The crosstown subway, under construction since 1968, has been compared to the Loch Ness monster: it's supposedly under the water but never appears.
The Chicago Merc is reacting in part to competitive pressure from its crosstown rival, the Chicago Board of Trade.
Predictably, some motorists were not amused, laying on their horns as crosstown traffic came to a stop.
U.S. District Judge John H. Moore II, in a decision issued Tuesday, lifted the 17-year-old desegregation order that ushered in crosstown busing.
Mr. Brennan's younger brother Bernard used the meat ax approach to revive profits at crosstown rival Montgomery Ward & Co. Edward Brennan's move back into retailing is certain to invite comparisons of the brothers' strategies.
Phones for 35,000 customers were dead indefinitely, silencing the simple crosstown call or the long-distance business deal. Limited local service has since been restored, but calls outside the immediate area are hit or miss.