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From Allstate, CME Group and McDonald's to Motorola Mobility and Walgreens Boots Alliance, it's hard to think of a big company in metro Chicago that's not cutting head office staff. Corporate headquarters operations that created good jobs for generations of Chicagoans have turned into drivers of unemployment in recent years. Total headcount at Chicago's 10 biggest companies fell 5.6 percent last year. And data from Chicago outplacement firm Challenger Gray & Christmas show big, locally based companies contributing an outsized share of nearly 90,000 layoffs in Illinois since 2013. Kraft Heinz joined the parade on Aug. 12, cutting 700 of...

Full title--- America's favorite fast food chain is Chick-fil-a while McDonald's is at the bottom of the heap in new survey The annual American Consumer Satisfaction index polled 70,000 people for their opinions on various consumer offerings, including fast food. In its first year on the index, the Southern-born, Christian-run sandwich chain debuted at the top.

Robert McDonald, who took over VA last year, says he 'reacted wrongly'Secretary told homeless man that he also served in Army Special ForcesWhite House says McDonald 'never intended to misrepresent' his service   Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald has admitted that he lied about serving in the military's special forces. 'Special Forces? What years? I was in special forces,' McDonald said when a homeless man told him he had served among the Army's elite troops. The late January comments were caught on camera for a CBS piece about the continued large numbers of homeless veterans.

The Veterans Affairs secretary lied about serving in the special forces, a report in the Huffington Post alleges. "Robert McDonald, the secretary of veterans affairs, wrongly claimed in a videotaped comment earlier this year that he served in special operations forces, the most elite units in the armed forces, when his military service of five years was spent almost entirely with the 82nd Airborne Division during the late 1970s," the report reads. U.S. special operations forces (SOF) are composed of exhaustively trained and highly capable troops from each military service, including the Green Berets, Army Rangers, Delta Force and Navy SEALs --...

Rapper Big Paybacc has been shot dead while eating his lunch in a McDonald's near Los Angeles. The star, whose 2011 track Gangsta Luv has been viewed more than 250,000 times on YouTube, was gunned down by an attacker who walked in and opened fire. Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Deputy Guillermina Saldana said: "It appears to detectives that the victim was the intended target and that this was not a random shooting." The victim was identified officially as 38-year-old Habeeb Ameer Zekajj, the rapper's real name. Big Paybacc was connected to former G-Unit artist Spider Loc.

Likened to 'packing foam' and 'gray IKEA furniture' the McDonald's McRib patty came under scrutiny last year after one was photographed on the production line minus sauce and pickles. But now the fast food giant is hoping to get people 'lovin" its seasonal treat again by showing exactly how the boneless, preformed morsel is made. A new behind-the-scenes video takes viewers inside the Lopez Foods production facility in Oklahoma City where giant chunks of pork are ground down - no packing foam in sight.

The VA Inspector has been investigating the deaths for months and has now shared draft of his findings with Top Officials. The new VA Secretary McDonald said: "It is important to note" that while the report documents deficiencies in quality and substantial delays in care, OIG was unable to conclusively assert that the absence of quality or care directly caused the death of any these victims. This May, the inspector found that 1,700 veterans, waiting for primary care appointments at the Phoenix VA, did not show up on the wait list. An additional 1,800 will have to wait at three...

President Obama plans to nominate former Procter and Gamble executive Robert McDonald to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs, sources confirm to Fox News.

The Sierra Vista Historical Society will dedicate a new historical plaque for its “An Historic Treasure Hunt; Sierra Vista’s Unique Past” at 11:30 a.m., Saturday, April 26, at the McDonald’s Restaurant, 1802 E. Fry Blvd., Sierra Vista. In November 1973, McDonald’s built its first Sierra Vista location adjacent to one of the largest military posts in the United States. While a significant number of its patrons were soldiers stationed at Fort Huachuca, by 1974 a new U.S. Army regulation governing uniform decorum prohibited soldiers from entering local businesses while wearing their fatigues. The fast food chain responded by opening its...

If Rufus McDonald were white, you'd already know his name, and he'd be on the path to pushing George Zimmerman aside as the most hated man in America. But because he is black, you probably have never heard of him, unless you live in Chicago. You see, Mr. McDonald was cleaning out an attic and discovered some papers. As Kim Janssen of the Chicago Sun-Times reported Tuesday: Hidden in a dusty trunk in an abandoned and looted Englewood home, the papers of Harvard's first black graduate, Richard T. Greener, had long been thought lost to history. (snip) Several museums and...

As most of you have read or seen by now, a journalist and NBC/MSNBC media consultant named William “Bill” Arkin has created quite a stir by viciously insulting American soldiers in Iraq. He wrote at his Washington Post blog, “Early Warning: William M. Arkin on National and Homeland Security” column (1/30/07), that “… this NBC (Nightly News) report is just an ugly reminder of the price we pay for a mercenary - oops sorry, volunteer force that thinks it is doing the dirty work” re Iraq. The “report,” according to Arkin, featured “a number of soldiers (who) expressed frustration with...

