U.S retail gasoline demand rose 3.1 percent in the latest week despite a sharp jump in pump prices as warmer weather boosted demand , MasterCard Advisors’ SpendingPulse report showed Tuesday.
Average gasoline demand climbed 3.1 percent, to 9.118 million barrels per day, in the week to Feb. 25. Get the full story »
Crain’s Chicago Business | Epic Burger, the organic hamburger chain that opened its first location in 2008, is adding a third — at 550 W. Adams St. — this summer. It will join restaurants in the South Loop and Lincoln Park.
The U.S. government could save tens of billions of dollars a year by streamlining a bloated federal bureaucracy, according to a report Tuesday from the Government Accountability Office.
In its first annual report on the subject, the GAO reviewed a wide range of federal programs, agencies, offices and initiatives to identify where the government is duplicating goals or activities. Get the full story »
Coca-Cola Co. said Tuesday that it acquired the remaining stake in Honest Tea for an undisclosed sum, giving the world’s largest soft drinks maker a stronger position in bottled tea.
Coke said Seth Goldman, Honest Tea’s founder and chief executive, will continue to run the business as an independent unit within Coca-Cola, whose tea portfolio has lagged those of rivals such as PepsiCo Inc., whose teas include Lipton and Tazo, and Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc., which makes Snapple. Get the full story »
Elite Street | By Bob Goldsborough | In the end, veteran sportscaster Steve Kashul couldn’t bear to leave Naperville.
In 2009, Kashul, who does Chicago Bulls broadcasts on WMVP-AM and hosts a weekly golf show on Comcast SportsNet Chicago, told Elite Street that while he loved Naperville — hometown of his wife, Cindy — he wanted to move closer to his full-time job as membership director for the private Kemper Lakes Golf Club in Kildeer. Get the full story »
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Tuesday that future mortgage costs likely will be “modestly higher” after reforms are completed to the national housing finance system. Get the full story »
February was one of the strongest months in the last year for auto purchases as renewed consumer confidence sent shoppers to car lots. General Motors reported a 45.8 percent increase compared with a year earlier, while Ford says its sales rose 14 percent.
Former Goldman Sachs board member Rajat Gupta is being accused by regulators of passing along inside information about the bank to a prominent hedge fund manager.
Bank of Montreal’s first-quarter profit rose 18 percent due to stronger loan growth and investment banking fees, and the bank said it will issue less stock than previously expected to pay for its acquisition of Wisconsin bank Marshall & Ilsley Corp. Get the full story »
Los Angeles County public health officials have identified Legionella bacteria, which causes Legionnaires’ disease, at a water source at the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles in its investigation of the source of illness that sickened people after a fundraiser earlier this month.
From USA Today | Northfield-based Kraft Foods has drawn attention — and some criticism — to a new ad campaign introduced yesterday promoting its Athenos hummus. In a television ad that started running Monday, a young woman talks to her grandmother as she prepares to serve Athenos hummus to her friends, only to be insulted and called a “prostitute.” Her grandmother is referred to as “Yiayia,” the Greek word for grandmother.
The ad was created by the agency Droga5, which said in a statement that it is “thrilled to be working with a company so willing to push creative boundaries.” Get the full story: USA Today »
Poll: Do you think Kraft’s ad is offensive?
To see the other Kraft Athenos ads, click here.
Chrysler Group LLC has taken the first step to re-enter the U.S. capital markets through filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the automaker’s boss Sergio Marchionne said Tuesday. Get the full story »
Chicago-based Monroe Capital LLC said it has raised a $250 million debt and equity fund that it’ll use to invest in middle-market businesses as well as woman-and-minority-owned firms in poor communities. Get the full story »
Allstate Corp. on Monday sued Credit Suisse Group AG, accusing the Swiss bank of causing losses by hiding the risks on $232 million of mortgage securities it bought. Get the full story »
Sherman Hospital in northwest suburban Elgin, which last month rejected an overture to merge with Centegra Health System, has had recent talks to partner with Advocate Health Care, the Chicago area’s largest provider of medical care. Get the full story »
