City of Chicago Business Affairs & Consumer Protection In just the first few months of 2022, we have seen impactful changes take place in our great city. We awarded grants to over 2,000 small businesses and nonprofits through the Chi Biz Strong and Outdoor Dining Grant Programs, enhanced regulation of secondhand dealers and pawnbrokers to further protect against the purchase and sale…
DetailsEmployers often give people less than 40 weekly hours, leading to resignations and more trouble finding workers THE WALL STREET JOURNAL // FEB. 28, 2022 American workers quit a record 47 million jobs last year. They quit for better pay, or to be their own boss, or to work around child-care needs, or…
DetailsCITY OF CHICAGO BUSINESS AFFAIRS & CONSUMER PROTECTION // Feb. 23, 2022 Effective March 1, 2022, sidewalk signs (e.g. A-frame, T-frame, or other temporary self-supporting type signs, placed on the public way) will be allowed in the City of Chicago by obtaining the proper City permit. Street-front businesses will now be able to use sidewalk…
DetailsSuspension lifted as Mexico takes measures to ensure safety of U.S. inspectors THE WALL STREET JOURNAL // FEB. 18, 2022 The U.S. resumed inspections and imports of Mexican avocados that were suspended a week ago after an U.S. inspector in the principal producing state of Michoacán received a threatening phone call. The Agriculture Department’s…
DetailsMeatpacker’s average beef prices climbed by nearly one-third and chicken by about 20% in latest quarter as freight, labor costs rose THE WALL STREET JOURNAL // FEB. 7, 2022 Escalating meat prices haven’t slowed restaurant and retailer demand for meat, Tyson Foods Inc. TSN +12.17% executives said, as rising prices helped to more than…
DetailsOwner of Crown Royal whisky faces shortages resulting from high demand during the pandemic THE WALL STREET JOURNAL // JAN. 27, 2022 The world’s largest spirits maker is running low on some of its products. Diageo PLC said soaring pandemic demand is depleting stocks of Crown Royal whisky, Lagavulin Scotch and Don Julio tequila. These…
DetailsForget the utilitarian packaging and low-to-middling quality of decades past. Store brands have gone upmarket THE WALL STREET JOURNAL // JAN. 14, 2022 For most of its nondescript life, the humble store brand has played the role of poor cousin to more glamorous brand-name products. Its packaging was basic, even ugly; the quality, good enough.…
DetailsEnergy-drink maker enters beer, hard-seltzer business with purchase of CANarchy Craft Brewery Collective THE WALL STREET JOURNAL // JAN. 13, 2022 Monster Beverage Corp. MNST -4.73% has been mulling a move into booze for years. It finally took the plunge Thursday, becoming the latest big soft-drink company to try its hand at alcoholic beverages. Monster,…
DetailsSome supermarkets tap corporate employees, use temporary employment agencies to keep stores open THE WALL STREET JOURNAL // JAN. 13, 2022 Some U.S. supermarkets are reducing hours and cutting services as Covid-19’s Omicron variant infects cashiers, baggers and stockers, deepening grocery chains’ staffing challenges. Across the country, supermarket workers are calling out sick after contracting…
DetailsJustices allow Covid-19 vaccine mandate for healthcare workers whose facilities participate in Medicare and Medicaid THE WALL STREET JOURNAL // JAN. 14, 2022 The Supreme Court on Thursday blocked the Biden administration’s Covid-19 vaccine-or-testing rules for large private employers, upending the government’s most aggressive effort to combat the pandemic via the workplace. The high court,…
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