From Crain’s Chicago Business | Metropolis 2020, a report on fixing the state’s economy due out Monday, recommends an increase in the gas tax to aid ailing transportation and abolishing townships to save money among its conclusions.
BP Plc will be evicted from the FTSE4Good ethical investment index after its Gulf of Mexico oil spill, index compiler FTSE said Friday, as BP said it would delay its third-quarter results due to the challenges of accounting for spill costs.
FTSE said BP would be dropped from FTSE4Good, which many managers of ethical funds use to screen companies before including them in their portfolios, Sept. 18, citing a FTSE policy committee. Get the full story »
Air China Ltd. said it has agreed to buy four 777-300ER aircraft from Boeing for a total basic price of $1.15 billion to expand fleet capacity. Get the full story »
Chip Reeves, president of Fifth Third Bank’s operations in Chicago since 2008, is heading back to Ohio.
The 20-year Fifth Third veteran has accepted a new position within the Bancorp Special Assets Group effective Oct. 1. SAG is a high-end securities division of the bank.
A search is underway for a new Illinois-area president Get the full story »
(Reuters/Molly Riley/Files)
Moody’s Investors Service said on Friday it may raise its ratings on McDonald’s Corp. due to solid operating performance and growth prospects.
Moody’s placed McDonald’s A3 senior unsecured rating, the seventh-highest rating, and Prime-2 short-term commercial paper rating on review for possible upgrade.
“The review for possible upgrade reflects McDonald’s solid operating performance achieved through various strategic initiatives such as new product innovation, cost savings, re-imaging and new restaurant growth,” Moody’s analyst Bill Fahy said in a statement. Get the full story »
From The Chicago Sun-Times | Roger Ebert and his wife Chaz announced Friday that they will produce a weekly film-review program called “Roger Ebert Presents At the Movies,” which will be a half hour long. The program continues the 35-year-old run of a reviewing format first introduced by Gene Siskel and Ebert and later by Ebert and Richard Roeper.
Oil prices surged Friday after a pipeline that delivered oil to Midwest refineries was shut down, raising questions about how long the supply may be disrupted.
From The Wall Street Journal | MillerCoors LLC’s No. 2 executive, Tom Long, will share an office with Chief Executive Leo Kiely, the brewer told employees, in the latest sign that the company is grooming Mr. Long to lead the second-largest U.S. beer maker by sales.
Some airline pilots would fly fewer hours and others would fly longer under proposed rules to help prevent dangerous fatigue, transportation and labor officials said Friday.
The proposal would set different requirements based on the time of day, number of scheduled flight segments, flight types, time zones and likelihood that a pilot is able to get enough sleep, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in his blog. The proposal is being released Friday. Get the full story »
Inventories held by wholesalers surged in July by the largest amount in two years, while sales rebounded after two straight declines.
Martha Stewart is getting under the skin of a Northbrook-based company.
JAB Distributors LLC , which markets patented mattress products under its Protect-a-Bed name, on Thursday filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc. over a bedbug-fighting product. Get the full story »
From the Chicago Sun-Times | Christopher Kennedy, president of the Chicago Merchandise Mart, said Thursday the massive art-Deco office building on the Chicago River is not for sale, contradicting a report last week in Crain’s Chicago Business. Get the full story >>
Nokia’s stock rallied Friday after the Finnish mobile phone maker said it was replacing its chief executive with an executive from Microsoft Corp.
Nokia’s board of directors said it hired Stephen Elop for the position of president and CEO. Currently the head of Microsoft’s business division, Elop is scheduled to begin his new job on Sept. 21. Get the full story »
President Barack Obama meets with senior adviser Valerie Jarrett, Austan Dean Goolsbee and Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel in 2009. (Nancy Stone/ Chicago Tribune)
President Barack Obama has chosen one of his longtime economic advisers, Austan Goolsbee, to be the chairman of his Council of Economic Advisers, a White House official said ahead of the formal announcement Friday.
Goolsbee, a University of Chicago professor of economics, is one of three economists on the council. He already has been confirmed to the council by the Senate. Get the full story >>
