Journal Star (Peoria, Illinois) articles from July 2001

Journal Star (Peoria, Illinois) archives from July 2001

Bank One to Close Grocery Branch in Peoria, Ill.
July 31, 2001... Jul. 31--EAST PEORIA, Ill.--Bank One is closing its banking center at the Kroger store in Town Centre in East Peoria and relocating operations to its main Peoria offices. The move is effective Oct. 17. The bank is closing the center...

Journal Star, Peoria, Ill., Business Briefs Column.
July 31, 2001... Jul. 31--CONSTRUCTION CONTRACTS: Contracts for future residential construction in the Tri-County Area were up 16 percent in June, but remain down by 8 percent for the year, according to the F.W. Dodge Division of The McGraw-Hill Cos., which...

Journal Star, Peoria, Ill., Business File Column.
July 31, 2001... Byline: Paul Gordon Jul. 31--On July 2 we reported that a former Foster & Gallagher Inc. executive was trying to buy the company to stave off bankruptcy and closure, saving the nearly 500 jobs. The company filed bankruptcy that day....

Journal Star, Peoria, Ill., Business Meetings Column.
July 31, 2001... Jul. 31--SBA COMMUNITY DAY: The Illinois Business Financial Services will host a Small Business Administration community outreach event from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday, July 31 at 124 SW Adams St., Suite 300. SBA and IBFS staff will be...

Journal Star, Peoria, Ill., Business People Column.
July 31, 2001... Jul. 31--PEORIA ATTORNEY JAMES TOMLIN has received the Community Service Award from the Illinois State Bar Association. The awards are given annually to lawyers and law-related organizations to recognize efforts that promote better...

Peoria, Ill.-Area Woman Learns the Dangers of "Same As Cash" Offers.
July 31, 2001... Byline: Clare Howard Jul. 31--PEORIA, Ill.--"Twelve months same as cash." "Two years interest free." "90 days same as cash." Those were the marketing promotions that first lured Laura Ragland who, at the time, was going through a...

Peoria, Ill., Restaurant Reopens.
July 31, 2001... Byline: Paul Gordon Jul. 31--PEORIA, Ill.--The River Station is open again. Or at least the main dining room. Bella Vista, featuring Italian and American fare, opened silently two weeks ago in the main dining area -- which includes...

Spring Valley, Ill., Location Helps Attract Businesses.
July 31, 2001... Byline: Steve Tarter Jul. 31--SPRING VALLEY, Ill.--Spring Valley may be a river town, but it's the proximity to major highways that floats the area chamber of commerce boat. This Bureau County town of 5,200 is located near the...

Journal Star, Peoria, Ill., Business Briefs Column.
July 24, 2001... Jul. 24--RLI ETHICAL: Peoria-based RLI Corp. is one of the top 22 most ethical companies in the country, according to the Council of Better Business Bureaus. RLI is one of the finalists in the bureau's sixth annual National Torch Award for...

Journal Star, Peoria, Ill., Business File Column.
July 24, 2001... Byline: Paul Gordon Jul. 24--CAT AND DAIMLERCHRYSLER DEFER VENTURE: Caterpillar Inc. and DaimlerChrysler have deferred a joint venture to produce medium- duty truck engines, but an alliance between the two remains alive, Caterpillar said...

Journal Star, Peoria, Ill., Business People Column.
July 24, 2001... Jul. 24--GARY DAVIS has been appointed a principal in the Peoria office of Farnsworth Group, a regional engineering, architectural and land surveying firm with offices in Illinois, Missouri, Wisconsin, Colorado, and Arkansas. Judd Giffin has...

Honeybees Snuffed By Winter, Pollination Affected in Peoria, Ill.
July 24, 2001... Byline: Steve Tarter Jul. 24--PEORIA, Ill.--If you thought last winter was rough on you, it was nothing compared to how area honeybees fared. Seventy-seven percent of the region's bees that were kept in hives died over the past...

Real Estate Investor Hosts Two-Day House Sale in Morton, Ill.
July 24, 2001... Byline: Steve Tarter Jul. 24--MORTON, Ill.--Kevin Jones wants you to call about buying his house this weekend. Except this isn't your normal house sale. In fact, he's trying something he doesn't think has been tried around here...

