CRYSTAL LAKE – Davito’s Pizza is all about family.

Corn harvest could start as soon as this week, according to the latest crop report released late Monday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Since launching its U-verse cable service in McHenry County in 2008, AT&T has pushed the boundaries of interactive experience for customers.

SOUTH BARRINGTON – Boys clothing retailer Red 21 is scheduled to open a new store at the Arboretum of South Barrington on Thursday, mall officials announced Monday.

Home sales in McHenry County have been on the rise, climbing 19 percent in the first seven months from the same time a year ago.

WOODSTOCK – Want to push your market to the top in your state? You have until midnight on Aug. 31 to lend more support to the Woodstock Farmers Market, ranked 14th in the state as of Aug. 27.

ALGONQUIN – The past three years, Jason Bailey made an hour-long commute from his home in Algonquin to his law practice on the northwest side of Chicago.

CRYSTAL LAKE – McHenry County College will begin offering aviation-related classes in the fall as part of the Continuing Education Department’s curriculum.

With the last of the first-time homebuyer tax credit worked through the housing industry, July became the biggest anomaly for McHenry County in nearly a year.

CRYSTAL LAKE – Chemtool Inc. has moved most of its operation to Winnebago County. But it has no immediate plans to shut down its former headquarters near Ridgefield.

McHenry County’s unemployment rate fell to 9.6 percent in July, the Illinois Department of Employment Security reported Thursday.

HARVARD – Mercy Health System will host a golf scramble Sept. 30 to benefit the Harvard Hospital Foundation.

CHICAGO – Gary Rabine, chief executive officer of the Rabine Group in Richmond, will be on a panel at the Crain’s University Strategies for Middle-Market Companies program Oct. 5.

CRYSTAL LAKE – Some entrepreneurs open a business to be their own boss, to make their hobby a trade, or to help fund their life or their family’s life.

WOODSTOCK – The next all-member membership meeting of the Woodstock Chamber of Commerce & Industry will be at 7:30 a.m. Sept. 7 in the community meeting room at Golden Eagle Community Bank, 975 Country Club Road.

HARVARD – Brothers Joel and John Stauss have been running a landscaping company, Creekside Landscape Development Inc., for more than 10 years. But during one of their downtimes last winter, they began brainstorming other things to do with their time.

McHENRY – Stateline SHRM will host a roundtable discussion on “Battling a Reactionary Workforce: Creative Solutions” from 7:45 to 9:45 a.m. Sept. 9.

CRYSTAL LAKE – Take Care Health Systems, a division of Walgreens, is offering back-to-school physicals at its Take Care Clinics nationwide.

MARENGO – Tim and Nancy Gebauer, founders of the first Furniture Medic franchise in McHenry County, have sold the business to Terry Trim of Cary.

It doesn’t take a genius to see that there aren’t as many toy stores around as there once were.

CRYSTAL LAKE – The Turtle Wax Car Wash in Crystal Lake is among nine Illinois properties up for sale as Turtle Wax moves to divest the company from its car wash division.

HARVARD – Harvard Savings Bank will conduct a rare coin appraisal event from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. Saturday at the bank’s main office, 58 N. Ayer St. in Harvard.

McHENRY – Kathryn Trocki knows that finding the perfect dress is just the start of planning the perfect wedding.

When Crystal Lake resident Jason Trannel found himself out of a job with Motorola at the end of January, he began working on his next position.

ELGIN – Building contractors doing business in Kane County will be trained in the latest energy-efficient construction techniques through a partnership between Elgin Community College, Kane County and the U.S. Department of Energy.

CRYSTAL LAKE – Hearthstone Communities will host its 11th annual Hearthstone Senior Fair from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 18, at McHenry County College.

CRYSTAL LAKE – No matter what challenges people face, being there to help them is what matters most to Rick Atwater and Moe Ross.

McHENRY – When Affinia Group was formed in 2004 with the purchase of Dana Corp.’s under-vehicle group, 900 employees filled five McHenry facilities under the company’s guidance.

LAKE IN THE HILLS – Agree Realty Corp. said in a news release that it bought the Lake in the Hills property currently leased to CVS/Caremark.

WOODSTOCK – More than 150 businesspeople and community leaders turned out Friday morning at Woodstock North High School to hear legislative views on the state of the economy.

In a world where retirement seems ever elusive, what are your expectations and what are you doing to achieve them?

Each year, Remodeling Magazine has a feature called “Steal This Idea.” Basically, it’s best practices from remodeling businesses across the country that any business can adapt and use to their advantage.

Dear Dave,

The Huntley Area Chamber of Commerce is taking ads from members for the 2011 Community Guide and pull-out map.

As you pass by a building or read the name of a company on a sign outside of a building, do you wonder what they do? What they make?

