2018 May Issue

  By DENNIS GRUBAUGH    GRANITE CITY — Construction has begun on a 14,400-square-foot building for icon Mechanical, a growing company that continues to bring new life into the city’s aging downtown core.    It will be the latest building in the company’s campus, which is spread over several blocks. This building is going up in the…

  By DENNIS GRUBAUGH    Resurrection of some processing units and the return of workers at U.S. Steel’s Granite City Works have the plant’s manager optimistic about the future.    Businessmen got a rare bit of insight into the company’s plans when Michael Patton spoke to a crowd assembled for the Business and Industrial Appreciation Evening held…

By ALAN J. ORTBALS    Which counties are getting the biggest bang for their tax buck? In Illinois, Madison, Monroe and St. Clair all rank in the top 10, according to a recent report by Smart Asset, a personal finance technology company headquartered in New York, N.Y.    “We’re a personal finance technology company,” said A. J.…

 Photos courtesy Manis Studio  By DENNIS GRUBAUGH    One is CEO of his own company. Another started as a delivery driver and worked his way up. Still another is a rising star in the legal community and a civic leader at that.    They are among a group of 20 young men and women apparently destined for…

Clearly a benefit: Protectionist countries risk harming themselves By DR. AYSE EVRENSEL    Since the ideology of Mercantilism appeared in the 16th century Europe, sentiments against free trade have been part of our lives. More than 400 years ago, mercantilists thought that international trade was a zero-sum game. The winner was the exporting country; the loser…

Free trade is a fiction that makes America weak and poor By MICHAEL STUMO    Most of what we read about trade is wrong.    I used to think free trade was simply the wrong choice for America. The North American Free Trade Agreement always seemed like a bad idea. My relatives lost their agricultural jobs when…

    IBJ: You were honored this year by the Greater Belleville Area Chamber of Commerce for your years spent on Art on the Square. That was a real honor for you, wasn’t it?         Gregory: It always takes a whole community and a village to put the show together. I was honored by that, it…