March 30 at 11:34 a.m.
Filed under:
Energy,
Updated
By Reuters
President Obama will focus on energy security amid high gasoline prices. (Reuters/Mike Blake)
President Barack Obama set an ambitious goal Wednesday to cut U.S. oil imports by a third over 10 years, focusing on a source of anxiety for Americans as high gasoline prices threaten economic recovery.
Obama outlined his strategy in a speech after spending days explaining U.S.-led military action in Libya, where fighting, accompanied by unrest elsewhere in the Arab world, has helped push U.S. gasoline prices toward $4 a gallon. Get the full story »
March 29 at 5:14 p.m.
Filed under:
Energy,
Litigation,
Stock activity,
Updated
By Reuters
Shares in oil major BP fell on Tuesday on a report that its managers could face manslaughter charges following the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, which could lead to much higher fines over the disaster. Get the full story »
March 29 at 4:16 p.m.
Filed under:
Investigations,
Litigation,
Retail,
Updated
By Reuters
Activists rally in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, March 29, 2011. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Wal-Mart got a sympathetic hearing from several Supreme Court justices Tuesday as the retailer sought to prevent female employees from bringing the largest class-action sex-discrimination lawsuit in history.
The justices sharply questioned whether more than a million female employees can join together against Wal-Mart Stores Inc, accused of paying women less and giving them fewer promotions. Get the full story »
March 29 at 3:28 p.m.
Filed under:
Economy,
Energy,
Updated
By Reuters
U.S retail gasoline demand was flat last week but fell from year-earlier levels as higher prices pressured demand while an improved employment outlook provided support, MasterCard Advisors’ SpendingPulse report showed Tuesday. Get the full story »
March 29 at 3:09 p.m.
Filed under:
Government,
Manufacturing,
Taxes,
Updated
By Associated Press
Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman is one of the people trying to persuade Caterpillar to move the headquarters of its mining and construction equipment business out of Illinois. Get the full story »
March 29 at 10:58 a.m.
Filed under:
Housing,
Real estate,
Updated
By Tribune staff report
A home for sale in Elgin, Aug. 24, 2010. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)
January home prices fell for the sixth month in a row, approaching lows reached in the depths of the recession in 2009.
The Chicago area fared worse than the national average, with the local index reaching its lowest level since 2001. The index for Chicago-area single-family home prices fell 7.5 percent from the year-ago period, and dropped 1.8 percent in January from December. Get the full story »
March 28 at 5:26 p.m.
Filed under:
Autos,
Recalls,
Updated
By CNN
A 2011 Volkswagen Jetta. (Courtesy Volkswagen/MCT)
Volkswagen of America is recalling about 71,000 2011 Jetta sedans for a wiring problem that could cause the car to turn off when the horn is used.
Under certain rare circumstances using the horn could cause a short circuit that would, in turn, cause an electronic part called a converter box to disconnect from the car’s power supply, a VW spokeswoman said. Get the full story »
By Sandra M. Jones
Target Corp., the cheap-chic discount chain, is in talks with the Chicago Housing Authority to build a store at the site of the former Cabrini-Green Housing Project. Get the full story »
March 28 at 5:00 p.m.
Filed under:
Exchanges,
Personnel moves,
Updated
By Dow Jones Newswires
Chicago Board Options Exchange is eliminating its vice chairman board post and doing away with its trading advisory committee, shedding trappings of a member-owned structure that held sway prior to its June 2010 initial public offering. Get the full story »
March 28 at 2:50 p.m.
Filed under:
Cell phones,
Credit Cards,
Updated,
Wireless
By CNN
American Express is diving into the e-wallet space with Serve, a service that lets customers transfer money to others online and make payments with their mobile phones.
In its announcement Monday, AmEx said Serve is aimed at customers who use cash, checks and debit cards, rather than the company’s traditional credit card users. Get the full story »
March 28 at 10:13 a.m.
Filed under:
Beverages,
Food,
M&A,
Updated
Goose Island brewmaster Greg Hall checks operations at the company's Chicago brewery in this photo from 2009. Hall will step down as part of Anheuser-Busch's planned takeover of Goose Island. (Michael Tercha/Chicago Tribune)
By Josh Noel and Emily York | Goose Island Beer Co., the Chicago-based brewing powerhouse, announced this morning that it will be taken over by Anheuser-Busch (A-B) for $38.8 million.
Goose Island, whose legal name is Fulton Street Brewery LLC, is selling a 58 percent stake in the company to A-B for $22.5 million. The Craft Brewers Alliance, in which A-B holds a 32 percent stake, has agreed to sell its own Goose Island stake to A-B for $16.3 million. The Craft Brewers Alliance owns the remaining 42 percent of Goose Island. Get the full story »
March 25 at 6:06 p.m.
Filed under:
Energy,
Environment,
Health care,
Policy,
Updated
By Julie Wernau
If a nuclear reactor were to melt down in Illinois, the state has enough potassium iodide on hand to distribute to residents living within 10 miles of a nuclear power plant, the Illinois Emergency Management Agency said Friday.
A top official with the agency had said earlier at a public forum hosted by U.S. Senators Mark Kirk and Dick Durbin that there weren’t enough tablets on hand.
An IEMA spokeswoman clarified Friday, saying that the agency has 90,000 tablets on hand for first responders and 175,000 tablets on-hand to distribute to the public. She said about 180,000 people total live within 10 miles of a nuclear reactor in Illinois. Joseph Klinger, the assistant director of the Illinois Emergency Management Agency misspoke when he said 180,000 people on average live within 10 miles of each nuclear plant in Illinois. Get the full story »
March 25 at 3:05 p.m.
Filed under:
Manufacturing,
Sports,
Stock activity,
Updated
By Dow Jones Newswires
Stock in Brunswick Corp. rose more than 6 percent in late afternoon trading Friday after Wedbush initiated coverage of it with a stock-investment rating of outperform. Get the full story »
March 25 at 2:58 p.m.
Filed under:
Entertainment,
Litigation,
Media,
Movies,
TV,
Updated
From Bloomberg News | Actor Warren Beatty has won a suit against Tribune Co. over television and movie rights to Dick Tracy.
March 24 at 3:59 p.m.
Filed under:
M&A,
Pharmaceuticals,
Retail,
Updated
By Bruce Japsen
Customers at a Walgreens in Vernon Hills, Ill. (Lane Christiansen/Chicago Tribune)
Expanding further into the fast-growing business of online retail, Walgreen Co. said Thursday it will buy Drugstore.com for more than $400 million.
The deal comes just weeks after the Deerfield-based drugstore giant said it would shed its pharmacy benefit management business for more than $500 million. That deal, Walgreens said, would help it better focus on its primary business of serving customers’ daily health and living needs. Get the full story »