--EMBEDDED PDF HERE-- In an opinion issued today in the Illinois case of Moore v. Madigan, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals held that the Second Amendment “right to keep and bear arms for the purpose of self-defense … implies a right to carry a loaded gun outside the home.” --IMAGE HERE-- The opinion is a joy to read as Judge Posner proceeds to shred the historical and public policy arguments against carry put forward by Illinois. Here are some examples to warm your heart on this cold December afternoon: Both Heller and McDonald do say that “the need for...

USA --(Ammoland.com)- Otis McDonald, born and raised amidst the hardships of sharecropping in the cotton fields of Fort Necessity, Louisiana, overcame poverty and social prejudice to become the first in his family to earn a college degree and rise to the relative comfort of America’s middle class. With drug and gang activity on the rise in Chicago, McDonald’s home has become increasingly threatened by violent crime. With no other intent but to defend his family against life-threatening intrusion, McDonald encounters the dichotomy of gun-wielding criminals and a Chicago statute limiting the purchase of handguns. As lead petitioner in a Supreme...

ALBANY, NY — Sen. Roy McDonald will announce Thursday that he will not push forward with a third-party campaign, two people familiar with this campaign said. One source said McDonald, a two-term Republican incumbent who lost a GOP primary to Saratoga County Clerk Kathy Marchione, made his decision "for the good of the party." He has been largely silent since the Sept. 13 primary, as he weighed whether to push toward the November general election on the Independence Party line, which he secured over the summer. While she always maintained her platform was broader, Marchione's challenge to McDonald was shaped...

Hudson, NY - Kathy Marchione, who has been Saratoga County Clerk since 1997, decided to challenge state Sen. Roy McDonald in the Republican primary for the 43rd District seat in part due to his 2011 vote in favor of same sex marriage in the state. “I would not have voted for gay marriage,” Marchione said in a phone interview last week. “He actually told people he was voting no and then he voted yes. I won’t tell people something and do something else.” Marchione calls herself a “true conservative” and said her belief is that the definition of marriage is...

'TROY, N.Y. — Before State Senator Roy J. McDonald, a Republican, voted last year to legalize same-sex marriage, he told reporters that anyone unhappy with his position could “take the job and shove it.” Now comes the test.' 'Mr. McDonald’s challenger, Kathleen A. Marchione, the Saratoga County clerk, is running an insurgent campaign, dialing voters from a windowless office next to a Subway sandwich shop. She accuses Mr. McDonald of having deceived the voters who elected him by changing his position on same-sex marriage, which he voted to oppose in the past. “People feel betrayed,” Ms. Marchione said. “I’ve heard...

Republicans and Conservatives looking for a truly pro-family candidate on Primary Day, Thursday, Sept. 13, will vote for Roy McDonald. Sen. McDonald is not only the proven friend of families in our community, he is the No. 1 leader whose dedication and vision have helped our families to a better life. snip As senator, Roy has continued his dedication to the well-being of families, especially by sponsoring and seeing approved major legislation to assist individuals with disabilities. Sen. Roy McDonald has been doing right by our community, our families, for a long time. Let’s keep him on the job.

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: By the way, did you hear what Michelle did? Gabby Douglas was on the Leno show, The Tonight Show. You gotta hear this. Gold medal gymnast, Gabby Douglas. She's on The Tonight Show with Michelle (My Belle) Obama. Leno says, "Gabby after you won your gold medal, how did you celebrate? What did you do?" DOUGLAS: After the competition, I splurged on a Egg McMuffin... LENO: Egg McMuffin! DOUGLAS: ...at McDonald's. (laughter) Michelle Obama Scolds Olympics Hero Gabby Douglas for Eating an Egg McMuffinOBAMA: Gabby, we don't... LENO: Egg McMuffin! OBAMA: ... don’t encourage him! I'm sure...

U.S. District Court Holds that NRA is Entitled to Attorneys' Fees for Lawsuits Against Chicago and Oak Park, Illinois Fairfax, Va. –  The United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division has conclusively held that the National Rifle Association has the right to recover attorneys' fees in the case of National Rifle Association v. City of Chicago and National Rifle Association v. Village of Oak Park, in which the NRA was a prevailing party. This District Court's decision, which held that the NRA is entitled to over $1.3 million in fees, follows a similar ruling by...

On May 17, Otis McDonald spoke at an Illinois NAACP office about the issues of gun rights. The chapter president invited Otis to speak because he felt it was important to let his fellow members hear both sides of the argument, especially considering that African Americans traditionally support guns less than whites do. A lot of you probably won't recognize Otis' name, but he was the lead plaintiff in the McDonald vs Chicago US Supreme Court case. The Court ruled that the Second Amendment also applied to the states, because as Justice Samuel A. Alito put it, rights that are...