Wild session ends with Dow down 126 points
Wall Street capped its worst week ever with a wild session Friday that left stocks with a widely mixed finish.

McDonald's cuts off gay chamber of commerce group

After months of pressure from an anti-gay-marriage group, McDonald's Corp. has given up a director's seat and will stop sponsorship of a national gay business organization.

Experts: Steer clear of stocks if college, retirement are near

With the market continuing to tank, who should have the least invested in stocks or get out of the market entirely?

Thursday: A year after all-time high, Dow in free fall

A runaway train of a sell-off turned the anniversary of the stock market peak into one of the darkest days in Wall Street history Thursday, driving the Dow Jones industrials down a breathtaking 678.91 points -- mostly in the final hour.

Traders: 'We're in the 100-year flood'

The Chicago futures markets, where some traders eat fear for breakfast, has become a place of helpless uncertainty.

Developers turn to rentals in downturn
David Roeder: Despite the collapse of the condo market, construction of rental housing still has committed backers. Lenders see apartments as being on the right side of demographic and economic trends, and the development firm McCaffery Interests Inc. is capitalizing on their interest.

Dominick's owner sees profit rise

Safeway, owner of Dominick's grocery stores, said Tuesday its sales remain strong as it offers more everyday bargains, cuts advertising spending and benefits from its gift-card business in a tough economy.

business briefs
Psychiatrist joins staff at Edward

Mortgage relief deal
Sandra Guy: Nearly 11,000 Illinoisans with Countrywide mortgages -- most of them in the Chicago area -- are expected to get help to avoid foreclosure after Countrywide's new owner, Bank of America, agreed to an $8.7 billion settlement with Illinois and 10 other states. Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan's office helped resolve a lawsuit that alleged Countrywide put people into loans, mostly subprime loans, that the would-be homeowners could not afford.

Kraft to slash 400 jobs
Northfield-based foodmaker Kraft Foods Inc. said Monday it is cutting 400 jobs in North America to reduce costs. Kraft spokeswoman Renee Zahery said the layoffs will represent a cut of about 1 percent in the company's North American work force.

Prisco's Fine Foods
At Prisco's Fine Foods, I finally found the dried pumpkin seeds I'd been searching for. Although not as large in square footage as some of the chain grocery stores, Prisco's offers a wide variety. Rather than putting up 10 facings of the same product, as the chains often do, Prisco's uses the same space to display 10 different product.

business briefs
Colonial to sell penny pancakes

How will we manage?
As the federal government voted whether to spend $700 billion taxpayer dollars to bail out banks on Monday, about 300 people waited in rain for food in Aurora.

Business Briefs
Batavian named dean of business

Business Calendar

Alcatel-Lucent branches lays off 250
The Alcatel-Lucent communications technology company laid off about 250 employees from its Lisle and Naperville branches on Thursday, according to a company spokesperson.

Bistro Thai
Veteran restaurateur Jon With, who with his Chantana owns Bistro Thai, reads a lot of restaurant trade and food preparation magazines such as Gourmet. He's the kind of guy who likes to pay attention to both the big picture and the small details of his business.

business briefs
Harmon earns volunteer award

Schlitz beer back on tap in Fox Valley
Baby boomer beer lovers, rejoice! The gusto is back in the burbs, rebranded and in stylish retro bottles. This week, Schlitz, the beer that made Milwaukee famous, became available at 19 bars or restaurants and 25 liquor stores in the suburbs, including locations in Batavia, Geneva, Naperville, St. Charles and Yorkville.