8_9.9.13

1 Koch buys Molex

Koch Industries, the Kansas industrial behemoth owned by the billionaire Koch brothers, is buying Molex, the Chicago fiber-optics maker controlled by the powerful Krehbiel family. The $7.2 billion price would be nearly a 40 percent premium on Molex’s share price. [Crain’s]

2 Wade passes

Don Wade, whose voice was a fixture on Chicago radio for almost 30 years, died Friday. He was 72. [Sun-Times]

3 Something smells

The Sun-Times Watchdogs team investigates ties between a City Hall official and an Ohio insurance firm that won more than $2.5 million in city contracts. The official was a top deputy of indicted former comptroller Amer Ahmad. [Sun-Times]

4 Trap app

The city is dropping cameras all over town to catch speeders and red-light runners (and to grab a ton of revenue from all those tickets). A new Chicago-made mobile app helps drivers know where the traps are. [Grid]

5 Downstate shenanigans

Meanwhile, in Springfield, the feds have been busy investigating corruption in the doling out of various state health or commerce department grants. So far they’ve uncovered $16 million in allegedly embezzled funds and charged 13 people with crimes, including a couple with indirect ties to the White House. [Sun-Times]

6 No recovery in Rockford

A stunning one in three mortgages in Rockford are underwater, the mayor’s included. That puts them at the top of a list nobody wants to lead. [WSJ]

7 Ventra’s here

The CTA’s new Ventra fare cards hit streets today. Old fare cards will still be accepted till Dec. 15, when the CTA will unhinge its jaws and swallow them whole. [Sun-Times]

8 Foreclosure fallout

Landlords who rent Section 8 housing can, and often do, continue collecting subsidy checks from the government after their buildings go into foreclosure. They don’t have to notify anybody, including their renters, who often get left out in the cold. [Chicago Reporter]