Sep. 2, 2010 at 12:02 p.m.
Filed under:
Hotels,
Labor,
Unions
By Wailin Wong
Hyatt workers in Chicago are preparing to go on strike on Friday over unsuccessful contract negotiations.
The work stoppage, which is planned for an undisclosed Hyatt hotel in the Chicago area, will be the first strike of its magnitude since contracts for 6,000 hotel workers in Chicago expired in August 2009. Unionized hotel workers have staged other protests during the protracted contract negotiations, including brief walkouts at the Sheraton Chicago Hotel and Towers and the Hyatt Regency in downtown Chicago. Unite Here, the union representing hospitality workers, has focused on Chicago-based Hyatt Hotels Corp. and the Pritzker family, which controls the chain. Get the full story »
Sep. 2, 2010 at 11:45 a.m.
Filed under:
Crime,
Fraud,
Internet,
Technology,
Telecommunications
By Wailin Wong
Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan said Thursday she is suing a California company for charging consumers for identity protection services that they never requested.
The lawsuit, filed in Sangamon County Circuit Court, claims that ID Lifeguards Inc. of Glendale, Calif., charged $157,562 on the phone bills of 5,071 Illinois consumers between September 2009 and March 2010. Get the full story »
Sep. 2, 2010 at 11:36 a.m.
Filed under:
Computers,
Recalls
By Problem Solver
Toshiba America Information Systems and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced a voluntary worldwide recall Thursday of41,000 T-series notebook computers, saying that they “can overheat at the notebook’s plug-in to the AC adapter, posing a burn hazard to consumers.”
Sep. 2, 2010 at 11:22 a.m.
Filed under:
Bank failures,
Banking,
Consumer news,
Investing
By Becky Yerak
Urban Partnership Bank, the successor to the recently failed ShoreBank, has already boosted the interest rates on a couple of savings accounts for its online ShoreBank Direct.
The ShoreBank Direct Online Savings Account now pays a 1.25 percent annual percentage rate with a $100,000 minimum balance, up from 1.19 percent. It also pays 1.2 percent for balances of less than $100,000, up from 1.03 percent.
The rate hikes were first reported by www.depositaccounts.com, a tracker of bank account trends. Get the full story »
Sep. 2, 2010 at 11:15 a.m.
Filed under:
Economy,
Jobs/employment,
Labor,
Layoffs
By Wailin Wong
Employment in Illinois may accelerate in the last quarter of the year, according to one survey by a California-based staffing firm.
A report released Thursday by Robert Half International said a net 12 percent of Illinois executives expect to hire more employees in the fourth quarter, an increase of 11 percentage points over sentiment measured in the third quarter. The company’s survey showed 19 percent of executives planned to staff up, while 7 percent were expecting to cut staff. Subtracting the 7 percent from the 19 percent generated the net 12 percent figure.
The Illinois figure reflects rosier sentiment in the state than nationally. Robert Half’s broad survey indicated that a net 6 percent of executives plan to increase hiring in the fourth quarter, up three percentage points from the third quarter. Get the full story »
Sep. 2, 2010 at 11:07 a.m.
Filed under:
Bankruptcy
By Gail MarksJarvis
Consumer bankruptcies at the highest level since Congress changed the bankruptcy law in 2005 and made it tougher for people to file for relief from their debts, according to American Bankruptcy Institute Executive Director Samuel J. Gerdano. And he has estimated that by the end of this year, personal bankruptcies for 2010 will have totaled 1.6 million.
Sep. 2, 2010 at 11:05 a.m.
Filed under:
Energy,
Environment
By Associated Press
An offshore oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday, west of the site of the April blast that caused the massive oil spill.
Sep. 2, 2010 at 10:26 a.m.
Filed under:
Economy,
Mortgages,
Real estate,
Updated
By Reuters
A woman fills out a form to receive more information after touring a new home for sale in St. Louis, Aug. 25, 2010. Mortgage rates continue to drop. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
U.S. mortgage rates fell in the past week to the latest in a series of record lows as yields on government debt dropped, according to a survey released on Thursday by Freddie Mac, the second-largest U.S. mortgage finance company.
Rock-bottom rates offer a glimmer of hope for a housing market that has failed to find footing in the aftermath of the expiration of popular home buyer tax credits.
Interest rates on U.S. 30-year fixed-rate mortgages, the most widely used loan, averaged 4.32 percent for the week ended September 2, down from the previous week’s 4.36 percent and its year-ago level of 5.08 percent, according to the survey. Get the full story »
Sep. 2, 2010 at 10:06 a.m.
Filed under:
Autos,
Insurance
By Wailin Wong
Chicago is one of the least safe U.S. cities for drivers, according to a new annual survey by Allstate Insurance Co.
Out of 200 U.S. cities, Chicago ranked #167, Allstate said Thursday. The company’s data show that the average driver in Chicago will experience an auto collision every 7.6 years. This is a marginal improvement over the 7.3-year figure in the 2009 survey, but still puts Chicago behind other cities such as New York (#159) and San Diego (#103).
Allstate noted that U.S. cities with populations over 1 million people are more likely than the national average to experience a collision. Fort Collins, Colo., which has a population of roughly 140,600 as of July 2009, emerged as the safest driving city for 2010. Residents in Fort Collins go an average 14.5 years between collisions. Get the full story »
Sep. 2, 2010 at 9:47 a.m.
Filed under:
Banking,
Privacy issues
By Associated Press
Payments processor Heartland Payment Systems Inc. on Wednesday said it will pay $5 million to Discover Financial Services Co. to resolve issues between the companies related to a 2008 data breach.
Sep. 2, 2010 at 8:44 a.m.
Filed under:
Real estate
From CBS2 Chicago | Mousepads with controversial messages like “My kid had sex with your honor student” do not fall outside the guidelines of Sears’ online marketplace, but the company is pulling them anyway after complaints from at least one shopper.
Sep. 2, 2010 at 8:38 a.m.
Filed under:
Autos,
Cell phones,
Computers,
Software
By Wailin Wong
Digital mapping company Navteq has introduced a new navigation system that guides drivers based on the way people naturally give each other directions, with Chicago as one of the initial cities in the launch.
Its new system, called Natural Guidance, gives instructions based on points of interest and landmarks. For example, instead of traditional navigation systems that tell drivers to turn after a certain amount of distance, Natural Guidance instructs users to “turn right after the yellow shop.” Get the full story »
Sep. 2, 2010 at 8:28 a.m.
Filed under:
Food,
Franchises,
M&A,
Restaurants
By Dow Jones Newswires-Wall Street Journal
Burger King's Miami headquarters. (Joe Raedle/Getty)
Burger King Holdings Inc. confirmed that New York-based 3G Capital Management has signed a deal to buy the company for $24 a share.
The total deal, including both equity and debt, is around $4 billion and is expected to closed before the end of the year. Burger King said it may solicit better offers through mid-October. Banks are expected to finance about $2.8 billion of the total deal value. Get the full story »
Sep. 2, 2010 at 8:03 a.m.
Filed under:
Economy,
Labor,
Work culture
By Associated Press
Productivity in the spring fell by the largest amount in nearly four years while labor costs rose, signals that companies may have reached the limits of squeezing more work out of fewer workers.
Sep. 2, 2010 at 8:00 a.m.
Filed under:
Exchanges,
Food
