Presented By: Chicago Booth Business Forecast

Lawyers for Washington state will have past grocery chain mergers – and their negative consequences – in mind when they go to court to block a proposed merger between Albertsons and Kroger. The case is one of three challenging the $24.6 billion deal, which was announced nearly two years ago. The Federal Trade Commission is currently fighting the merger in federal court in Oregon, where closing arguments are expected Tuesday.

The collaborative platform that’s a favorite among designers launches an abstracted, colorful rebrand to expand its user base. There’s an old cliché that you can’t be everything to everyone. Design platforms of late are on a mission to prove otherwise. Figma is the latest example. Today, the company is launching a refreshed visual identity that represents its growing, post-Adobe breakup ambitions to be, well, just about everything.

In her new book, leadership expert Sarah Langslow explores how even our smallest habits impact our relationships and our ability to lead. Micro-interactions are an often unrecognized part of our everyday lives. They are what we say, and don’t say. They are what we listen to and what we ignore, consciously or otherwise.

We spoke to the evil genius behind Home Depot’s always-killer Halloween decorations. A common internet joke from a few years back involved going to Target for one thing, and leaving with a cartful of unrelated items. And for the past several years, there’s been a new, very real threat to wallets across North America: Going to Home Depot for some tools, and coming home with a 12-foot-tall skeleton strapped to the roof of your Mini Cooper.

The Colorado Public Utilities Commission is looking into recent power outages reported by Xcel Energy customers to determine whether the number of outages and complaints are on the rise. The three-member commission voted Wednesday to support the PUC’s staff recommendation to investigate the causes of the outages as well as rules for reporting interruptions in electric service.

Since Casa Bonita reopened post-pandemic in 2023, it’s technically been in a soft opening phase – or “beta-testing,” as owners Matt Stone and Trey Parker of “South Park” fame call it. That’s why the only way to get a table there for the last year and a half has been to sign up for the restaurant’s newsletter list and hope to be selected via a random lottery to book a reservation. It’s been a waiting game for fans in Denver and beyond, but no more.