(WisBusiness) MON News Summary — 24 March 2008

Home mortgage standards getting tougher in Wisconsin: Mounting foreclosures and the subprime mortgage crisis have contributed to a national credit crunch, making it more difficult for borrowers to qualify for a mortgage loan. Standards for home mortgages also are getting tougher in Wisconsin, especially for loans that banks pass on to national mortgage wholesalers. Recent changes in Wisconsin lending standards include: The minimum FICO credit score of 700, once considered excellent, has crept upward at some banks to 720. Consumers with credit scores lower than 680 are having more difficulty getting a mortgage. (A FICO score is a credit score developed by Fair Isaac Corp.)
http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/local/278320

One year later, battle lines still drawn on ethanol plant: When Gina Frank found out about the ethanol plant going up in her neighborhood, she put her home of 19 years up for sale. The home at 6516 E. Highway 59 was on the market for six months with no offers, she said. After all, she asked, who would want to live with a noisy, smelly plant in the backyard? “Nineteen years, and now we can’t use our backyard,” she said. One year after the United Ethanol plant started production in Milton, the battle lines still are drawn. Neighbors still say their complaints are being brushed off by the plant and the city. The plant still touts the benefits it offers to the community—such as 34 new jobs and hundreds of thousands of dollars annually in future taxes—and to the environment by producing an alternative to gasoline.
http://gazettextra.com/news/2008/mar/23/one-year-later-battle-lines-still-drawn-ethanol-pl/

Mining firm sees gold in U.P. hills: But some are wary of environmental effects… Deb Skubal looks out her living room window and sees a pristine forest, an occasional eagle or bear, and the Menominee River meandering through the woods on its way to Green Bay. Geologist Tom Quigley looks at the same scene and sees the same beauty. But he also envisions the riches beneath the ground: gold, silver and zinc, all trapped in rock nearly 2 billion years old. Their viewpoints appear to be on a collision course that illustrates a conflict between the needs of an increasingly global economy and the environmental disruption that can result from meeting those needs. Quigley is president of Aquila Resources Inc., a Canadian mining exploration company that’s searching for precious metals in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula…
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=731143

Farm show spreads seeds, grows its way to fame: 48th event will host nearly 400 exhibitors in Oshkosh… The Green Bay Press-Gazette visits with newsmakers in the business world each week in its Monday Conversation feature. This week, Michael Kawleski, agriculture market leader with Wisconsin Public Service Corp., talks about the Wisconsin Public Service Farm Show, which takes place April 1 to 3 at the Experimental Aviation Association grounds in Oshkosh. Q. The Wisconsin Public Service Farm Show is holding its 48th edition this year. What was the early history of the show and how has it evolved over the last four decades? Why does WPS take an active role in the agricultural sector?
http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080324/GPG03/803240531/1247/GPGbusiness

************************************************************
WISBUSINESS FEATURED COLUMNISTS

– GREGG HOFFMANN: Contributor, WisBusiness.com

– TOM BURZINSKI: IT executive and consultant
************************************************************

TECHNOLOGY (back to top)
– Entrepreneurclimate topic of Economic Indicators breakfast
http://www.rivervalleynewspapers.com/articles/2008/03/23/business/04breakfast.txt

BIOTECH (back to top)
– Wisconsin Rapids Ethanol Project Takes a Step Forward
http://wisconsinagconnection.com/story-state.php?Id=370&yr=2008