Sean Crawford talks with State Journal-Register Business Editor Tim Landis.
This week:
* Video gambling lawsuit - Gaming parlor owners in Cook County are challenging constitutionality of profit-sharing requirement in state law (between machine operators and local restaurant owners etc); a lot at stake for Springfield, which continues to lead the state in numbers of terminals and locations.
* Gordman's - Might stay open after all. Stage Stores Inc., discount retailer based in Houston, plans to take over leases up up to 57 stores with Springfield among the possibilities.
* Legacy Pointe - Hotel, outlet mall continue to work through the planning process, but no construction schedule for the site at MacArthur Boulevard and I-72. One unusual twist: the Ball-Chatham School Board turned down relatively small property tax break for the hotel because of uncertainty over state budget.
*Galesburg lab - The state's only animal disease testing lab to close at the end of the month. It played a key role during bird flu, swine flu outbreak. At one point it did more than 400,000 tests a month. The duties are being moved to U of I vet school after the state couldn't find replacements for veterinary pathologists.