Peoria, Ill., Firm a Key Player in Medicare Program Enhancement.
July 24, 2001... Byline: Paul Gordon Jul. 24--PEORIA, Ill.--A Peoria company will be a key player in the federal government's plan to enhance Medicare and Medicaid services. And it will mean more local jobs. AFFINA-The Customer Relationship Company...

Pay Phones in Peoria Heights, Ill., Are Fewer in Number, May Cost More to Use.
July 24, 2001... Byline: Steve Tarter Jul. 24--PEORIA HEIGHTS, Ill.--There used to be a pay phone at the Village Hall in Peoria Heights but not anymore. "The phone company told us they weren't getting many quarters out of it," said Peoria Heights...

Journal Star, Peoria, Ill., Agriculture Briefs Column.
July 17, 2001... Jul. 17--COMMODITY CONFERENCE: "Commodities: Surviving the Challenges" is the theme for the Illinois Farm Bureau Commodities Conference at 9 a.m. on Thursday, July 26 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Springfield. The cost is $30, including lunch....

Journal Star, Peoria, Ill., Business Briefs Column.
July 17, 2001... Jul. 17--HULT FRITZ MATUSZAK MOVE: Hult Fritz Matuszak, operating out of 245 NE Perry Ave. since 1959, has announced it will move to 401 Water St. on the Peoria riverfront. The advertising and marketing firm expects to move in late October....

Journal Star, Peoria, Ill., Business File Column.
July 17, 2001... Byline: Paul Gordon Jul. 17--Wall Street analysts expect Caterpillar Inc.'s earnings to be down in the second quarter from the same period last year. Considering Caterpillar forecast the same thing when it said three months ago it...

Energy Professor in Peoria, Ill., Uses Common Sense to Solve Problems.
July 17, 2001... Byline: Clare Howard Jul. 17--PEORIA, Ill.--Paul Mehta has saved his clients $425 million in energy costs the past decade, using mostly common sense. Mehta, Bradley University's first AES CILCO endowed energy professor who consults...

Peoria, Ill., Home Sales Set Record in Second Quarter.
July 17, 2001... Byline: Steve Tarter Jul. 17--PEORIA, Ill.--A record second quarter has home sales in central Illinois back on track, according to figures released by the Peoria Area Association of Realtors. Not only did the 1,362 houses sold in...

Mackinaw, Ill., Lavender Farm Becomes Popular.
July 17, 2001... Byline: Steve Tarter Jul. 17--MACKINAW, Ill.--Lavender is one of those mystical plants that takes people to other places. Whether it's an image of the English countryside or the French variety grown in Provence, the aromatic herb is...

Peoria, Ill.-Area's Gross Metro Product Grows.
July 17, 2001... Byline: Paul Gordon Jul. 17--PEORIA, Ill.--Did you know the Peoria area has a higher economic output of goods and services than Cuba? That's Cuba the country -- Fidel Castro, good cigars -- not the small Fulton County town. The...

Pekin, Ill.-Area Energy Firm, Union Will Resume Talks.
July 17, 2001... Byline: Clare Howard Jul. 17--PEKIN, Ill.--Striking members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 15 are cautiously optimistic about a resumption in talks Thursday with a federal mediator and Midwest Generation....

Bartonville, Ill., Steel Workers Ratify Contract Extension, May Save Jobs.
July 17, 2001... Byline: Paul Gordon Jul. 17--BARTONVILLE, Ill.--Hourly workers at Keystone Steel & Wire have ratified a contract extension that, because of concessions in health care benefits, could save the plant from closing. Members of the...

Peoria, Ill., Agriculture Lab's Future Depends on Biotechnology.
July 10, 2001... Byline: Steve Tarter Jul. 10--PEORIA, Ill.--Welcome to Peoria 2020, river city and biotechnology center. That's the plan, called the Community Collaborative Research Initiative, being considered by some of the most powerful...

Journal Star, Peoria, Ill., Business Briefs Column.
July 10, 2001... Jul. 10--MULTIAD, DYNAMIC GRAPHICS PARTNERSHIP: Two of the largest art service providers, both located in Peoria, have announced a product distribution alliance. MultiAd will be the exclusive distributor of the Dynamic Graphics Image Library,...

