The Sun-Times is reporting that a deal worth at least $40 million over the next 10 years might be stalled for want of a city Chief Environmental Officer. Steve Holland, founder of Aurora-based Free Green Can tells the paper that he was close to inking a deal with Chicago that would have put 25,000 free trash and recycling bins around the city featuring advertising. Holland says that he was close to a deal with the city after a test at deployment last summer that put 65 bins at the Taste of Chicago. The deal stalled after Chicago's Chief Environmental Officer left the city to take a job in Vancouver. more ›

Mayor Daley's beautification program has done wonders for downtown and tourism, but for Candy Basselen, who runs Springfield Supply, a steel fabrication company, Daley's love for wrought-iron fencing and fancy landscaping has cost her her business. That's because the city wouldn't grant her a new business license after she moved her business to a warehouse at 3348 S. Pulaski, the same warehouse owned by Daley's nephew, Robert Vanecko. And until the warehouse had sufficient amounts of wrought-iron fencing and pleasant landscaping, the city told her, the building wouldn't be up to code. And therefore she couldn't get a business license. more ›