Briefs: One possible primary Feb. 24

A potential Republican contest for the office of Schaumburg Township highway commissioner appears to be the only possibility of a primary election in the Northwest suburbs on Feb. 24. John A. Salmassi of Roselle has filed his candidacy for that office against incumbent Robert Fecarotta, who's seeking re-election. The Cook County Clerk's office won't consider the race a sure thing until after the filing period for candidacy objections ends on Monday. All other Schaumburg Township offices for the Republican primary have only one candidate each, most of them incumbents. The only non-incumbents are W. Robert Vinnedge for trustee and Jeffrey S. Mytych for collector. Democrats will choose their candidates by caucus on Jan. 13 before both parties' candidates face off in the general election on April 7.

Tax break approved

Des Plaines has approved a tax break for Nippon Express USA, which has agreed to build a new building at 515 E. Touhy Ave. that will employ 121 people. The Cook County 6B property tax incentive means that the property will be assessed at 16 percent of its value for 12 years instead of the standard 36 percent. Nippon Express in January moved its airfreight operations into a new 155,000-square-foot building at 401 E. Touhy Ave. The company now plans to spend $18 million to buy a vacant building once occupied by Northrop Grumman and replace it with a 142,000-square-foot building to house its ocean cargo branch, information technology operations and possibly its U.S. headquarters. The company is moving operations which currently employ 97 people from Wood Dale.