1 Millennial breakup?
City Hall is trying to break its 30-year lease with Park Grill, the restaurant that’s been raking in cash in Millennium Park since it opened in 2004, claiming the deal was corrupted by a former city official who helped her lover and baby daddy win the bidding. [Sun-Times]
2 Daley’s role
In testimony he gave on the Park-Grill case in August, former Mayor Richard Daley said he didn’t remember anything about the Millennium Park planning process or about his involvement in creating Park Grill. He also flashed some of his old eloquence, saying things like “I don’t know what I knew” and “Trees. I’m a tree lover. Put that on the record.” [Sun-Times]
3 Tellabs goes private
Tellabs, the Naperville telecom-gear maker, will be sold to a California private-equity firm we never heard of for $891 million. The price isn’t much of a premium, a reflection of the company’s struggles in recent years. [Crain’s]
4 Who’s next in tech?
Meanwhile, Chicago’s tech scene is suddenly flush with companies on the verge of big buyouts — and big paydays for their founders and investors. Crain’s looks at the list of outfits most likely to either get bought or go public in the coming years. [Crain’s]
5 Air-travel options
Here’s one that’s not on the list but could be soon: OptionsAway will sell you an option on a plane ticket. That way, you can lock in a fare at a minimal cost, and you only forfeit the option price if you don’t buy the ticket. [Grid]
6 BYOB rumblings
Most Chicago businesses can let their customers bring booze, and they do. And everybody’s happy. Except for some City Hall officials, who are pointing out that the practice is totally unregulated, which means it probably won’t be for long. [Tribune]
7 Dimon in the rough
J.P. Morgan Chase has agreed to pay the government nearly $14 billion to settle allegations that it didn’t warn investors about the risks to buying mortgage-backed securities before the 2008 housing crash. The bank still faces intense scrutiny, and probably punishment, for other scandals like the “London Whale” trading debacle. And yet, inexplicably, CEO Jamie Dimon still has his job. But he is suffering — he now must sit at the far end of the table in meetings with President Obama, to name just one indignity. [Wall Street Journal]
8 Groin pains
The Bears lost a back-and-forth contest with the Redskins yesterday. More ominously, they lost quarterback Jay Cutler to a groin injury. The good news: there are two weeks before the next game, and backup Josh McCown looked pretty solid yesterday. [Sun-Times]
