Sean Crawford talks with State Journal-Register Business Editor Tim Landis.
This week:
* Pillsbury Mills cleanup: Should finish this week; nine months, $1.8 million and a whole bunch of asbestos taken out; future of site now will be decided by the courts.
* East side TIF districts: Mayor Jim Langfelder wants to extend the Far East Side TIF (scheduled to expire in February) and to expand Madison Park Place TIF to boost lagging residential-retail development in some areas (for example, 11th and South Grand with recent retail vacancies).
* Ashley Furniture Homestore of Springfield plans to open a "satellite" store in Jacksonville near the end of the year; part of the parent company targeting smaller, mid-size markets with smaller versions of regular retail.
* Dicamba rules: U.S. EPA has set stricter rules for use of the popular herbicide, after complaints from farmers across the Midwest of damage to soybeans, including nearly 250 filed with Illinois Department of Ag.