The lawsuit “fails to allege sufficient facts ‘that would support an inference that defendants intentionally and purposefully discriminated against them,’” U.S. District Judge Fernando M. Olguin wrote Friday, dismissing the complaint in Los Angeles.

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Simply pitching the Weather Channel to McDonald’s ad agency is also not sufficient to establish an attempt to create a contractual relationship, the judge said.

“At the invitation of Judge Olguin, we will amend the complaint to add greater detail,” a representative for Allen said in a statement. “When we do so, we firmly believe that the case will go forward,” the representative added.

“This case is about revenue, not race, and was dismissed because plaintiffs have provided absolutely no factual basis for their claims,” Loretta Lynch, the former U.S. attorney general who is part of McDonald’s legal team in the case, said in a statement. “Should plaintiffs amend their complaint for a second time, we will be ready to assess the new claims and move again as we believe there is no evidence supporting this meritless case.”

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Research has shown that women are most likely to shop for milk substitutes, and so the all-women Planting Hope, which counted food industry financier Larry Levy and other men as early investors, is no accident. “We wanted the company to look like our customer,” Stamberger explains. 

Planting Hope was founded about five years ago as Spinning Wheel Brands and concentrated early in veggie chips and Greek olives but had trouble getting past the $3 million-a-year sales barrier. Sesame milk will be the future engine of growth, the CEO is betting. 

Stamberger, the daughter of a Caterpillar executive who is today a mother of three with an MBA from Northwestern, is no stranger to long-shots. In the late 1990s she was involved in internet ventures such as Meethead.com and Worldspyder that went dark in the 2000 internet crash. Then she formed Turn-about, devoted to finding resources for Chicago-based start-ups, and staged events for out-of-work techies at local nightclubs under the name “Pink Slip Party.” After that, she went corporate for a time, working for United Airlines, before starting up yet another enterprise in 2006 called GoPicnic, devoted to providing airline passengers with boxed meals just as the airlines were getting out of catering. 

GoPicnic eventually filed for bankruptcy as the airline interest in boxed meals waned. It was then that Stamberger discovered the natural foods industry and began looking around for ideas and brands to acquire. She’s full of angles on how to invest in natural foods. For instance, for all the media attention lavished on veggie burgers, she’ll inform you, the plant-based milk category is five times the size of fake meat. 

Regular milk has 8 grams of protein per serving, she adds. Sesame milk nearly matches that total, while almond and oat milks trail far behind with 3 grams or less. 

Mike Balkin, formerly a fund manager at William Blair in Chicago, is now CEO of Foresight Acquisition in Chicago and one of Planting Hope’s angel investors. He had been working to raise conventional private equity money for the company when somebody else hit on the idea of a public listing in Canada. “It was a very cost-effective way to raise money,” Balkin says. “We could have tried to do this over the counter in the U.S., but there is a big interest in plant-based food companies in Canada right now. We think the company will grow like crazy from here.”

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Equities tumbled around the world and Treasuries soared, with 10-year yields shedding 12 basis points. The market action looked a lot like a day in early 2020 when the pandemic was first spreading — stay-at-home stocks and vaccine makers rallied, while airlines and crude oil were crushed. 

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“This is a big shock for people waking up seeing the news and levels,” said Carl Dooley, head of EMEA trading at Cowen Inc. “Uncertainty and fear will remain high and maybe we aren’t going back to new highs straight away. But buying panic has been a good strategy, and based on today’s moves this is the biggest panic session of the year.”

There are still plenty of unknowns about the variant, first identified in South Africa and called B.1.1.529, but the speed at which officials have moved to ban travelers from hot spots took investors by surprise. Until today, the market narrative was all about inflation, interest-rate hikes and the end of central bank stimulus. Now, the pandemic is firmly in focus. 

Here’s how markets look on Friday: 

Reopening Trade Reversal

Anything to do with travel took the biggest hit. Cruise operators, plane makers and holiday booking sites accounted for the biggest losses in the S&P 500. A Barclays basket of European “vaccine beneficiaries” — which includes airlines, hotels and landlords — erased all gains for the year. 

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Scientists say the variant carries a high number of mutations in its spike protein, which plays a key role in the virus’s entry into cells in the body. It’s also what is targeted by vaccines, so if the protein changes enough, it raises concern that the mutations could make immunizations less effective.

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In South Africa, the strain “has been detected at faster rates than previous surges in infection, suggesting that this variant may have a growth advantage,” the WHO said Friday.

Preliminary evidence also suggests omicron may present a greater risk of reinfection than other variants of concern, according to the health body. 

