Karl Rove, former senior adviser to President George W. Bush, says he was offended by Chrysler's "Halftime in America" Super Bowl ad starring Clint Eastwood, and he claims the ad is "Chicago-style politics." more ›

Ford Motor Company and the Chrysler Group LLC, are opposing a proposed free trade agreement with South Korea, saying that the treaty would open the American market to South Korean-produced vehicles without doing enough to open the Korean market to American exports. more ›

Just a year out of bankruptcy, Chrysler Group LLC is set to add 500,000 square feet to its Belvidere, Illinois plant. The space is expected to be used for a larger body shop in the plant that currently produces the Dodge Caliber. Mayor Fred Brereton says the announcement means that the plant will be both competitive, and around for awhile. "They estimated 200,000 hours of construction, so when you equate that into payroll it's going to be significant," Brereton told WTVO news. more ›

On Saturday, we headed down to McCormick Place for our annual pilgrimage to the 2010 Chicago Auto Show. As expected, the show was noticeably quieter than in years past. Less elaborate displays, fewer cars, and very few concepts than a few years back. Even so, we enjoyed having the chance to see some of the new cars that will be hitting the road soon and fantasizing about what we might park in our garage. more ›

The 2010 Chicago Auto Show opens to the public on Friday, and while it'll once again be a more subdued show than in years past, it remains the largest auto show in North America with over 1,000 cars on display in over 1 million square feet of space at McCormick Place for car fanatics and those in the market for new cars to check out. more ›

Chrysler will start a temporary second shift at its Belvidere, Illinois plant later this month to boost production of its popular Dodge Caliber line. The company wanted to increase production in October, but delayed the move due to supplier shortage, no surprise as the auto parts industry has been wracked with shutdowns and bankruptcies since the economic crash last year. Chrysler currently employs about 1,700 workers at that plant, and the additional shift is expected to put another 1,000 back to work. more ›

Just one day after the announcement Chrysler will cut 14 Chicago-area dealers and another 28 in Illinois, General Motors delivered some bad news to auto dealers as well. About 1,100 of GM's 6,000 dealers won't have contracts renewed after they expire in October 2010. While it is not known how many of those casualties are located in Chicago or Illinois -- GM said it does not have to release that information -- two local GM dealers say they have already received the dreaded notice. more ›

• One person is dead and two others were wounded in a shooting in Bolingbrook this morning.
• Sheriff Dart gave the new Craigslist "adult" section a thumbs up.
• Said Ayesh, the father who kidnapped his own daughter last fall, has been sentenced to three years in prison after which he'll be deported to his native Jordan.