The Waukegan News Sun :: Business ::
The Waukegan News Sun Business

• A few of your fav shops may not exist early next year
  David Roeder: The store you visit for today's last-minute shopping might not be around long. Analysts believe that the pullback in consumer spending will lead to an unprecedented number of store closings and retailer bankruptcies in 2009. Weak returns from the Christmas season just won't be enough to sustain some debt-laden chains. Shopping center development in the Chicago area is slowing dramatically and could come to almost a halt next year.
• Cashing in on your yard to heat, cool your home
  In desperate numbness, perhaps clutching crumpled utility bills, residents fight winter and its annual wrath of snow and ice. Fueled by the often-freezing temperatures and rising costs to battle them, there are the home remedies -- plastic sealant over windows -- to help keep warm.
  
  
• Allmon's long-running stock newsletter coming to an end
  Terry Savage: Is it possible to make money in the stock market by holding stocks for the long run? Yes, and there's living proof. But the man who has done it for himself, his subscribers and his managed accounts is about to retire! At age 88, Chuck Allmon has announced he will discontinue the Growth Stock Outlook newsletter he has written since January 1965, though he will continue to advise $200 million in managed accounts.

• Boom in music video games helps original artists
  "This song is dedicated to Debbie Harry," flinty-eyed Lisa Hsuan purrs into a microphone. The 30-year-old veterinarian is about to belt out "Call Me," accompanied on fake guitars and drums by three Web programmers. They're playing the video game "Rock Band 2," which along with "Guitar Hero" is rocking bars and living rooms across the country.
  
  
• Condell pres Millirons leaving in January
  Saying he was tired and had fulfilled his duties, Condell Medical Center President Dennis Millirons announced he will be stepping down from his post, effective next month. One of the challenges that tested Millirons was a year-long contract dispute with Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Illinois over insurance reimbursements.
  
  
• Automakers to get $17.4 billion
  Citing danger to the national economy, President Bush approved an emergency bailout of the U.S. auto industry Friday, offering $17.4 billion in rescue loans in exchange for tough concessions from the deeply troubled carmakers and their workers.
  
  
• Business is great in some fields -- even now
  Looking for a job that will make you nearly indispensable during a tough economy? Try learning more about that little box you cruise the Internet on. The technology field, experts say, is among the safest in a recession. Rudy Zeithammel can attest to the truth of that statement. His computer repair business has been plenty busy lately.
  
  
• Advocate helps Condell castaways come home
  Dear Scott: Now that Advocate Health Care has closed the deal to buy Condell Medical Center in Libertyville, does that mean that Blue Cross/Blue Shield patients can return?

• Obama taps Mary Schapiro to head SEC
  President-elect Barack Obama has chosen Mary Schapiro, a veteran of the Securities and Exchange Commission, to lead and revitalize the agency now facing growing criticism for its failure to protect investors at a time of unprecedented market turmoil.
  
  
• Wal-Mart employees reach out to community
  Employees of the Antioch Wal-Mart have adopted Open Arms Mission Food Pantry as their special project, volunteering every month to distribute food to families, in addition to fund-raising at the store.
  
  
• Regulators allege illegal monopoly for baby meds
  Federal regulators alleged Tuesday that a Deerfield-based company bought the only two medicines approved to treat premature babies born with a potentially life-threatening congenital heart defect, and then increased prices nearly 1,300 percent.
  
  
• Toyota, Honda need Big 3
  In recent years, Toyota has edged closer to overtaking General Motors as the world's biggest automaker. But now as GM and the entire U.S. auto industry teeter on the brink of collapse, Toyota and other Japanese carmakers are hardly rejoicing. They say the bankruptcy of any of Detroit's Big Three would spell serious trouble for them as well.
• For women, 'no change in a year of change'
  Women's advancement to the top leadership positions at Fortune 500 companies continues to stagnate, according to the latest report from nonprofit Catalyst. The 2008 report found women held 15.1 percent of board seats at Fortune 500 companies, up slightly from 14.8 percent in 2007. They held 15.7 percent of corporate officer positions, up from 15.4 percent in 2007.
• Store banks on baby-making
  Being pregnant is tough. Just ask any expectant mom. Hopefully, these ladies will get some relief starting Dec. 18, when The Belly Factory opens its doors. Pregnant moms' comfort is paramount in Lori Dunkman's mind. In her 22 years as an ultrasound technician she learned a thing or two about what these women want.
  
  
• Big 3 bailout troubles local dealers
  The day after the U.S. Senate rejected a rescue for the American auto industry, the Bush administration announced Friday it would intervene to prevent the industry's "precipitous collapse. "I'm totally convinced there will be government money coming in to the manufacturers," said Jim Youngs, general sales manager at Rockenbach Chevrolet Sales Inc. in Grayslake.
  
  
• Made in America is motto of American Aisle
  With just about everything sold in stores coming from overseas, one can hardly find anything made in the U.S.A. Not so at the newly-opened American Aisle in Round Lake Beach where all the goods are American-made.
  
  
• Waukegan lakefront plans move forward
  Skidmore, Owings & Merrill ranked the Waukegan south lakefront second on its list of recommended sites for rehabilitation, saying it was a candidate for "short- to medium-term" residential development. The first formal proposal for the land beyond South Street began to move forward Tuesday.
  
  
• Opening of Lindenhurst retail center put off a year
  While the economy has delayed the start of construction for Village Green by at least a year, developer Oliver McMillan is working with village officials to finalize design guidelines.
  
  
• Congress, White House close on $15 billion auto bailout
  Congressional Democrats and the White House worked to resolve their last disputes Monday over terms of a $15 billion bailout for U.S. automakers -- complete with a "car czar" to oversee the industry's reinvention of itself -- that's expected to come to a vote as early as Wednesday. Top Democrats gave the White House their pro