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Walgreens unveiled a new service Thursday that makes it possible for pharmacy customers to chat with a pharmacist online 24 hours a day.
Available at Walgreens’ Web site, customers register online to give a pharmacist access to their prescription information, just as they would in a pharmacy, and a registered pharmacist pops up in a chat window to answer confidential prescription-related questions. Get the full story »
President Barack Obama today told workers at a South Side Ford plant that his bailout push helped save an “industry on the brink.” More » Get the full story »
Online travel agency Orbitz Worldwide recorded a better-than-expected quarterly profit on gains in bookings, sending its shares up nearly 13 percent.
The company, which owns travel sites Orbitz.com and Cheaptickets.com, said the total value of its travel bookings increased by 17 percent from a year ago, when the industry was hammered by a recession that drained travel demand. Get the full story »
Property and casualty insurer Allstate Corp. said Wednesday that its net income fell sharply in the second quarter as a result of investment losses. But the Northbrook, Ill., company noted that the performance of both its insurance and financial services businesses showed improvements.
For the three months ended June 30, Allstate earned $145 million, or 27 cents per share. That compares with a profit of $389 million, or 72 cents per share, in the year-ago period.
(Zbigniew Bzdak/Chicago Tribune)
It’s the roar that made Milwaukee famous — the distinctive throaty rumble of a Harley-Davidson motorcycle. But that much-loved racket could be rumbling away to another state if the company cannot bring down its labor costs.
Harley-Davidson warned employees in April that it will move its Wisconsin manufacturing operations elsewhere if it cannot cut millions of dollars at the factories that build the bikes known as “Milwaukee Iron.” Get the full story »
MD Anderson Cancer Center, one of the nation’s best known providers of oncology care, is in talks with Chicago’s largest provider of medical care, Advocate Health Care, about a possible partnership, the two health care systems confirmed today.
Any deal with the internationally known MD Anderson would be designed to enhance the cancer care provided at Advocate, which owns and operates 10 hospitals in Illinois, including eight in the Chicago area, according to sources close to the talks. It could also be a marketing opportunity given the MD Anderson name is well-known and regularly ranks atop lists of U.S. cancer providers such as the annual rankings by U.S. News & World Report. Get the full story »
Nearly a third of male drivers admit to ogling — and being distracted by — scantily clad women during the summer, a new insurance study shows.
Sheilas’ Wheels, an insurance company geared to women, found that 29 percent of male motorists admitted to being distracted by the skimpier skirts and plunging necklines worn by members of the opposite sex during the summer. Get the full story »
Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, with rapper Ludacris, at a 2008 State Farm Basketball Challenge exhibition game. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
A total of 40 U.S. billionaires have pledged to give away at least 50 percent of their wealth as part of a campaign by investor Warren Buffett and Microsoft founder Bill Gates.
Gates and Buffett launched “The Giving Pledge” in June to convince hundreds of U.S. billionaires to give away most of their fortune during their lifetimes or after their deaths and to publicly state their intention with a letter of explanation. Get the full story »
Barnes & Noble, the world’s largest specialty bookseller, said it was reviewing a possible sale as its board believes its shares are significantly undervalued. Barnes & Noble shares soared 21 percent after the company announced formation of a special committee of four independent directors to consider all options for increasing shareholder value.
Shareholder Leonard Riggio has told the board he would consider being part of a wider investor group that could buy the company. Get the full story »
Archer Daniels Midland Co., a major corn and soybean processor and ethanol maker, said Tuesday its fourth-quarter net income surged even as sales slipped. The company said the profit boost came mainly from higher volumes and margins. Ethanol profits increased in the United States, as increased demand for soybean products in South America and Europe offset declines in North America.
The word “uncommon” has become a little too common for two Web sites — www.getuncommon.com and www.uncommongoods.com — who are locked in a legal battle over their namesakes. Get the full story »
The Boeing Co. says it is relocating two programs from Long Beach, Calif., to Oklahoma City, a move expected to bring 550 engineering jobs to the state. Boeing is moving its C-130 Avionics Modernization program to Oklahoma City beginning in the first quarter of 2011. The move of the B-1 program is expected toward the end of 2012.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Monday promised not to swamp Wall Street with red tape and vowed to move quickly to put in place new rules for the financial marketplace to dispel uncertainty. Get the full story »
Research In Motion pledged to satisfy the security needs of customers and governments, a day after the United Arab Emirates threatened to cut off some BlackBerry services because authorities could not access encrypted messaging data.
In the latest of several disputes over BlackBerry security, the UAE said over the weekend that it would suspend BlackBerry Messenger, email and Web browser services from Oct. 11 until it could access encrypted messages. Get the full story »
