Abdel Jimenez

Allstate is cutting its Esurance line to focus on building up its name brand

December 19, 2019 at 5:09 p.m.

Allstate announced Thursday it will get rid of its Esurance brand next year as part of a "transformative growth plan," an effort to streamline business operations and focus on the...

A blown-glass pipe created by Pete River is for sale at his shop The Zen Den Glass and Vape in River Grove.

Head shops come out of the shadows as weed becomes legal

December 16, 2019 at 9:32 a.m.

Head shops, once a business catering to the hippie counterculture of the 1960s and 1970s, are getting a second life. The shops, which sell bongs, pipes and other smoking paraphernalia,...

Ford is using discarded McDonald’s coffee beans to build car parts

December 6, 2019 at 2:00 p.m.

McDonald's coffee bean remnants are getting a second purpose in life in the form of car parts. Researchers from Ford, the Dearborn, Michigan-based automaker, are using McDonald's coffee chaff —...

Riders greet the Allstate Chicago Transit Authority Holiday Train as it runs on the Green Line in Chicago on Nov. 29, 2019.

‘It’s not Black Friday like it used to be, but it’s still Black Friday’

November 29, 2019 at 3:33 p.m.

Shoppers who set their alarms and trudged to stores in the darkness early Black Friday morning found the crowds weren't quite as thick as they used to be on what...

A woman puts cash in a Salvation Army kettle in 2017 on Michigan Avenue in Chicago. A new Kettle Pay option allows donors to give via Apple Pay, Google Pay or QR code.

Salvation Army bell ringers know you may not have spare change. But now you can just tap your phone.

November 29, 2019 at 7:35 a.m.

Mobile pay technology is coming to the Salvation Army's red kettle campaign. In an effort to expand its reach to people who don't carry cash, donors this year will be...

Items are displayed for sale at Conifera Tree Farm in Harvard on Nov. 27, 2019.

Christmas tree farmers are leaving the business at alarming rates. It could mean fewer options for you in holidays yet to come.

November 29, 2019 at 11:40 a.m.

John Minalt has spent most of his professional career as a dentist, but on the weekends he prepares for the seasonal rush of Christmas tree shoppers. For the past 10...

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Allstate is cutting its Esurance line to focus on building up its name brand

Head shops come out of the shadows as weed becomes legal

Ford is using discarded McDonald’s coffee beans to build car parts

‘It’s not Black Friday like it used to be, but it’s still Black Friday’

Salvation Army bell ringers know you may not have spare change. But now you can just tap your phone.

Christmas tree farmers are leaving the business at alarming rates. It could mean fewer options for you in holidays yet to come.

If you shopped online at Macy’s last month, hackers may have stolen your credit card info

Marijuana retailer Medmen is laying off more than 190 workers, but it plans to grow in Chicago

DACA immigrants add billions to the U.S. economy. What happens if the Supreme Court upholds ending the program?

Mount Sinai Hospital strike averted as union reaches tentative agreement with hospital