Claims against Starbucks include unfairly disciplining employees who backed organizing efforts, threatening retaliation against pro-union workers and forbidding staffers from discussing terms and conditions of their employment.

Five local Latino-led startups received some welcome news this week. Each of their businesses was awarded $100,000 from Google’s Startups Latino Founders Fund. 

Chicago’s Pullman and West Pullman areas were once industrial communities where workers lived and worked. The neighborhoods on the Far South Side have since experienced an economic downfall, but over the years people have pushed for growth to improve the quality of life. 

Consumer prices soared 9.1% compared with a year earlier, the government said Wednesday, the biggest yearly increase since 1981, and up from an 8.6% jump in May. From May to June, prices rose 1.3%, another huge increase, after prices had surged 1% from April to May.

Crain’s Chicago Business reporter Danny Ecker goes behind the latest business headlines.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s office will host three “budget engagement forums” on July 21, July 23 and July 30 to give Chicago residents a chance to “share their priorities regarding city services” and “have a dialogue” with the mayor, budget director and other city officials.

The average U.S. price of regular-grade gasoline plunged 19 cents over the past two weeks to $4.86 per gallon.

The 2-block by 3-block area consists largely of small shops and restaurants. It had been blocked off with crime scene tape, barricades and uniformed officers since Monday as the FBI and other law enforcement agencies processed evidence.

In Chicago, many of the areas with the most public transportation options are also the most expensive to live in. The proposed Connected Communities Ordinance introduced to City Council aims to make public transit options more accessible to all. 

The first lawsuits have been filed only days after an Amtrak train collision and derailment in rural Missouri that left four people dead and injured up to 150 others.

More and more communities are turning to private security to help combat higher crime. In the Morgan Park community on the city's far south side, a new pilot program employs private security guards to watch over local businesses. Morgan Park is located just south of Beverly and just north of suburbs like Blue Island on the southern edge of the city.

The Illinois Child Care for All Coalition is calling for publicly-funded universal child care, saying it is unavailable and unaffordable for many in the Prairie State. 

Rejected bids included a $500 million offer from MAT Asphalt, which faced strong opposition from environmental justice advocates. The city announced it will issue a revised solicitation for asphalt production in the fall “to better address environmental and public health concerns.”

Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi defeated challenger Kari Steele in his bid for a second term in what was the county’s most expensive and high-profile Democratic primary contest on Tuesday.

McDonald’s is cooking up big changes for its franchise system. Yelp says it’s going with a fully remote workforce. And a city-backed panel wants to breathe new life into the LaSalle Street corridor.

Three people are dead and at least 50 injured after an Amtrak train derailed Monday in Missouri, Cpl. Justin Dunn, a spokesperson for Missouri State Highway Patrol Troop B, told reporters Monday evening.