When consumers feel poorer, they don’t buy new cars, lawn mowers and housewares.

Members of the Rock River Valley business community gathered before and after hours in July.

We have to spend more money on food and gasoline, and we dig a little deeper to have fun. Here’s how service businesses are vying for our shrinking dollars.

The health-care industry employs nearly 10 percent of the local work force, pumps almost $1 billion in wages into the regional economy and promises to be among the biggest job creators in the next several years.

It could be a better mousetrap or a radius gimlet point anti-stripout screw, but you’ll want to make sure you get credit for making it. But how do you decide whether to take Door No. 1 (patent) or No. 2 (trade secret)?

The 13th time was a charm for Nike in its quest to create a machine that would improve quality control in the Asian manufacturing plants where its shoes are put together by hand.

There are some time-honored ways to cut gasoline costs: drive less, drive a smaller car, drive no faster than 60 mph.

Business Rockford asked businesses to send us pictures of their celebrations, and they stepped up. Here's what arrived in April.

John Falzone doesn’t only have a green thumb, but he’s pursuing his goals of remodeling The Cherry Valley Garden Center and Tomato World to resemble how it looked 96 years ago.

Local retailers say they’re starting to see the effects of the $170 billion U.S. economic stimulus program. The federal government is delivering money — averaging $600 to $1,200 — via direct deposit and paper checks to help jump-start the economy. The payments are continuing on a weekly basis through July, according to the IRS.