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   CHICAGO (AP) -- Bernard "Bernie" Sahlins, who co-founded Chicago's Second City theater and who nurtured the early careers of many of the earliest stars of "Saturday Night Live," died Sunday. He was 90.

   Andrew Alexander, one of Second City's current owners and its CEO, told The Associated Press that Sahlins died peacefully at his Chicago home with his family nearby. He is survived by his wife, Jane Nicholl Sahlins.

   Sahlins and business partners Howard Alk and Paul Sills opened The Second City in December 1959, and it quickly gained national attention and helped establish Chicago as a vibrant comedy town, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

   The Second City wasn't Sahlins' first attempt at running a theater. He was a producer-investor in a theater troupe in the early 1950s that was comprised of many fellow University of Chicago graduates, and he and several business partners produced plays at the Studebaker Theater from October 1956 until the following year, when it had to close due to a lack of funding.

   In his 2002 memoir, "Days and Nights at the Second City," Sahlins wrote that he, Alk and Sills hadn't set out to build another theater.

   "We had been burned enough times doing that. This was still the Beat generation, and we started out to found a coffee house where we idlers, including the actors whom we had with for years, could loll around and put the world in its proper place."

   But The Second City caught on within months of opening, despite some early money problems and other issues, and it became instrumental in the growth and development of improvisational and sketch comedy.

   Sahlins had an eye for talent, and he hired and nurtured the early careers of such future stars as John and Jim Belushi, Joan Rivers, Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray, Gilda Radner and Harold Ramis, among others.

   Shortly after "Saturday Night Live" began airing in the fall of 1975, Second City became a breeding ground for the show. According to Second City producer emeritus Joyce Sloane, who died in 2011, Sahlins once half-jokingly commanded her to lock "SNL" creator and producer Lorne Michaels out of the building, the Sun-Times reported.

   Alexander, who along with business partner Len Stuart bought The Second City from Sahlins in 1985, according to the theater's website, told the AP that Sahlins will be remembered for always urging performers to work at the top of their intellect, and that this is still preached at the theater today.

   "You think about that theater, and think of all the stars that came out of it ... from Belushi to Aykroyd to Allan Arkin. It's extraordinary, the amount of talented people that came out of it," Alexander said.

St. Louis-based Enterprise Holdings is expanding its presence in the largest city in the Midwest.

Enterprise announced the purchase of IGO--a non-profit car-sharing company in Chicago. IGO was created as a pilot program to encourage city residents to use multiple forms of transportation and lower family's transportation costs.

This is not the first foray into car-sharing for Enterprise. They also purchased Mint Cars On-Demand in Boston and PhillyCarShare in Philadelphia. Every IGO employee has been offered a job with Enterprise. 

 

CHICAGO (AP) - An attorney for an 87-year-old grandmother who accuses Donald Trump of cheating her in a condo deal has told jurors the "Apprentice" star lied on the witness stand.

The accusation came as closing arguments began Wednesday in the week-old trial in Chicago.

Plaintiff attorney Shelly Kulwin told jurors Trump stepped on the stand before them "to lie, evade and spout infomercials."

His voice rising, he portrayed the case as a battle between an honest woman and a powerful billionaire. He said only in other countries are the powerful guaranteed to prevail at trial. He boomed, "Not in America!"

Jacqueline Goldberg alleges that Trump cheated her when she bought properties at the Trump International Hotel & Tower in Chicago. Trump has denied the allegations.

Jurors will withdraw to deliberate later Wednesday.

   SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) - Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn is holding fast to his position that legislation calling for the carrying of concealed weapons should allow city governments to decide their own standards.

   But the Democratic governor's preference goes against lawmakers, who have given such ideas a chilly reception.

   The General Assembly has until June 9 to end Illinois' last-in-the-nation ban on concealed carry because of a federal appeals court ruling.

   Quinn wants larger cities such as Chicago to be able to set up their own standards for gun-toting citizens.

   Gun-rights advocates say that would create a confusing "patchwork" of laws and put gun owners in jeopardy.

   A plan in the Senate would give Chicago-area police the ability to deny gun permits. Gun owners and Republicans are cool to the idea.

 

CHICAGO (AP) - State Treasurer Dan Rutherford says Texas Gov. Rick Perry has a point in picking out Illinois' financial problems, but Illinois businesses should stay put.

Perry is in Chicago to try and lure Illinois companies to Texas. He wants competition between the states and says Texas is a better place for companies. The Republican former presidential candidate is meeting with companies and speaking at a bioscience conference. He's made a similar trip to California.

But Illinois Republicans aren't so thrilled by the trip.

Rutherford is a Republican and considering a 2014 run for governor.  He says Perry's attempt to poach businesses should "sound an alarm to state leaders."

