In Brief

Boutique hotel Rumor plans to hire 50 new staff members

Boutique hotel Rumor will host a job fair Wednesday to hire 50 people needed to open the property at the end of this month, the property announced today.

The job fair will be held from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. at Alexis Park on Harmon Avenue.

The 150-room hotel is seeking cooks, stewards and dishwashers, guest room attendants, food servers and security officers.

Rumor is formerly the St. Tropez, on Harmon Avenue across the street from the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino.

Siegel Group bought the closed-down property for $10.5 million in September and is spending $3.5 million to renovate and rebrand the property.

DOWNERS GROVE, Ill.

Foodmaker Sara Lee says chief recovering from stroke

Sara Lee Corp. CEO Brenda Barnes is recovering from a stroke, the food maker said Monday.

Last month the company said Barnes, 56, would take a temporary medical leave but declined to specify the reason.

"I know there has been a lot of speculation on my condition, so I want to take the opportunity to provide some details," Barnes said in a statement. "I suffered a stroke a few weeks ago, and I am now in the process of recuperating."

CFO Marcel Smits is handling CEO duties until Barnes returns. Board member James Crown has taken over as chairman.

Sara Lee said it would provide an update on Barnes' condition and plans by its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings call Aug. 12.

INDIANAPOLIS

Companies foresee costs for medical care jumping sharply

Companies that offer employee health insurance expect another steep jump in medical costs next year, and more will ask workers to share a bigger chunk of the expense, according to a new PricewaterhouseCoopers report.

For the first time, most of the American workforce is expected to have health insurance deductibles of $400 or more, the consulting firm said in a report released to The Associated Press.

Deductibles are the annual amount a patient pays out of pocket for care before insurance coverage starts. They are generally separate from co-payments and coinsurance.

Two years ago, only 25 percent of companies participating in the annual survey said they asked employees to pay deductibles of $400 or more. That grew to 43 percent in 2010 and is expected to pass 50 percent next year.

Employees who are asked to pay more through things like higher deductibles help keep cost growth in check because they use less health care.

The health care reform law passed by Congress and then signed by President Obama in March has just started to unfold and will have little impact on costs next year, said Michael Thompson, a principal with PricewaterhouseCoopers.

"In general, it's a continuation of a fairly high rate of medical inflation," he said.

WASHINGTON

Regulators allow futures bets on movie box-office receipts

Federal regulators on Monday allowed a new online exchange to proceed to trade future box-office receipts for movies.

A divided Commodity Futures Trading Commission approved by the mandated deadline the proposed futures contracts for the new Trend Exchange. That means the movie futures trading can proceed. The vote was 3-2.

Major Hollywood studios strongly oppose the idea. They say rival studios could sabotage films by betting against them.

Two CFTC commissioners, Democrat Bart Chilton and Republican Jill Sommers, voted against approving the contracts for the Trend Exchange.

Allowing future box-office receipts to be traded like crude oil or pork bellies would give people who finance movies a way to make money even when a film doesn't. It also could be used for speculation.