Visit our Filed page for categories. To browse by specific topic, see our Inside page. For a list of companies covered on this site, visit our Companies page.
By Kathy Bergen
and Ray Long
| House Speaker Michael Madigan proposed modest revisions to the McCormick
Place overhaul legislation this morning, reflecting some issues that
had been raised by Gov. Pat Quinn.
But it’s still possible the governor may attempt to use his amendatory
veto power later today to push for more dramatic changes, sources said.
James K. McCusker, Viante Home Products Company, demonstrates his company’s new coffee maker at The International Home and Housewares Show at McCormick Place in 2009. (Bradley Piper/Chicago Tribune)
By Kathy Bergen
| Top executives with the International Home + Housewares Show fired off an email to Gov. Pat Quinn today, saying they could not recommend Chicago as the show’s venue for 2012 and beyond when their board meets later this week unless the governor signs the McCormick Place overhaul legislation.
“The lack of signature to this bill will ultimately send us and other vitally important trade show business elsewhere,” the email stated. It was signed by Phil Brandl, president of the International Housewares Association, and Mia Rampersad, the group’s vice president/trade shows. The association’s show has been a cornerstone of the city’s convention business since 1939.
Quinn is expected to make a decision on the bill within days. Sources expect he will sign it, but will try to attach some changes as well.
Reuters | U.S. state governors working to close yawning deficits are again eyeing a tempting target — the billions of dollars in benefits and wage hikes that public workers won in boom times.
So far, they have achieved only limited success due to ironclad union contracts, federal and state constitutional protections and lawsuits filed by public workers and others.
The stakes are high. All 50 states have a collective $1 trillion shortfall in their retirement funds, says the Pew Center on the States in Washington.
Gov. Pat Quinn on May 9, 2010, at a Mother’s Day walk. Quinn told reporters today that he is still reluctant to sign the McCormick Place overhaul legislation. (Nancy Stone/Chicago Tribune)
By Kathy Bergen
| Gov. Pat Quinn took some oblique shots at political insider Jim Reilly
Monday as he explained why he remains undecided on whether to sign the
McCormick Place overhaul legislation.
The bill would name Reilly, currently the chairman of the Regional
Transportation Authority, as trustee with broad decision-making power
to oversee restructuring the Chicago convention center. Quinn said he
wanted to be sure the legislation had adequate checks and balances in
place.
Dow Jones Newswires-Wall Street Journal | Financial stocks turned higher Friday as some uncertainty was removed
with the U.S. Senate’s passage of its version of a financial-overhaul
bill, though investors are still concerned about what the final bill
will include and continue to grapple with ongoing fears about the debt
crisis in Europe.
Investors have been in limbo for months, wondering what provisions will
be in the final law. The Senate still needs to reconcile its bill with
the one passed by the House in December. But the Senate’s passage of its
measure does offer a little more clarity because its bill had undergone
a multitude of changes and amendments while it was up for debate.
Associated Press | Kentucky’s Republican Senate candidate Rand Paul criticized President
Barack Obama’s handling of the Gulf oil spill Friday as putting “his
boot heel on the throat of BP” and “really un-American.”
A trader in the S&P 500 futures pit at the CME Group. Executives from the CME Group and other exchanges were set Thursday morning to appear before a U.S. Senate Banking subcommittee. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)
Reuters | U.S. exchanges defended the high-speed trading firms they say keep
markets liquid and functioning, with one suggesting incentives to
encourage their participation at stressful times such as the mysterious
May 6 market plunge.
Executives from Nasdaq OMX Group Inc, CME Group Inc and NYSE Euronext
were set Thursday morning to appear before a U.S. Senate Banking
subcommittee, the second time since the severe market plunge that they
will have faced lawmakers looking for answers.
By John Byrne
and Kathy Bergen | Mayor Richard Daley says his office will be meeting with Gov. Pat Quinn to determine why the governor is balking at signing the McCormick Place overhaul legislation.
“We’ll be talking to him very shortly,” Daley told reporters today.
When asked about the consequences for the city if the bill is not signed, Daley said, “We have to make sure we have the best convention atmosphere because people depend off of it — both local, county and state governments basically get a huge amount of money off it. That’s realistic. A lot of sales tax coming in.”
Dow Jones Newswires | U.S. Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.), the top Republican on the House Financial Services Committee, is calling for an investigation into the private-sector recapitalization of Chicago community lender ShoreBankCorp, Fox Business Network’s Charles Gasparino reported Wednesday.
The company was said to have reached its goal of raising $125 million from private sources, mostly U.S. investment banks, The Wall Street Journal reports, citing people familiar with the situation. Bachus is asking why Wall Street took an interest in ShoreBank and is drafting a letter to President Barack Obama about the matter, Gasparino says.
Associated Press | Downtown Bangkok became a flaming battleground Wednesday as an army assault forced anti-government protest leaders to surrender, enraging followers who shot grenades and set fire to landmark buildings, cloaking the skyline in black smoke. After Red Shirt leaders gave themselves up to police, rioters set fires at the Stock Exchange, several banks, the headquarters of the Metropolitan Electricity Authority, Central World — one of Asia’s biggest shopping malls — and a cinema that burned to ground.
Get the full story: Protesters set Thai stock exchange on fire.
Associated Press | Thailand’s government said Wednesday parts of
Bangkok were still not under control after a military offensive that
shut down an antigovernment protest camp. Hardliners set fire to a TV
station, the stock exchange building and a shopping mall.
By Kathy Bergen | Chicago’s unsuccessful bid for the 2016 Olympics raised $75.9 million,
and spent $59.4 million of the total on its 42-month campaign, bid
leader Patrick Ryan disclosed Monday. World Sport Chicago, a non-profit created as an affiliate of the bid,
received the other $16.5 million, including $6 million that will support
future sports programs.
“Although unsuccessful in our attempt to bring the 2016 Games to
Chicago, we believe the bid showcased the greatness of our city and its
citizens to the world, and inspired tens of thousands of Chicago youth
to become engaged in sport,” Ryan said in a prepared statement.
Associated Press via Bloomberg | Industrial equipment maker Illinois Tool Works Inc. spent $213,000 to
lobby Congress on trade policy for manufacturing and other topics,
according to a recent disclosure filing. The company’s spending was 25 percent more than the $170,000 it
spent on lobbying in the fourth quarter of last year but 7 percent less
than the $230,000 it spent in the first quarter of 2009.
Get the full story: businessweek.com.
Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein, center, listens as President Barack Obama addresses the Business Council in Washington, May 4, 2010. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Tribune staff report | Troubled Chicago lender ShoreBank has received recent interest from Wall Street giant Goldman Sachs for several reasons.
The Tribune reported Wednesday that ShoreBank has generated little interest among strategic buyers, according to banking industry insiders, but it is counting on an infusion of about $75 million in capital from the U.S. Treasury. First, it must line up more than $120 million in capital from various banks. As the Tribune reported, existing investors such as Chase and Bank of America, as well as charitable foundations, are weighing additional investments in ShoreBank.
But Goldman Sachs is a more recent sign-on — the bank agreed to commit about $20 million to ShoreBank.
Associated Press via Bloomberg | Kraft Foods Inc. spent $870,000 in the first quarter to lobby on food safety, nutrition standards and other business matters, according to a recent disclosure report.That is down from the $1 million the company spent in the previous quarter and up from the $770,000 spent in the first quarter of last year.
Get the full story: businessweek.com.
