Bruno’s Quick Bites

Recently reviewed restaurants by dining critic Pat Bruno. (Star ratings: ★★★★ Extraordinary; ★★★ Excellent; ★★ Very Good; ★ Good; Zero stars: Poor)

The Bedford, 1612 W. Division; (773) 235-8800; bedfordchicago.com. The Bedford serves modern contemporary cuisine in what once was the lower level of a bank. The vault door and other bank fixtures are part of the restaurant decor, and the atmosphere is modern and quite nice. Can you bank on the food? Yes, but it's not going to light up the night sky with culinary fireworks. Try the fava bean crostini, mussels, seasonal soup and pork chop. ★★ (Reviewed Aug. 5)

Porkchop, 941 W. Randolph; (312) 733-9333; pork chopchicago.com. …

CLYDE THE CAMEL

With his 'parents' Gary and Renae Drake

Clyde is a pretty popular attraction in December. For most of his 11 years, he has been a regular fixture at living nativities and holiday festivals across the Treasure Valley. His owners, Gary and Renae Drake of Nampa, transport Clyde in a makeshift wagon to dozens of events each year (almost always for free). Gary, a metal fabricator and self-professed "jack of all trades," loves his one-on-one time with Clyde and sharing him with his kids and grandkids. But when the holidays come around, he and Renae are passionate about sharing their "family member" with the young and the young-at-heart.

Do you have an array of …

Ronald Reagan's son seeks memorial for 1987 speech urging the Berlin Wall be torn down

Former U.S. presidents John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan both made landmark Cold War speeches in Berlin, but while Kennedy is remembered with a city square, a museum and a school, traces of Reagan are harder to find.

Michael Reagan, his son, hopes to change that.

Reagan wants Berlin to build a memorial to his father, who as U.S. president from 1981-1989 exhorted Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall.

In a June 12, 1987 speech at the Brandenburg Gate, Ronald Reagan stood before throngs of West Berliners in front of the wall and implored Gorbachev to end the Cold War.

"Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate," …

Footfalls aren't falling ; Soaring inflation hasn't quite transformed mall rats into house mice not yet.

Last fortnight, Noel Tata, Managing Director, Trent Ltd, flaggedoff its 4th hypermarket format, a Star Bazaar flagship store, insuburban Mumbai. This is the second such store in Mumbai.

Spread over 75,000 sq. ft, the store will stock everything fromessentials to niche items like exotic cuisines at an internationalfood section, a live bakery and a deli section. The Tata company'sStar Bazaar is, doubtless, yet another gleaming temple of modern-day India. Yet, at a time when inflation is raging and consumersentiment isn't at its zenith, the timing of the launch could bequestioned. Tata, for his part, doesn't see any cause for shilly-shallying. It is not risky to open a store …

Carl G. Stockholm, Businessman

Carl G. Stockholm, 99, a businessman and bicycle racingchampion who helped bring the U-505 submarine to Chicago, died Sundayat his vacation home in Walnut Creek, Calif.

A River Forest resident, he founded Stockholm Cleaners, whichat one time had two plants and more than 20 stores throughout thearea, in the 1930s. For Chicago's Century of Progress World's Fairin 1933, he designed a glass-enclosed state-of-the-art dry cleaningplant.

He sold the business in the 1960s but bought a small chain,O'Connor Cleaners, in the River Forest-Oak Park area. He sold thatgroup in the 1980s. In later years, he concentrated on real estateinvesting and developing.Along with …

China hikes bank reserves in move to cool lending

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese banks were ordered to set aside more reserves Wednesday in a new move to curb lending as Beijing tries to cool rising inflation.

The central bank's order came on the eve of Thursday's release of figures that are expected to show inflation surged past 4 percent in October, above the government's 3 percent target. September inflation was 3.6 percent.

Consumer prices are especially sensitive in a society where poor families spend up to half their incomes on food. Rising incomes have helped to offset price hikes, but chronic inflation erodes the value of savings and raises the prospect of unrest.

While other governments try to shore up weak growth, …

How states fared on jobless claims, at a glance

The Labor Department said Thursday that new claims for jobless benefits fell modestly last week, a sign the job market is slowly healing as the economy recovers.

Here's a look at the states with the biggest changes in initial jobless claims, and some of the reasons for the shifts. The state data is for the week ending April 24, one week behind the nationwide figures.

States reporting the largest increases in claims:

California: up 6,418, due to layoffs in the service industry

Massachusetts: up 4,526, due to layoffs in the transportation, warehousing, and service industries

Oregon: up 3,117

…