The WHO uses “variants of concern” to signify strains that pose additional risks to global public health. So far, it has identified four of them, in addition to omicron. The WHO also calls some strains “variants of interest” if they warrant close monitoring because of their emerging risk.

South African Health Minister Joe Phaahla said Thursday the variant, first sequenced on Nov. 11, was of serious concern, and many countries followed the announcement with travel restrictions to the region. Susan Hopkins, chief medical adviser to the U.K. Health Security Agency, said the strain is the most worrying yet.

The variant has also been detected in countries including Botswana, Belgium, Israel and Hong Kong.

President Joe Biden imposed new travel restrictions on nations in southern Africa on Friday, joining efforts by other countries to try and slow the spread of the potentially potent new Covid-19 variant. The administration will restrict travel from South Africa and seven other countries starting on Monday, according to senior administration officials. In addition to South Africa, they include Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique and Malawi.

The WHO made no mention of travel curbs in its statement. Instead, it recommended countries enhance surveillance and sequencing efforts to better track and understand variants of concern, submit their findings to a publicly available database and report any cases and clusters to the WHO. 

BioNTech SE, which has partnered with Pfizer Inc. on one of the main Covid vaccines in use, said Friday it has begun studying the variant and expects the first data from laboratory tests about how it interacts with its shot within two weeks. Another vaccine maker, AstraZeneca Plc, said it’s also investigating the variant.

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(Bloomberg) — The Biden administration on Wednesday night fiercely defended the nomination of Saule Omarova as a top banking regulator after it was reported that five Democratic senators told the White House they wouldn’t support her. 

A White House official said the attacks on Omarova, a Cornell law professor who has been sharply critical of big banks and cryptocurrencies, were so unfair that they smacked of the red-baiting smears leveled by Senator Joe McCarthy in the 1950s.   

The official, who was granted anonymity to discuss the matter, added the adamant opposition from banks and Republican lawmakers was generated by fear of scrutiny, not evidence that Omarova was unqualified to run the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. 

The official, however, did not address an article by Axios earlier Wednesday that five Democratic senators had said they would not vote for her. The offices of two of the senators, Jon Tester of Montana and John Warner of Virginia declined to comment on the article. The other senators mentioned in the article were Kyrsten Sinema, and Mark Kelly of Arizona and John Hickenlooper of Colorado.

In the evenly divided Senate, their votes are essential to Omarova’s confirmation.   

The OCC, a branch of the U.S. Treasury, polices banks chartered by National Bank Act and other financial institutions.

Republicans have made an issue of Omarova, a Kazakhstan native, having grown up in Soviet times, as well as her academic papers advocating a fundamental overhaul of the financial system and her remarks about letting smaller energy companies go bankrupt as the economy turns to a greener future.

According to her biography on the Cornell Law School website, Omarova received an undergraduate degree at Moscow State University before getting a Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin and a law degree at Northwestern. 

Before joining the Cornell faculty, she worked at the Treasury during the George W. Bush administration and at Davis Polk, & Wardwell in New York.

In October, Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, the top Republican on the Banking Committee, pointed out that her college scholarship was named for Lenin. He took to the floor to demand a copy “in the original Russian” of a paper that focused on Marxism.  

Earlier this week, he told Bloomberg Television she was unacceptable because of her previous support for policies that he labeled “socialist.”

Omarova has described herself as a “free-market idealist.” 

“I know that Soviet-style communism doesn’t work,” she said. “I’ve lived through it. That system was deeply flawed. It’s dead.” 

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The acquisition will enable IncubEx to deliver innovative environmental and sustainability products and technology to the corporate risk and insurance markets, the company said. As part of the deal, Shackleton has become a minority shareholder in IncubEx.

Since its founding in 2018, Insurwave has established a significant presence in the global marine market. As part of IncubEx, the company now plans to expand across other major geographies and lines of business, including property, liability and energy.

“Our view is that insurance and climate risk are becoming inextricably linked,” said Neil Eckert, chairman of IncubEx. “The sector will continue to see expanding opportunities as a result of climate change, with increasingly complex supply-chain risks in the corporate and captive markets. Our clients will need solutions to manage their transition to net-zero across insurance and financial markets, and it is critical that we provide the technology to focus on connecting them with brokers and the markets.”

“We are delighted to have invested in and supported Insurwave on this journey, enabling its transition to a standalone business,” said Rodney Bonnard, director of Shackleton and partner at Ernst & Young. “Given the strategic alignment, it’s the perfect time for Insurwave to develop further as part of IncubEx, and we extend best wishes for future success.”

Read next: Which technologies inject the most value into the insurance supply chain?