Journal Star, Peoria, Ill., Business File Column.
July 10, 2001... Byline: Paul Gordon Jul. 10--Read today's story about the future of the National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research and it's easy to see why the Economic Development Council for Central Illinois is excited about it. The...

Journal Star, Peoria, Ill., Business People Column.
July 10, 2001... Jul. 10--RODNEY J. AHITOW HAS BEEN APPOINTED deputy director of the Juvenile Division of the Illinois Department of Corrections. RONALD W. MALIK, PRESIDENT OF RP MALIK ENTERPRISES Inc., has been appointed to the State Rehabilitation...

Galesburg, Ill., Development Continues to Evolve.
July 10, 2001... Byline: Clare Howard Jul. 10--GALESBURG, Ill.--A Seattle urban planner calls Galesburg's Seminary Street "a remarkable development, extremely rare, sitting in the middle of the midwest prairie. It's attractive but not artificial, not...

Virginia-Based Energy Company Sells Subsidiary.
July 10, 2001... Jul. 10--PEORIA, Ill.--AES Corp., parent company of Central Illinois Light Co., has sold one subsidiary marketing energy to residential and small business customers in deregulated markets, but retains other subsidiaries in the deregulated...

Journal Star, Peoria, Ill., Agriculture Briefs Column.
July 3, 2001... Jul. 3--SPRINGFIELD, Ill.--Deadlines are nearing for Illinois State Fair competitive events, ranging from livestock shows to baking and art contests. Culinary contests not only include traditional baking and junior competitions but new...

U.S. Farmers Prefer Genetically-Altered Soybeans, Monsanto Survey Says.
July 3, 2001... Byline: Steve Tarter Jul. 3--MONMOUTH, Ill.--While the StarLink controversy was casting a shadow across the biotech movement in agriculture, soybean farmers were finding the technology to their liking. Sixty-eight percent of all...

Journal Star, Peoria, Ill., Business Briefs Column.
July 3, 2001... Jul. 3--NEXTEL PARTNERS INC.: Nextel Partners Inc., which provides digital wireless communication services, has donated five wireless phones and free local service to Habitat for Humanity of the greater Peoria area. PRAIRIE STATE LEGAL...

Journal Star, Peoria, Ill., Business File Column.
July 3, 2001... Byline: Paul Gordon Jul. 3--The Heartland Partnership board will move ahead with plans to study the organization and its affiliates -- the Economic Development Council for Central Illinois and Peoria Area Chamber of Commerce -- to see if...

Journal Star, Peoria, Ill., Business People Column.
July 3, 2001... Jul. 3--Robert Johnson, a second term Peoria Park District trustee, chairman of the Recreation Advisory Committee and member of the Riverfront Advisory Committee, was the recipient of the Hometown Hero Award presented by Peoria Area...

Caterpillar Retains Information Technology Workers Well, Magazine Says.
July 3, 2001... Jul. 3--PEORIA, Ill.--Caterpillar Inc. has been ranked No. 2 on Computerworld magazine's list of best places to work in information technology for retention, the company said in a news release. Caterpillar was ranked No. 64 overall in...

Electronics Plant in Morton, Ill., Creates Variety of Products.
July 3, 2001... Byline: Steve Tarter Jul. 3--MORTON, Ill.--If you want to see what a 21st Century factory looks like, Hani Malek suggests a trip to Morton. Malek, vice president and general manager of Preco Inc., an electronics firm located in...

Electrical Union Wants to Resume Negotiations with Illinois Power Plants.
July 3, 2001... Byline: Clare Howard Jul. 3--PEKIN, Ill.--The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 15 has asked Midwest Generation to return to the bargaining table four days after they began striking when talks with a federal mediator...

Former Executive of Grand Rapids, Mich.-Based Company Hopes to Buy It.
July 2, 2001... Byline: Paul Gordon Jul. 2--PEORIA, Ill.--A former executive at Foster & Gallagher Inc. is bidding to buy the shuttered company and move all operations back to Peoria, saving hundreds of jobs. The Peoria businessman, who has asked...

Grand Rapids, Mich.-Based Company to File for Bankruptcy.
July 2, 2001... Byline: Clare Howard Jul. 2--PEORIA, Ill.--After 50 years of operation and a position of national leadership in direct marketing, Foster & Gallagher Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware...