 4 percent decrease in foreclosure filings in October.
The number of homes that received an initial notice of default in Illinois, the first step in the foreclosure process, rose 24 percent in October, to 8,388 Illinois homes, from 6,780 in September. Altogether, the number of all types of foreclosure filings in Illinois totaled 16,969 last month, an increase of almost 7 percent from September but down almost 15 percent from a year ago. Get the full story »
Emily Goodmann, who is doing her doctoral thesis on the phone book, at Northwestern library in Evanston. (AP/Charles Rex Arbogast)
What’s black and white and read all over? Not the white pages, which is why regulators have begun granting telecommunications companies the go-ahead to stop mass-printing residential phone books, a musty fixture of Americans’ kitchen counters, refrigerator tops and junk drawers.
In the past month alone, New York, Florida and Pennsylvania approved Verizon Communications Inc.’s request to quit distributing residential white pages. Residents in Virginia have until Nov. 19 to provide comments on a similar request pending with state regulators. Get the full story »
The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited Schiller Park-based Interstate Brands Corp. with 20 alleged safety violations for failing to train workers and protect them from safety hazards. OSHA has proposed penalties totaling $274,500. Get the full story »