He says Illinois has the factors it needs for a good business climate, but it should address its nearly $100 billion pension problem.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — A key Illinois senator says legislation allowing public gun possession will carve out an exception for Chicago.

Republican Senator Tim Bivins says the measure he and Democratic Senator Kwame Raoul negotiated would allow Cook County authorities to deny a concealed carry permit even if an applicant passes the required background checks.

The former county sheriff from Dixon says the rest of the state would be governed by a so-called "shall issue" law — anyone meeting requirements would get a carry permit.

Bivins says the bill is being written. He says it's not ideal but gun-rights advocates have to compromise.

A federal court has ordered Illinois to adopt a concealed carry law by June 9th.

A statewide "shall issue" bill failed Thursday in the House.

St. Louis based Anheuser-Busch has agreed to sell its stake in City Beverage, its largest distributor in Chicago. It's part of legislation that would end a multiyear battle over how alcohol is regulated in Illinois.

The Chicago Tribune reports the agreement appears in a bill expected to exit the Illinois House this week. A-B has until Jan. 1, 2015, to sell its interest in the distributorship.

     Mark Bordas, A-B's region vice president of state affairs, said in a statement, "Anheuser-Busch is pleased with the agreement reached with the Illinois legislature as it related to our minority investment in City Beverage."

Investment firm BDT Capital, which currently owns 70 percent of City Beverage, did not immediately respond to the newspaper's request for comment.

Alcohol sales are regulated in most states through a three-tier system intended to separate manufacturing, distribution and retail sales. Illinois House Bill 2606 would amend the state's liquor regulations, saying "no person licensed as a manufacturer of beer ... shall have any interest, directly or indirectly, in a holder of a distributor's license or importing distributor's license.

The Illinois Liquor Control Commission and A-B have been involved in litigation on the issue since the commission blocked the brewer from acquiring City Beverage in 2010.

     St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch is part of Belgium-based Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world's largest brewer, which reported revenue of $39.8 billion in 2012.

   CHICAGO (AP) - Actors, directors and film critics have gathered in Chicago to honor the late movie critic Roger Ebert.

   The movie reviewer's widow, Chaz Ebert, welcomed her husband's fans to the Chicago Theatre on Thursday, and remembered him as a father, friend, humanitarian and journalist.

   A choir began the memorial by singing "Roger Ebert, we will always love you."

   Actors John Cusack and Chris Tucker were to speak at the event, called "Roger Ebert: A Celebration of Life," along with Ebert's friends and family.

   The acclaimed critic died April 4 at age 70 after a years-long battle with cancer. The day before his death, Ebert wrote in a post on his blog that he was taking a break from his schedule of almost-daily movie reviewing because the cancer had recurred.

CHICAGO (AP) - Former state Rep. Robin Kelly says she's still a little shocked to have won the Democratic nomination to replace former Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr.

She won over Democratic front runners former U.S. Rep. Debbie Halvorson and Chicago Alderman Anthony Beale, who both called her to concede.

Kelly emerged early on as an anti-guns voice and her campaign got a boost when New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's super PAC poured $2 million in ads supporting her and blasting Halvorson, who doesn't favor an assault weapons ban.

Halvorson says big money won the race.

But Kelly says no one complains when the National Rifle Association pours money into races. She says she had a good team that worked hard on the ground.

Meanwhile, the race among Republicans to replace former U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. is too close to call.

Chicago resident Paul McKinley was leading fellow Republican Eric Wallace by about two dozen votes as of late Tuesday night. But with a handful of precincts outstanding, no winner was declared.

But regardless of the outcome, the winner will enter the April 9 general election with a huge disadvantage.

The 2nd Congressional District is heavily Democratic, and no Republican has won the Chicago-area seat in more than 50 years.

McKinley is a political newcomer. Wallace founded a Christian publishing company and ran an unsuccessful campaign for Illinois Senate in 2006.

Jackson resigned in November. He pleaded guilty earlier this month to spending about $750,000 in campaign funds on personal items.

CHICAGO (AP) - Authorities say they've filed murder charges in the death of a 15 year old honor student who was shot last month near the Chicago home of President Barack Obama.

Chicago police spokeswoman Melissa Stratton said Monday that two young men are charged with first-degree murder in connection to the Jan. 29 death of Hadiya Pendleton.

They also are charged with two counts of attempted murder and aggravated battery with a firearm. Their names haven't been released.

Police say Pendleton was talking with friends in a Chicago park when one suspect ran toward the group and opened fire. The gunman then fled in a car.

The shooting made national headlines after it was reported that Pendleton had recently returned from Washington, where she'd performed during inauguration festivities with her high school band.