Drop the Mask in your business? After a year of employee and customer mask requirements being a no-brainer for small businesses, the CDC’s recent change in guidance that those who have become fully vaccinated against COVID-19 need not wear masks in many public settings has required business owners to put…
SBA Restaurant Revitalization Fund Eligible restaurants and other dining establishments are entitled to apply to the U.S. Small Business Administration for a $28.6 billion grant program under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, as established in section 5003 of the legislation. The SBA recently released a Program Guide that…
New County Ordinance, Supreme Court Orders to Impact Landlords Landlords in Illinois, especially those in non-home-rule portions of Cook County, will face a raft of changes this spring in the wake of three state Supreme Court orders issued in late February, and a new ordinance passed by the Cook County…
Are virtual business transactions the new reality? Once consummated in title company conference rooms amid seemingly bottomless stacks of paper, real estate transactions—like seemingly every other aspect of our lives—have gone virtual during the pandemic. While some home buyers opt to continue in-person closings where possible, others are either giving…
Crypto economy has arrived. An actual physical bank will soon be providing the full slate of deposit-taking, custody and fiduciary services for cryptocurrency such as bitcoin. The Cheyenne, Wyoming-based Kraken Financial on September 16 became the first digital asset firm in the U.S. to obtain…
State Requires Sexual Harassment Prevention Training If you’re a small business owner and you haven’t trained your employees on sexual harassment prevention, you have until December 31 to stay in compliance with Public Act 101-0221, which amended the Illinois Human Rights Act to require such training this year and every…
Tenant Evictions Updated October 19 Gov. J.B. Pritzker issued an executive order on October 16 extending the statewide moratorium on residential evictions for another 30 days. Pritzker first put a hold on residential evictions through an executive order on March 20, the same day he issued a statewide stay-at-home order…
Is commercial real estate set to rebound after 2020? The pandemic and resulting stay-at-home orders from governments and private employers has upended the commercial real estate market on a number of fronts. And we are now looking square into the Pandemic Recession which has just begun. For now, it’s merely…
How private is your cell phone? Smartphones provide all kinds of information that advertisers might find useful, including the user’s locations throughout the day. While this information is aggregated and anonymized—excluding names and other identifiers—it’s possible that hackers or other malevolent actors could gain access to a user’s raw data.…
The Key to Surviving as a Small Business How can your business – and you – survive the COVID-19 pandemic? It’s a tall order. But small business owners have means of surviving. The corollary shutdowns have impacted 20% of small businesses, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and restrictions…