“IncubEx has historically been focused on bringing innovative products and solutions to the environmental markets,” said Michael MacGregor, CEO of IncubEx. “With the acquisition of Insurwave, we add proven technology that addresses a customer base that is increasingly in need of new products and services that digitize information, improve data access and streamline transaction processes. We are eager to unlock the potential of the Insurwave platform alongside IncubEx’s core focus on global environmental and climate risk market opportunities.”

“Large-scale insurance buyers are demanding technology that provides a simple and transparent solution for understanding their exposures and connecting with their insurance markets,” said David Power, CEO of Insurwave. “Clients require platforms that openly integrate with internal systems and external data. We are excited to see a genuine transformation for insurance buyers, brokers and insurers by embracing the Insurwave platform that connects to their exposures, contracts and markets today.”

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Illinois is not immune from a changing climate. The Environmental Protection Agency’s assessment for Illinois predicts that climate change will lead to more intense precipitation and flooding events in the spring and more intense heat and drought in the summer. These changes will lead to higher incidence of flooded farmland: Our area experienced 500-year floods in 2011, 2017 and 2019. We will also face challenges to management of water resources, increased heat-related deaths, and ecosystem stresses in Lake Michigan.

If current global climate policies to reduce emissions are not strengthened, this 1°C (1.8° F) temperature increase will at least triple by the end of this century and corresponding damages will increase even more. As the IMF recently stated, “Without further action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the planet is on course to reach temperatures not seen in millions of years, with potentially catastrophic implications.”

This cannot be our future or the future we leave to our children.

But a simple, effective solution, one that is broadly favored by economists, can stabilize climate risk, increase job opportunities, improve public health, and provide a financial benefit to the most vulnerable in our society. The solution is explained in the “largest public statement of economists in history,” signed by all living chairs of the Federal Reserve, 28 Nobel Laureates, and over 3,500 other economists. It is to simply put a fee on carbon pollution and then return all funds raised directly to households in the form of “carbon dividends.”

This solution, commonly referred to as “carbon fee and dividend,” is favored by economists because it “offers the most cost-effective lever to reduce carbon emissions at the scale and speed that is necessary.” By creating a financial incentive for all consumers and producers to reduce carbon emissions, it will send a powerful price signal that steers economic actors towards a low-carbon future.

Because this policy does not ban any particular activities or mandate any particular mitigation behavior, it allows consumers and producers the freedom and flexibility to reduce emissions in the way that is best for them. Reductions are achieved at least cost to the economy. In fact, the IMF report cited earlier shows that a strong carbon fee and dividend policy will lead to a small increase in GDP in the near-term and improve it dramatically in future decades as tremendous climate-related damages are avoided.

Further, it states that this type of market-based policy will have a “net positive effect” on employment. And as carbon and other pollutants are reduced, the policy greatly improves our health and saves tens of thousands of lives each year.

Finally, this approach provides a direct monetary payment to all Americans, including the poorest among us. Simply by charging a fee for pollution and returning all funds to the American people, “The majority of American families, including the most vulnerable, will benefit financially by receiving more in ‘carbon dividends’ than they pay in increased energy prices.”

We agree: A carbon fee and dividend policy is a clear win-win for America. We can stabilize climate risk, improve the economy, increase job opportunities in the industries of the future, improve our health and help the most vulnerable, all with one policy. The time to tackle climate change is now, and carbon fee and dividend should be the centerpiece.

Christopher Clapp, Ph.D.
University of Chicago

Tatyana Deryugina, Ph.D.
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Ali Fatemi, Ph.D.
DePaul University

Don Fullerton, Ph.D.
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Animesh Ghoshal, Ph.D.
DePaul University

Dean Karlan, Ph.D.
Northwestern University

Madhu Khanna, Ph.D.
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

John List, Ph.D.
University of Chicago

Jason Long, Ph.D.
Wheaton College

Benjamin Marx, Ph.D.
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Robert McDonald, Ph.D.
Northwestern University

Filippo Mezzanotti, Ph.D.
Northwestern University

George Pennacchi, Ph.D.
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Mark Potosnak, Ph.D.
DePaul University

Elizabeth Powers, Ph.D.
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Salim Rashid, Ph.D.
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Christopher Roark, Ph.D.
University of Chicago

Jeffrey Sundberg, Ph.D.
Lake Forest College

Khairy Tourk, Ph.D.
Illinois Institute of Technology

Christopher Udry, Ph.D.
Northwestern University

Richard Wiltgen, Ph.D.
DePaul University

Mark Witte, Ph.D.
Northwestern University

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Chicago’s business community has been through a blistering 20 month span: COVID shutdowns, civil unrest, an employment landscape that is still shaking itself out, and like many other big cities, a surge in crime. That translates to an always-full plate for Deputy Mayor Samir Mayekar, Lori Lightfoot’s point man on economic and neighborhood development.

