The Justice Department said Thursday that Panasonic and Embraco, a Whirlpool subsidiary, are being fined more than $140 million for price fixing refrigerator parts. Get the full story »
Google adds Latin translations
Google has added Latin to its automatic translation service, the 58th language supported by Google Translate and the first dead language in its repertoire, it said on Thursday.
“We are excited to announce our first translation system for a language with no native speakers at all,” the Web search and advertising company said in a statement. Get the full story »
Loud TV commercials may soon be illegal
A Senate bill passed unamimously late Wednesday would require television stations and cable companies to limit the volume of ads so they’re consistent with the programs they accompany.
2-cent postage stamp increase denied
Christmas is not coming early this year for the U.S. Postal Service, after regulators denied a request Thursday that would have raised the price of a first-class stamp by 2 cents, to 46 cents.
The Postal Service argued that it needed the hike in order to cover lost revenue from a decrease in mail volume, stemming from the economic recession. Get the full story »
Diann Burns selling Lincoln Park mansion
ELITE STREET | By Bob Goldsborough | Eyeing a move to southern California for both professional and personal reasons, former TV anchor Diann Burns and her talent agent husband, Marc Watts, have placed their 13-room, 5,752-square-foot Lincoln Park mansion on the market for $4.825 million.
Burns, 54, was an anchor at top-rated WLS-Ch. 7 for close to two decades before jumping to WBBM-Ch. 2 in 2003. She left “CBS-2″ in 2008 when her contract was not renewed.
Since last spring, she has been hosting the Chicago Urban League’s “Next TV” program, which airs Sunday mornings on Fox-owned WFLD-Ch. 32. Get the full story »
McDonald’s threatens to drop hourly health plan
Workers at a McDonald's restaurant in Oak Brook. (Tribune photo by Terry Harris)
McDonald’s Corp. has warned federal regulators that it could drop its health insurance plan for nearly 30,000 hourly restaurant workers unless regulators waive a new requirement of the U.S. health overhaul. The move is one of the clearest indications that new rules may disrupt workers’ health plans as the law ripples through the real world. Get the full story »
Goldman’s Tourre: SEC suit should be dismissed
Fabrice Tourre, a central figure in a controversial Goldman Sachs transaction, asked a judge to throw out a U.S. regulator’s fraud lawsuit against him, 2-1/2 months after the bank settled its part of the case for $550 million. Get the full story »
Fisher-Price recalling nearly 11 million toys
One of several models of tricycles being recalled. (Fisher-Price)
By Bloomberg News
Mattel Inc.’s Fisher-Price subsidiary is recalling almost 11 million toys, including tricycles, after reports of children being cut or choking, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said today.
The recall is the largest for toys since Congress passed a law two years ago beefing up the product-safety regulator’s powers. Mattel and Fisher-Price were fined $2.3 million in June 2009 for toys violating federal lead-paint laws, at the time the largest civil fine in CPSC history. Get the full story »
United CFO to move to Nalco
Water-treatment company Nalco Holding Co. on Wednesday said Kathryn Mikells would join the company as chief financial officer after United Airlines and Continental Airlines Inc. complete their planned merger. Get the full story »
Wal-Mart: Workforce 36% larger by 2015
By Bloomberg News
Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world’s largest retailer, plans to increase its workforce by 36 percent in the next five years as global economic growth boosts spending.
New employees will be hired “mostly” outside the U.S., Susan Chambers, executive vice president for human resources, said in a speech at a conference in New Delhi today. “The opportunity for growth is not just in India but global,” she said, without providing more details on the hiring plans. Get the full story »
U.S. 2Q GDP growth rate revised up to 1.7%
U.S. economic growth was a touch higher in the second quarter than previously estimated due to upward revisions to consumer spending and business inventories, but a surge in imports kept the recovery on a weak path, a government report showed on Thursday. Get the full story »
ICC to utilities: Are you ready for plug-in vehicles?
The Illinois Commerce Commission has asked the state’s three major electric utilities to assess the impact that plug-in vehicles could have on ratepayers.
With the first major plug-in vehicle rollouts scheduled for next month, it is still unclear how much ratepayers in Illinois will pay to charge those vehicles or what upgrades will be needed to the state’s electrical infrastructure. The ICC said Wednesday that utilities have been asked to report back by December about the vehicles’ potential impact in a white paper that will guide a new statewide committee established to prepare for the vehicles. Get the full story »
Sep. 29, 2010 at 5:03 p.m.
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Filed under: Banking, Housing, Policy, Politics, Regulations U.S. regulators vow team effort on financial reform
U.S. regulators will put up a united front before a divided Congress on Thursday, promising to cooperate on hundreds of new rules aimed at preventing Wall Street excesses from triggering another financial crisis. Get the full story »
Regulators tell Ally Financial to freeze foreclosures
The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation has asked Ally Financial to freeze all foreclosures and not initiate any new ones against Illinois homeowners until an investigation of its foreclosure practices is complete.
According to the state, more than 100,000 Illinois homeowners have mortgages that are serviced by the company, including 78,500 first mortgages.
An Ally employee testified in a Florida court case that he signed at least 10,000 affidavits a month to process foreclosures without reviewing the underlying paperwork and that those documents were then filed with the court as evidence of Ally’s rights to foreclose on the homes. Get the full story »
