Sam Zell, a Chicago real estate magnate who earned a multibillion-dollar fortune and a reputation as “the grave dancer” for his ability to revive moribund properties has died due to complications from a recent illness. He was 81.

Since the pandemic struck three years ago, the average new vehicle has rocketed 24% to nearly $48,000 as of April, according to Edmunds.com. Typical loan rates on new-car purchases have ballooned to 7%, a consequence of the Federal Reserve’s aggressive streak of interest rate hikes to fight inflation.

A study by the Kapor Center and the NAACP finds that between 2014 and 2021, there was only a 1% increase in Black representation within technical roles at large tech companies.

Several forces are pushing chains out of some city centers: a glut of stores, people working from home, online shopping, exorbitant rents, crime and public safety concerns, and difficulty hiring workers. To reinvent downtown retail, drastic changes may be required.

Federal regulators approved the merger of Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern in March, which would create a new route linking Mexico, the U.S. and Canada. The company plans to run an additional seven to eight trains each day along tracks shared by Metra’s Milwaukee District West line.

Prices increased 0.4% from March to April, the government said Wednesday, up from a 0.1% rise from February to March. Compared with a year earlier, prices climbed 4.9%, down slightly from March’s year-over-year increase.

The compensation would be in addition to ticket refunds when the airline is at fault for a flight being canceled or significantly delayed. It would give consumers in the United States protections similar to those in the European Union.

With a NASCAR street race set to take place outside their front doors, Chicago’s lakefront museums have had to shift gears and adjust operations in advance of the big event July 1-2.

With a pandemic-related dip in business, Furry Paws Dog Day Care owner Carolina Ayala began looking for small business support options.

The unemployment rate dipped to 3.4%, matching a 54-year low, the Labor Department said Friday. The jobless rate fell in part, though, because 43,000 people left the labor force, the first drop since November, and were no longer counted as unemployed.

Construction often means disruption. That’s certainly been true in Edgewater and Uptown as the CTA’s been working to rebuild century-old tracks and stations. And with that project kicking off just as the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the challenges have been felt even more acutely.

United said 3,800 of its new jobs this year will be in Chicago, where the company is headquartered and runs a big operation at O’Hare International Airport. 

The Fed's rate increases since March 2022 have more than doubled mortgage rates, elevated the costs of auto loans, credit card borrowing and business loans and heightened the risk of a recession.

Post-Civil War Dixon, 103 miles west of Chicago, was a growing city split by the formidable Rock River. On May 4, 1873, the 4-year-old bridge twisted, splintered and rolled over. Forty-six people perished, many immured by the unrelenting gridiron just below the water’s surface. 

About 26,000 people leave Illinois prisons each year, and many of them report having trouble finding employment once they’re home.

The EPA framed its decision as a way to reduce gasoline prices at a time of market supply uncertainty because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The agency said its action also encourages U.S. energy independence and supports American agriculture and manufacturing.