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Shorebank’s financial hole deepens

ShoreBank’s capital deficiency worsened in the second quarter, according to newly submitted financial results to regulators, and the Chicago-based lender now needs to raise at least $190 million just to meet targets set out in March by state and U.S. banking regulators.

The South Side bank has arranged a capital infusion of about $150 million from Wall Street investment firms, big banks, insurance companies and philanthropic groups. It’s hoping that private investment will then make it eligible for about $75 million in bailout funds from the U.S. Treasury Department. Get the full story »

Obama praises progress in the auto industry

President Barack Obama jogs in as he his introduced before delivering remarks during his visit to the Jefferson North Chrysler Plant in Detroit, Friday, July 30, 2010, where the Jeep Grand Cherokee is assembled. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

President Barack Obama  says his administration’s bailout out of U.S. car companies saved more than 1 million jobs and kept communities that depend on the auto industry afloat. Speaking at a Chrysler plant in Detroit that recently hired more than 1,000 people, Obama said progress in the auto industry is one of the bright spots in the nation’s economic recovery. He says that while the auto bailout may not have been popular, the recent growth of car companies is proving critics wrong.

Third Wal-Mart sails through City Council

Another Wal-Mart is on its way to Chicago, with the City Council today approving a store for the South Side’s Chatham neighborhood. Aldermen voted 41-4 without discussion to approve the store at 83rd Street and Stewart Avenue. That comes on the heels of the council’s unanimous vote last month to allow a Wal-Mart to be built in the far Southeast Side Pullman neighborhood. Prior to that, no Wal-Marts had opened in the city since 2006.

White House’s Orszag: Cutting deficit risks recovery

White House budget chief Peter Orszag said on Wednesday it would be “foolish” to cut the U.S. deficit while economic growth was still frail, but it would be equally foolish not to significantly curb the deficit by 2015.

Orszag told an audience at The Brookings Institution, a Washington think-tank, that failing to take real steps toward closing the record U.S. budget gap would do as much harm to the economy has choking off fiscal stimulus now. Get the full story »

U.S. launches criminal probe into Gulf oil spill

Several U.S. agencies are preparing a criminal probe of at least three companies involved in the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, though it could take more than a year before any charges are filed, the Washington Post reported Wednesday.

BP Plc, Transocean Ltd. and Halliburton Co. are the initial targets of the wide-ranging probe, which aims “to examine whether their cozy relations with federal regulators contributed to the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico,” the newspaper said, citing law enforcement and other sources. Get the full story »

State offers low-interest loans to flood victims

The state of Illinois is offering low-interest disaster recovery loans for residents and businesses in northern Illinois that suffered damage from last weekend’s severe storms.

On Monday, Gov. Pat Quinn declared 12 northern Illinois counties disaster areas, after heavy storms on Saturday led to major flooding and property damage to many buildings and homes. The declaration means residents and business owners are eligible for below-market interest rates through participating lenders that they can use to finance repairs.

As of Tuesday, loan rates would be no more than 3.5 percent, according to Illinois State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, whose office oversees the loan program. Get the full story »

Gov. Quinn vetoes physical therapist bill

Gov. Pat Quinn vetoed Friday a Senate bill that would have allowed doctors to legally hire physical therapists because those partnerships, he said, would increase costs for citizens.

In Illinois, patients must have a doctor’s referral to see a physical therapist. But physical therapists can bill insurance providers for their services independently, which is why Quinn vetoed the bill.

“Senate Bill 2635,” Quinn said in a letter to the General Assembly, “also incents medical professionals to increase the volume of services provided.” Get the full story »

MillerCoors spent $680,000 lobbying govt. in 2Q

MillerCoors LLC spent $680,000 in the second quarter to lobby the federal government on glass and aluminum recycling, advertising and other matters, according to a recent disclosure report. That’s up almost 39 percent from the $490,000 it spent in the year-ago period and 31 percent the $520,000 that the brewer spent in the first quarter of 2010.

Stress tests: Focus is on banks that barely passed

So few banks failed Europe’s long-awaited stress tests on Friday that investors will likely focus instead on the dozen or so banks that just scraped through when the markets reopen next week. Get the full story »

Quinn says temporary workers will be paid

Gov. Pat Quinn is urging patience for workers who have yet to be paid through the federally-funded Put Illinois To Work program, saying the state is quickly trying to resolve problems that have led to delays in issuing paychecks.

Senate panel to vote on Fed nominees Wednesday

The U.S. Senate Banking Committee will vote on the three pending nominees to the Federal Reserve’s Board, according to the committee’s website. Get the full story »

Third Wal-Mart clears hurdle

Wal-Mart cleared another hurdle Friday in its bid to open stores throughout Chicago, winning approval from the City Council Finance Committee to build a location in the South Side’s Chatham neighborhood. If the plan for a store at the intersection of 83rd Street and Stewart Avenue passes the full City Council Wednesday, it will mark the second Wal-Mart given the green light to open within city limits in less than a month, after six years that saw none approved.

Senate votes for small-business lending fund

From The New York Times | A fund to encourage small banks to make loans to small businesses, pulled from the Senate’s small-business jobs bill for lack of Republican support, has found its way back into the bill after all. Late Thursday evening, the Senate voted, 60 to 37, to end debate on an amendment that would restore the lending fund to the jobs bill.

Daley asks for approval of 3rd Wal-Mart

Approval for Chicago’s third Wal-Mart will follow hard on the heels of the second if Mayor Richard Daley has his way.

Daley held a news conference today to call on the City Council Finance Committee to approve a long-discussed Wal-Mart store at the corner of 83rd Street and Stewart Avenue in the Chatham neighborhood.

The proposal is on the committee’s Friday agenda. Get the full story »

Aon may resume taking broker fees

From Bloomberg | Aon Corp., the world’s biggest insurance broker, said it may resume taking payments that were banned for five years under a 2005 settlement with Eliot Spitzer, then the attorney general of New York.