Robert Channick

Robert Channick is a business reporter for the Tribune. A former broadcast consultant and radio station manager, he began freelancing for the Chicago Tribune in 2002, joining the Tribune staff as a business reporter in 2011. He has a bachelor's degree in English from Kenyon College and a master's in journalism from Northwestern University.

Nicor workers Larry Voight, left, Mike Jourdan and Dylan Klatt work on placing the yellow gas line underground at a new subdivision on Nov. 2, 2022, in Aurora. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)

Nicor Gas seeks $221 million rate increase for suburban Chicago customers

January 9, 2026 at 4:14 p.m.

Nicor Gas filed a $221 million rate increase request Friday with the Illinois Commerce Commission to continue replacing and repairing transmission pipelines and aging equipment, according to a news release.

Vehicles drive past the Bally’s Chicago casino at Medinah Temple, Jan. 6, 2026. Bally’s opened the temporary facility in River North on Sept. 9, 2023. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)

New casino openings for Bally’s Chicago and Hollywood Aurora set to change gambling landscape in 2026

January 9, 2026 at 6:33 p.m.

Chicago-area casinos are coming off a big year in 2025, as three new facilities boosted revenue and brought millions of additional players to the tables and slot machines.

Jim Chilsen, a spokesperson for Citizens Utility Board, speaks in front of the Peoples Gas headquarters on Jan. 6, 2026, where consumer groups protested the proposed rate increase. (Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune)

Peoples Gas seeks $202 million rate increase for accelerated pipeline replacement

January 9, 2026 at 12:57 p.m.

If approved, the rate increase request would raise average residential customer delivery charges by $10 to $11 per month beginning in 2027, the utility said in a news release.

Parents Shaniqua Jones and Brandon Antwon Whittington hold their newborn son, Brandon Alexander Whittington, on Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026, at Mount Sinai Hospital in Chicago after he was born on New Year’s Day at 12:06 a.m. and 41 seconds. (Mount Sinai Hospital)

Meet Brandon Alexander Whittington: The first baby born in Chicago in 2026

January 1, 2026 at 3:55 p.m.

At Mount Sinai Hospital, Brandon Alexander Whittington entered the world as what is believed to be the first Chicago baby of 2026.

Farmer’s Fridge CEO Luke Saunders stands at the company headquarters in Chicago’s United Center neighborhood. He founded the company 12 years ago starting with a single vending machine. He has now grown the business to 3,000 locations in 20 states. (Dominic Di Palermo/Chicago Tribune)

Chicago-based Farmer’s Fridge has turned vending machine salad into fast-food success

January 1, 2026 at 5:00 a.m.

Farmer’s Fridge now has a 100,000-square-foot kitchen near Midway Airport and thousands of locations across 20 states selling salads to millions of customers.

Workers continue their construction of Northwestern University’s Ryan Field in Evanston on Nov. 21, 2025. (Dominic Di Palermo/Chicago Tribune)

Set to open in the fall, Northwestern’s $862M Ryan Field touted as ‘best place to watch football in America’

December 31, 2025 at 5:00 a.m.

As Northwestern wraps up a second season of playing football at a small lakefront field shared with the lacrosse and soccer teams, workers are busy building out a new $862...

Employees take part in a sale training program at the Groupon office on Wacker Drive in the Loop on Dec. 9, 2025. (Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune)

Tucked away in a downtown Chicago office building, fallen e-commerce star Groupon is ready for a comeback

December 27, 2025 at 5:00 a.m.

The quirky e-commerce startup is quietly executing a turnaround after years of downsizing and red ink.

Power lines that run northeast off of 75th Street in Hodgkins are part of the ComEd power distribution system that connects the nuclear plants in Will County to the city, Nov. 7, 2025. (Dominic Di Palermo/Chicago Tribune)

ICC lops $25M off ComEd rate request, striking costs for botched computer system

December 19, 2025 at 1:51 p.m.

The Illinois Commerce Commission sliced $25.4 million from ComEd’s $268.5 million rate reconciliation request Thursday, holding down increases customers will pay for electricity delivery next year.

A new two-story Chase/J.P. Morgan banking center at 830 N. Michigan Avenue in Chicago will feature a Chase branch at street level and a J.P. Morgan Financial Center on the second floor. (JPMorganChase)

Chase to open new J.P. Morgan Financial Center for million-dollar customers on Michigan Avenue

December 17, 2025 at 1:31 p.m.

Expected to open next fall, the 11,000-square-foot banking center is being built out in vacant space previously occupied by Uniqlo, the Japanese clothing company.

Steve Cahillane, then-president of Coca-Cola Americas on June 7, 2012. (M. Spencer Green/AP)

Kraft Heinz names former Kellogg CEO to helm Chicago packaged food giant ahead of planned split next year

December 16, 2025 at 4:39 p.m.

Kraft Heinz has named veteran Chicago-based executive Steve Cahillane as CEO beginning Jan. 1, taking the reins of the packaged food giant as it prepares to split into two companies.

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