Delroy Alexander

Employees at a small, Aurora-based printing shop, Consolidated Printing, recently agreed to switch health-care benefits providers. Owner Marilyn Jones said her 10 workers voted to switch after one of her...

With the economy in the doldrums, employers will be pushing an even greater share of their health-care costs onto workers next year. Most big employers plan to ask their workers...

Local small businesses have until Jan. 21 to make a case that they need financial help to withstand the economic fallout from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. As of Monday,...

Billionaire financier Sam Zell, better known for buying companies in bankruptcy, saw one of his own hit rough waters when his troubled cruise line filed for Chapter 11 protection from...

When it comes to the workplace, it turns out that women aren't from Venus and men aren't from Mars after all, according to a new study. A survey of 425...

Recessions are bad news for most firms but not for barter networks, which appear to be thriving in Illinois. Bartering--the trading of goods and services in place of paying cash--often...

Small firms are increasingly pessimistic about the future, according to a recent survey by the National Federation of Independent Business. The NFIB's September optimism index, which reflects the views of...

EARNINGS Rocky road ahead The uncertainty of the past two weeks is no longer there, at least in terms of the economy. It's been replaced with the certainty that the...

Business is returning to accustomed levels for chef Rick Tramonto, co-owner of Tru, the four-star St. Clair Street restaurant. "Weekend business has hardly been touched by recent events," Tramonto says,...

In another blow to the nation's already battered economy--especially the flagging retail sector--consumer confidence in September suffered its biggest drop in more than a decade. Experts have been closely watching...