Editorial: Regulators should say no — again — to Peoples Gas’ push to resume its unaffordable pipe rebuild

A little over a year ago, we wrote about how Peoples Gas’ overbudget, unaffordable pipe-replacement project needed to be rethought completely. Thankfully, the Illinois Commerce Commission, which regulates utilities, agreed and called a halt to the Chicago natural gas utility’s massive infrastructure plans. Since then, Peoples, the ICC staff andContinue Reading

Editorial: Old-school scams pale compared with today’s ultra-personal consumer fraud

First announced in 2020, the case against Long Leaf Trading Group could hardly be simpler: A boiler-room operation based in Chicago cold-called unsuspecting marks to push a commodity-trading scheme. Practically all the customers lost money while the traders collected $1.2 million in commissions. As rip-offs go, that one seems almostContinue Reading

Editorial: Trump’s salvo against Deere was misplaced. But corporate chieftains now must anticipate political attacks.

There’s never a good time to lay off U.S. factory workers while adding jobs in Mexico or other foreign countries. But Moline-based Deere, the top farm equipment maker in the U.S., is discovering that doing so during a presidential election is a particularly lousy idea. Former President Donald Trump, speakingContinue Reading