Mayekar, ever-upbeat and on-message, is bullish about a booming return to the workplace in January and the strength of the five Chicago casino bids. He teased further announcements on Chicago’s film scene (after the sale of Cinespace), food innovation industry (Nature’s Fynd just unveiled a 200,000 square foot local facility), and the relocation of a medium-sized Texas company to Chicago (following the city’s ad campaign). He also said the city is developing a suite of sweeteners to help older downtown buildings spruce up or switch to residential with the help of the 80/20 bill that recently passed the Illinois General Assembly. 

Even on Chicago’s crime numbers—murders are up 59% compared to 2019 and shooting incidents are up 67%—Mayekar contends Chicago gets high marks for engagement from the corporate community and that crime has not bruised the local economy. “That’s why we had 160 companies this year relocate or expand in Chicago. We set records of venture capital raised, over $7 billion. We created 12 unicorns this year. That’s not to offset the fact that we need to be very focused on public safety,” Mayekar says on the latest episode of “A.D. Q&A,” the Tuesday edition of Juice. “The only way, long-term—in my opinion—to tackle that, is to create opportunity, to create jobs, to build home ownership, and to provide those basic amenities in South and West Side neighborhoods that people have in other parts of the city. That is our duty in City Hall, and that’s long-term what’s going to move the needle.” 

Click on the image below to listen:

On one significant potential potential hit to Chicago’s economy – the loss of the Chicago Bears to the suburbs—Mayekar was similarly optimistic, arguing cities have more to offer NFL teams than the suburbs. He didn’t deny the Bears’ wishlist included naming rights, a Jumbotron, new seats, and a sportsbook, but echoed Lightfoot’s line that the taxpayer shouldn’t be put on the hook for it. “Part of reform is making sure we’re protecting the taxpayer.”

Mayekar also talks about his time on paternity leave, the CEOs and Chicago companies to watch, and how COVID affected the mayor’s signature Invest South/West program.

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Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is donating $100 million to the Obama Foundation “to help expand the scope of programming that reaches emerging leaders in the United States and around the world,” the foundation announced today.

The donation, the foundation’s biggest individual contribution to this point, was made in honor of the late civil rights activist Congressman John Lewis. As part of the gift, the Obama Presidential Center’s plaza will be named after Lewis.

“Freedom fighters deserve a special place in the pantheon of heroes, and I can’t think of a more fitting person to honor with this gift than John Lewis, a great American leader and a man of extraordinary decency and courage,” Bezos said in an Obama Foundation release. “I’m thrilled to support President and Mrs. Obama and their Foundation in its mission to train and inspire tomorrow’s leaders.”

More to come.

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Neiman Marcus located at 737 N Michigan Ave.

No, you’re not experiencing deja vu…

Less than a week after the store was taken for $30,000 in handbags by a smaller group of 4 unidentified men, authorities say a larger group numbered between 10-15 unidentified suspects targeted the Mag Mile’s Neiman Marcus…again.

This week’s theft occurred at approximately 6:45 p.m. at the Neiman Marcus at 737 N Michigan Ave on Chicago’s Magnificent Mile.

Authorities say 3 vehicles pulled up outside and a large group grabbed as much merchandise as they could before fleeing in the 3 vehicles. Initial estimates of the group’s size was up to 15 suspects.

Initial eyewitness reports described the vehicles as a red Dodge Charger, a dark gray sedan with heavy tints, and either a black or brown new model Dodge Durango.

You may recall the description of this classic grab-and-run sounds remarkably similar to the Oakbrook Center Louis Vuitton incident that happened a mere 3 days ago in which a large group of unidentified suspects in 3 vehicles were able to escape with $100,000 in merchandise. But, we want to be clear, those are our words and not those of the Chicago Police or any investigators.

An estimate of the value of the merchandise taken from Neiman Marcus this time was not immediately available, as inventory had yet to be counted.

There were no reported injuries and Area Three detectives are investigating.

The Neiman Marcus has been located on Michigan Avenue since 1983 and, it deserves to be noted, that the owner of this property put the building up for sale just over one month ago.

Other outlets have reported this theft as having something to do with the Kyle Rittenhouse verdict. We strongly disagree with the implication this theft had anything to do with looting, rioting, or protest over the verdict. Again, those are the words of the Chicago Journal and not the words of investigators.

Notes & References

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