Area home sales plummet
The ongoing credit crunch and a softening economy led to double-digit declines in first-quarter home sales in the area and lower prices being paid for most of them, according to the Illinois Association of Realtors' latest report. Here are first-quarter 2008-to-2007 comparisons for the Elgin area of sales and median price (a typical market price where half the homes sold for more, half sold for less):

A sweet partnership
Some mothers and daughters share recipes; others share child-rearing tips. Pat Phillips and her daughter, Tracy Goch, share chocolate. The sweet relationship between the two Aurora residents has grown into a sweet business plan for a company known as Chocolatier Amore. Goch's interest in chocolate began when she was 12, the youngest in a family of three sisters.

BP to move Naperville workers downtown
The oil company BP PLC tentatively has agreed to move 1,000 jobs from Naperville and surrounding suburbs to the Chicago Mercantile Exchange complex at 10 to 30 S. Wacker.

Beacon News staffers win Lisagor Awards

Chew on this: Mars to buy Wm. Wrigley for $23 billion

CHICAGO -- With financing from Warren Buffett, candy maker Mars Inc. on Monday said it is buying confectioner Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co. for an estimated $23 billion in cash. The deal would marry brands that sweet-toothed Americans have munched on for decades: Mars owns Snickers and M&Ms; Wrigley's gum brands include Juicy Fruit, Orbit, Extra and Big Red.

Going another route
Brad Westrom has been in business for 23 years, and plans to go another 23, despite gas prices inching toward $4 a gallon.

U.S. files suit against Aurora restaurant
The U.S. Department of Labor has filed a lawsuit in federal district court in Chicago against Papa Bear Restaurant in Aurora and Nickolas Andriopoulos for allegedly not paying workers for overtime as required by the Fair Labor Standards Act.