With millions of Americans unemployed, some for an extended period of time, those who still have a job would be well-served by remembering the Scouting Motto: “Be Prepared.”

With the pace of higher-education costs rising faster than the general Consumer Price Index, it’s easy to understand why saving enough money to fund a child’s college education has become a financial challenge for many parents and grandparents.

Chambers of commerce enjoy being incubators of business growth. We encourage dreams to come to fruition, watch shy people develop into leaders and have seen businesses started in garages, grow and franchise.

Are you sick of hearing the phrase “green building” yet? It seems as if the language is used by every other business to describe practices or goals or services.

It’s hard to believe that come Monday, some of our local schools will be in back in session. 

WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of buyers who signed contracts to purchase previously occupied homes increased in July but remained well below last year's levels, a sign that demand for housing remains weak.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told a panel investigating the financial crisis that regulators must be ready to shutter the largest institutions if they threaten to bring down the financial system.

SEATTLE (AP) — Dell Inc. is walking away from a bidding contest with rival Hewlett-Packard Co. for data-storage maker 3Par Inc.

NEW YORK (AP) — Many retailers are reporting surprisingly solid gains for August, helped by aggressive discounting, even as unusually hot weather and job worries kept a lid on back-to-school buying.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of people requesting unemployment benefits declined for the second straight week, suggesting that the slowing economy isn't prompting widespread job cuts.

Banks to let local groups buy foreclosures

SAN FRANCISCO – Apple Inc. announced a smaller, cheaper version of its Apple TV device for streaming movies and TV shows over the Internet and into the living room. It also unveiled a new line of iPods, including a touch-screen Nano model.

NEW YORK (AP) — Manufacturing companies grew faster in August as the industrial sector continues to lead the recovery, and managers' desire to hire shot up to the highest level in nearly 30 years.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal bank regulators are defending their actions leading up to the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the purchase of Wachovia at the height of the financial crisis.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Construction spending tumbled in July to the lowest level in a decade, as the housing market struggles in the weak economy and without a popular home-buying tax credit.

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Getting money down on your favorite sports team is getting a little easier in Nevada with the first-ever legal wagering application for smart phones.

CHAMPAIGN (AP) — At least some of the coal producers and other companies working with the Department of Energy to build an experimental coal-fired power plant in Illinois have decided to stick with the project despite major changes to the original plan.

NEW YORK (AP) — Not even skinny jeans for $20 are pulling Americans into stores.

FDA issues warning

NEW YORK (AP) — The stock market ended its worst August since 2001 with meager gains Tuesday after minutes from the latest Federal Reserve meeting showed officials' increasing concern about the economy.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve officials signaled at their August meeting that they would consider going beyond a modest program to purchase government debt if necessary to boost the economy.

NEW YORK (AP) — Americans' confidence in the economy improved slightly in August, but the mood is still gloomy amid job worries, according to a monthly survey.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Home prices rose in June for a third straight month as now-expired tax credits inspired a burst of home-buying. But prices are expected to fall through the rest of the year now that demand has faded.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A mixed picture of U.S. banks emerged Tuesday as the industry posted its highest quarterly earnings in nearly three years while the number of troubled institutions grew by more than 50.

MOLINE, Ill. (AP) — Deere & Co. is selling its wind energy business to a subsidiary of Exelon for $900 million.

Chrysler dealers hear

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks fell in thin trading Monday after more signs of slowing economic growth got investors worried ahead of a key report on jobs later this week.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans are spending a little more this summer, but hardly enough to rejuvenate the weakening economy.

DETROIT (AP) — Chrysler on Monday told 400 dealers about its plans to bring the Fiat brand back to the U.S. after a 30-year absence, starting with the Fiat 500 minicar later this year.

NEW YORK (AP) — Intel Corp. is buying the wireless communications unit of Germany's Infineon Technologies AG for $1.4 billion in cash, the second deal in as many weeks that allows the chipmaker to expand beyond the struggling personal computer market.

NEW YORK (AP) — French drug giant Sanofi-Aventis SA on Sunday publicly launched its $18.5 billion cash bid for American biotech firm Genzyme Corp. — a move that follows months of rumored interest and failed attempts to bring Genzyme's management to the table.

CHICAGO (AP) — Starbucks Corp. is set to debut its latest caffeinated concoction — flavored instant coffee.

WASHINGTON – The economy appears to be stalling. Yet the Federal Reserve has run out of simple steps it can take to revive it.

LONDON – Corporations worried about the bottom line are taking a look at their office walls.

TRENTON, N.J. – With Johnson & Johnson’s once-golden reputation tarnished by 11 recalls of medicines, contact lenses and hip implants in as many months, its chief executive says he knows the company let consumers down.