Walgreens is expanding its technology office in Chicago, which will bring 300 new employees to the central loop district through new hires and relocations from the company’s headquarters in Deerfield.

The Walgreens retail pharmacy and technology team will be located in the Sullivan Center. The 300 new jobs will support the company’s largest line of business, the technology side that handles pharmaceutical sales.

Walgreens opened its technology office in 2010 and currently serves as its digital hub. The technology team is responsible for the computer systems that operate stores across the United States.

Jesse White kicked off National Teen Driver Safety Week on Oct. 15, 2017 by announcing that teen driving deaths have decreased by 51 percent in less than 10 years.

The graduated driver’s license program in Illinois was strengthened when the Teen Driver Safety Task Force was established in 2008 with the goal of decreasing the number of teen deaths in Illinois.

According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, graduated licenses reduce teens’ driving risks by allowing teens to practice driving with supervision before getting their full- license and limiting in-car distractions. In Illinois, the new graduated licensing laws restricted hours of night driving for teenagers and the number of passengers that drivers under 20 can have in their car. Today, all states have some foundations of the GDL program.

In the small town of Rochelle, about 80 miles west of Chicago at the intersection of Interstates 88 and 39, business is booming. The Greater Rochelle Economic Development Corporation has attracted companies like Nippon Sharyo, Boise Cascade, Tyson Foods, and Hormel.

This rural community consists of about 9,000 people, and its economy is bolstered by frozen French fries, bacon, ethanol, fabricated steel, hydroponic tomatoes, and the production of passenger cars for METRA. Each year, about 16,000 freight cars pass through Rochelle, picking up and delivering grain and other goods. Rochelle will soon gain another local gross domestic product from a boutique whiskey that is distilled in a former downtown theater.

Rochelle is also home to a 1,200 acre intermodal rail park operated by Union Pacific. This park is used as a shipping point to send goods to the Pacific Rim.

The growth doesn’t stop there. The future for Rochelle as an industrial star in Illinois and the Midwest looks bright. Rochelle is working to bring a $1.6 billion auto assembly plant from Toyota Motor Corp. and Mazda Motor Corp., which could employ 4,000 people, to the town. Bidders from more than a dozen states are looking at the same prize, but Rochelle is already prepared. The town has 1,000 acres of corn and soybeans set aside for the new plant.

Rochelle is proving the common melody played by political and business elites wrong. Illinois is not a diminishing state, but instead outshining surrounding states in certain areas thanks to cities like Rochelle.

When dog owner Todd Agosto struggled to find a dog park in the south side of Chicago, rather than traveling to a different neighborhood, he built one instead.

Created on a series of abandoned tennis courts in the Jackson Park neighborhood, Jackson Bark has become the third largest dog park in Chicago and the only dog-friendly area in the far south side of the city.

Agosto, who is the proud owner of a pit bull and a German shepherd, first started building the community dog park in 2014. He used his own funds and did most of the work to help create the dog agility and obstacle course.

More than 90 percent of the materials Agosto used for the dog course were salvaged from leftover construction projects in the surrounding neighborhoods. For instance, Jackson Bark’s handmade agility equipment includes recycled tires built into steps that dogs can climb.

The park also boasts two separate play areas, 100 pieces of equipment and a wide variety of toys. Additionally, because it’s equipped with lights, Jackson Bark is one of the only places in Chicago where dogs are welcome after dark.

Although Jackson Bark is not officially recognized by the Chicago Park District, the informal site has become beloved by residents and dog owners all throughout the south side. It is completely run and maintained by Agosto and volunteers from the community.

Jackson Bark recently celebrated its third anniversary on August 26, which also happens to be International Dog Day.

CHICAGO – A Chicago food incubator is planning to open a new $30 million facility in the East Garfield Park Neighborhood of Chicago. The Hatchery, an organization that helps local restaurants grow and expand, announced it will open a 67,000 square foot facility in the impoverished West Side community.

The Hatchery is a joint venture between Accion Chicago, the Industrial Council of Nearwest Chicago and the IFF, a Community Development Financial Institution that helps entrepreneurs with financing. The purpose of the Hatchery is to put all three areas needed for business success in one place: access to production space, financing and resources.

The Hatchery estimates the new facility will create up to 150 jobs the first year it opens, 2018. They also estimate that by year 5, almost 900 jobs will have been created locally.

The new facility will have everything local entrepreneurs need to start their business and live the American Dream. The facility will include 56 private production spaces, storage, a shared kitchen, event space, meeting rooms, training for entrepreneurs and Accion Chicago’s new headquarters.

Construction on the facility is planned to begin this fall and should be complete by the fall of 2018. The new facility will be located near the Kedzie Green Line station at Lake Street and Kedzie Avenue.