The inflation rate reached 8.6% last month, the highest level in 40 years. Food and energy prices, in particular, have skyrocketed forcing the government to take action. The Federal Reserve is raising interest rates to bring down demand and this week President Joe Biden called on Congress to pause federal gas taxes for three months.

Cook County budget officials will only have to close an $18.2 million budget shortfall in 2023, the smallest gap in a decade, avoiding tax hikes and layoffs. Thebudget has been boosted by sales taxes, corporate income taxes and revenue generated by the construction boom. 

At issue is the 18.4 cents-a-gallon federal tax on gas and the 24.4 cents-a-gallon federal tax on diesel fuel. If the gas savings were fully passed along to consumers, people would save roughly 3.6% at the pump when prices are averaging about $5 a gallon nationwide.

The cereal and plant-based meat companies will remain headquartered in Battle Creek, Michigan, where Kellogg was founded in 1906. The snack company will be headquartered in Chicago with a campus in Battle Creek, Michigan. 

People who menstruate are scrambling to find tampons and sanitary pads as manufacturers say securing the cotton and plastic used to make the products is volatile.

The administration is increasingly looking for ways to spare the public from higher prices at the pump, which began to climb last year and surged after Russia invaded Ukraine in February. Gas prices nationwide are averaging just under $5 a gallon, according to AAA.

The central bank is ramping up its drive to tighten credit and slow growth with inflation having reached a four-decade high of 8.6%, spreading to more areas of the economy and showing no sign of slowing. 

“We believe it’s in the best strategic interest of the company to make this move,” CEO Jim Umpleby said.

As a candidate for president, Joe Biden was not shy about calling out dictators and authoritarian leaders as he anchored his foreign policy in the idea that the world is in a battle between democracy and autocracy. But Biden’s governing approach as president has been far less black and white as he tries to balance such high-minded principles with the tug toward pragmatism.

Consumer prices surged 8.6% last month from a year earlier, faster than April’s year-over-year increase of 8.3%, the Labor Department said Friday. The new inflation figure, the highest since 1981, will heighten pressure on the Federal Reserve to continue raising interest rates aggressively.

Starting in July, minimum wage employees of larger businesses will see their paychecks rise by 40 cents an hour to $15.40

Last month’s gain reflects a resilient job market that has so far shrugged off concerns that the economy will weaken in the coming months as the Federal Reserve steadily raises interest rates to fight inflation.

The $1.73 billion proposal now heads to the Illinois Gaming Board, which must license Bally’s to operate the Chicago casino set to be built along the Chicago River near Chicago Avenue and Halsted Street.

The $31.5 million program has enough funding to send just 5,000 Chicago families $500 per month for 12 months, officials said. Approximately 64% of applicants live below the poverty line, which is $26,500 for a family of four. An additional 40% of applicants live in households that earn half that amount, officials said.

Chicago-area retail stores hit record-high sales, but that's not without impacting online buying as Amazon looks to sublet warehouse space. Meanwhile, legal limbo over nearly 200 pot shop licenses could soon come to an end.

The S&P 500 rose 1.9%, with technology and financial sector stocks doing much of the heavy lifting for the benchmark index. The Dow Industrial Average rose 2% and the Nasdaq climbed 1.6%.