Illinois Business Journal Illinois Business Journal
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Ameren, power brokers dominate Illinois' electric rate auction
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The Illinois Commerce Commission conducted a reverse auction last September to determine suppliers and set rates for power. The Ameren companies subsequently entered into contracts with the suppliers shown above.		 . By ALAN J. ORTBALS
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   Nearly 40 percent of the power being purchased by Ameren's Illinois companies as a result of the reverse auction held last September is being supplied by commodities brokers, according to a report issued last December by NERA Economic Consulting. NERA was the consulting firm hired by the Illinois Commerce Commission to manage the auction process.
   Names familiar in the investment banking field - Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan and J. Aron (a subsidiary of Goldman Sachs) - garnered about 10 percent of Ameren's business. Constellation Energy Commodities Group Inc. is supplying another [continue]

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Billions of dollars pour into bi-state construction projects in 2007
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By KERRY L. SMITH
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   There is more than $13.1 billion worth of large-scale commercial construction taking place in the St. Louis metropolitan area right now.
   That's an impressive amount of capital investment in the region, economists and trades union representatives agree - one that carries with it an economic impact of more than $10 million.
   And the list totaling the $13.5 billion is really an informal tally compiled by the Carpenters' District Council of Greater Saint Louis and Vicinity and the Illinois Business Journal - a compilation of both [continue]
Workers make progress on the Pinnacle Casino downtown as the project reaches the halfway point. At least $13 billion worth of construction projects of $100 million and up are under way in Southwestern Illinois and St. Louis this year.
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Case pending in Illinois Supreme Court could overturn med mal caps supreme court
By LAURA REED

   A lawsuit filed in Cook County on behalf of Abigaile LeBron, an infant who is allegedly suffering from mental impairment as a result of negligence during childbirth, is the first to challenge medical malpractice caps in the state of Illinois since a new caps law was passed nearly two years ago.
   The LeBron case has been filed with the Illinois Supreme Court and is awaiting a decision.
   In June 2005, medical litigation reform cleared the Illinois General Assembly and took effect when signed into law in August 2005. Backed by doctors and hospitals who said that settlement caps would combat spiraling malpractice insurance rates, the centerpiece of the law places a $500,000 cap on noneconomic damages (the amount awarded for pain and suffering) for physicians and a $1 million cap for hospitals.
   The Illinois Trial Lawyers Association is challenging the law using the LeBron case as its ammunition in its shot to show that caps are unfair and unconstitutional. LeBron was born in October 2005 and must now be fed through a tube as a result of permanent brain damage allegedly suffered at birth. The ITLA is joined by the NAACP, AFL-CIO, Illinois Legislative Black Caucus, Illinois Reliance for the Retired Americans and more in its fight to overturn the caps.
   According to Bruce Kohen, president of the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association, medical malpractice caps unfairly discriminate against women, children, minorities and [continue]