Biography
Melissa Harris came to the Tribune from Baltimore, home of soft-shell crabs, Charm City Cakes and The Wire, where she covered criminal ...
Name dropping: 'Unitrin' is out
August 14, 2011
Unitrin. Even CEO Don Southwell admits he doesn't like the name of his own company.
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Venture capitalist's adventures in Yellowstone
August 11, 2011
Since the mid-1990s, Keith Crandell has carried a satellite phone and four batteries to his part-time job as a backcountry ranger at Yellowstone National Park.
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Where Chicago's future CEOs go to school
August 7, 2011
It does not appear anywhere on their official bios, but the chief executives of Walgreen Co., Deere & Co., Health Care Service Corp. and USG Corp., to name a few, all graduated from the same training program on their way to the top spot.
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A Kennedy on a quest to do more
July 31, 2011
I had just 30 minutes to talk with Christopher Kennedy, the outgoing chief of Chicago's Merchandise Mart and the eighth of Robert F. Kennedy's 11 children. So I got to the point.
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Cities lay their cards on the table about gambling bill
July 28, 2011
The massive gambling expansion bill Illinois lawmakers approved in late May — but have since managed to shield from Gov. Pat Quinn's veto pen via a crafty maneuver — is going to resurface.
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Auctioneer Leslie Hindman expands to Milwaukee, Palm Beach, Fla.
July 24, 2011
By the end of the year, Chicago auctioneer Leslie Hindman will open two more auction houses, in Milwaukee and Palm Beach, Fla., as her eponymous firm expects to reap a second year of record sales.
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Northwestern prof works to give convicted teens second chances
July 21, 2011
By the time Bernardine Dohrn drove more than 100 miles in her silver Buick with two lawyers to the Pontiac Correctional Center, a quarter-century had passed since Mark Clements began serving four life sentences for a 1981 arson that killed four people.
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Knowing when to hold them
July 17, 2011
As Neil Bluhm walked through the sophisticated high-roller lounge of his newest casino Thursday, I asked him, "Do you ever gamble?"
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World Business Chicago powered up
July 14, 2011
At least twice a week, Mayor Rahm Emanuel says, he calls Deputy Mayor Mark Angelson into his office to go over a list of companies that are thinking about creating jobs in Chicago.
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Henry Paulson, former Treasury secretary, coming back home to head new institute at University of Chicago
June 30, 2011
It took Henry Paulson some time to decide what to do next.
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Former Gov. James Thompson reflects on Illinois' early days of tax incentives for businesses
June 26, 2011
Former Gov. James Thompson got Illinois into the tax-incentive business.
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Pastry chef Mindy Segal steams ahead with plans for new Hot Chocolate restaurant in Bucktown
June 23, 2011
Mindy Segal, the James Beard Award-nominated pastry chef, is expanding her Hot Chocolate restaurant empire at a new Bucktown location.
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High energy, higher ambition drives local company behind Warrior Dash craze
June 19, 2011
This weekend, on a farm 50 miles southwest of Chicago, about 22,500 people are registered for an unusual 3.28-mile race.
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Bears, Cubs battle Cook County over amusement tax
June 16, 2011
Earlier this year Cubs Chairman Tom Ricketts made the rounds to test support for a stalled plan to use amusement tax receipt growth to cover a $200 million renovation to Wrigley Field.
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CME Group relocation threat may veil push for reformulation of state tax burden
June 12, 2011
The familiar storyline thus far has gone like this: A large corporation threatens to leave Illinois, forcing Gov. Pat Quinn to swoop in with a financial incentive package and save the day.
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Lightbank opens its office to entrepreneurial ideas
June 9, 2011
Four well-dressed women, all baby boomers, walked into a typical conference room but for a few blue stability balls and a high-end espresso machine.
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Groupon IPO to deal new members into Chicago's billionaires club
June 5, 2011
For decades, some of the same names — Pritzker, Crown, Wrigley — have ranked near the top of any list of Chicago's wealthiest people. And they have displayed it by tacking their names on everything from fountains to athletic fields to libraries.
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Chicago technologist Harper Reed joins President Barack Obama's 2012 campaign
June 2, 2011
Well-known Chicago technologist Harper Reed has joined the Obama 2012 campaign as chief technology officer, the campaign confirmed Wednesday.
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Art of the tech deal in Chicago needs more movers, shakers
May 29, 2011
Ted Zoller admits being unfamiliar with Chicago.
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New website helps neighbors share stuff, be green
May 26, 2011
Chuck Templeton believes that the greenest thing anyone can do is not buy something.
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Emanuel's in the zone with master plan
May 22, 2011
The first actions of any new executive are heavy with symbolism.
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Meet deans Sally Blount and Sunil Kumar
May 19, 2011
Business school deans tend to hold their posts for five to 10 years. And the most prominent ones in Chicago — at the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business and Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management — have been arriving and departing on similar schedules as of late.
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Nonprofit leader Leslie Bluhm grows into more public role with garden project included in Emanuel's inaugural
May 15, 2011
Leslie Bluhm leads one of Chicago's most successful nonprofits, one that organizes more than 35,000 volunteer opportunities every year, including the creation of community gardens at 12 sites this weekend as part of Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel's inaugural.
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Business charm school in session
September 4, 2010
— When it comes to the economy, White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett wants to remind everyone: Her boss inherited this mess. She said so numerous times during a less than 20-minute interview in the West Wing Thursday on the Obama administration's on-again, off-again relationship with big business.
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Rep. Melissa Bean bucks Obama administration on financial reform legislation
December 20, 2009
The setting: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's Capitol Hill office. In one room, moderate Democratic Rep. Melissa Bean of Chicago's northwest suburbs and Treasury officials. In another room, Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank and Pelosi.
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Building the Copenhagen top 10
September 27, 2009
Whenever powerful people gather, a certain hierarchy takes shape, and the show of support for Chicago's bid in Copenhagen will be no exception.
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Metropolitan Planning Council member builds on Chicago and D.C. connections
September 16, 2009
MarySue Barrett of the Metropolitan Planning Council doubted she had the right Chicago connections to persuade two of President Barack Obama's Cabinet members to speak at the group's fall luncheon.