From WisBusiness.com …
— Gov. Jim Doyle is headed abroad on another trade mission.
Doyle will leave today and return to Wisconsin sometime on either the 29th or 30th of April. In his absence, top aides will continue to negotiate a resolution with legislators to fix the state’s $525 million budget deficit.
A spokeswoman said Doyle would be in “constant communication” with staffers and his budget team.
The guv has been on at least six trade missions since his inauguration in January of 2003. He missed one to Europe last month because the Legislature was in its final week of regular session and he wanted to stay on top of a host of big issues.. Commerce Secretary Jack Fischer headed the group in his stead.
Doyle also led a trade mission to Ireland in 2006, and went there on a personal vacation in 2007.
See release:
http://wispolitics.com/index.iml?Article=124089
— Federal regulators are expected to unveil an accelerated schedule today for auto companies to work toward a fuel-efficiency goal of 35 miles a gallon by 2020 for their vehicle fleets.
The proposed regulation is likely to require the industry to meet a target of 31.5 miles a gallon for Corporate Average Fuel Economy, or CAFE, by 2015, sources said.
The interim standard would force auto companies to speed up their development of lighter, more fuel-efficient vehicles.
See story: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/22/business/22auto.html?_r=1
&th=&oref=slogin&emc=th&pagewanted=print
— The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater has five finalists for its vacant chancellor position this afternoon.
The list of candidates to replace Martha Saunders, who departed Whitewater to become president of the University of Southern Mississippi, includes: interim chancellor Richard Telfer, Bridgewater State College provost Nancy Kleniewski, Indiana University-South Bend Vice Chancellor Alfred Guillaume Jr., East Stroudsburg University interim President Kenneth Borland, and Bowling Green State University Research Institute CEO John Folkins.
Each candidate will participate in a public forum on the Whitewater campus before the end of April, beginning with Kleniewski on Thursday. All five candidates will then be interviewed by UW System president Kevin Reilly and a Special Board of Regents Committee on May 7. Once named, the final candidate will go before the full Board of Regents for approval.
UW spokesman David Giroux said the preferred candidate would be selected “sometime within a week or two” of the May 7 interview, with approval from the full Board of Regents scheduled for the June 5-6 meeting in Milwaukee.
The June meeting is also scheduled to feature confirmation votes for the final chancellor candidates at UW-Madison and UW-Parkside.
See the press release:
http://www.wispolitics.com/1006/080421_UWW_finalists.pdf
— Sensient Technologies Corp. is reporting first quarter revenues of $307.4 million, or $285.3 million, fueled by favorable currency translation caused by the weak American dollar.
The Milwaukee-based manufacturer and marketer of colors, flavors and fragrances reported quarterly net earnings of $20.7 million, or 43 cents per share, up from $17.3 million, or 37 cents per share, in the same period a year ago.
See release: http://www.wisbusiness.com/index.iml?Article=124155
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Press Releases
Adora Svitak – age 10 – to share her strategies for technology enhanced learning with international classroom of education majors
Celebrate Earth Day with Action
Engineering Class Infuses Green Ideas into Local Building Projects
Festival Foods stores becoming ‘greener’
Gawenda Nominated for City Treasurer Position
Governor Doyle to Visit Ireland, United Kingdom
Markel American Insurance Company Announces SAFE Program to Promote Safety at Boating Poker Runs
Mediasite Transforms Writing Whiz-Kid into World’s Youngest Professor
One Day Conference on Growing Community Wealth to be Held in Wisconsin Rapids June 5
Trappers Turn Golf Club Unveils New Amenities for the 2008 Golf Season; Chuck ‘The Hit Man’ Headlines Season Opening Festivities
UW-Madison ‘Originators’ Honored with 72nd Annual Distinguished Alumni Awards
UW-Whitewater chancellor finalists named
Wisconsin biodiesel production focused on reducing global warming
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TOP STORIES
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Fuel costs forced cuts, Midwest says: Midwest Air Group Inc. has to trim its payroll and cut its flight schedule to counteract the rising cost of fuel and ensure its survival, the company’s chief executive said Monday. Fuel is nearly half the airline’s expenses, Tim Hoeksema said, up from about a third at the same time last year. The company, which operates Midwest Airlines and Midwest Connect, announced last week it will cut about 109 jobs. The layoffs, equal to 3.5 percent of Midwest’s work force, will come in the next few months and include 35 pilots. Hoeksema said the company had no choice given the rising cost of fuel, which he said no airline could have predicted.
http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/biz/282519
Doyle leaving for Ireland, UK trade mission: Gov. Jim Doyle is embarking on a six-day trade mission to Ireland and the United Kingdom. Doyle will leave on Wednesday and return April 28. He says the trade mission is designed to build relationships with business and government officials. The governor plans to meet with Graham Mackay, the chief executive of SABMiller to discuss the merger of Miller and Coors, while he is in London. Doyle also has meetings planned with leaders of the Kerry Group, a food technology company in Ireland that has its North American headquarters in Beloit. He says other meetings are designed to talk about Wisconsin’s leadership in stem cell research and addressing climate change.
http://www.gazettextra.com/weblogs/latest-news/2008/apr/21/leaving-ireland-uk-trade-mission/
FDA finds faults at China plant that makes heparin ingredient: A Wisconsin-owned plant in China that manufactures a recalled drug ingredient needs to clean up its plant and processes, the Food and Drug Administration told the company Monday. In a warning letter to Changzhou SPL Co., the FDA said an inspection in late February revealed “significant deviations” from good manufacturing practices in making an active ingredient in the blood thinner heparin. The Changzhou facility is owned and operated by Waunakee-based Scientific Protein Laboratories. According to the FDA’s findings: Changzhou SPL “failed to perform adequate tests to detect impurities” and did not demonstrate that its processes could effectively remove impurities.
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=741841
Work force training needs ‘dramatic reform,’ business leader says: The Midwest remains a vital core of manufacturing in the United States but faces a variety of challenges arising from a work force that isn’t prepared to fill available jobs, business and educational leaders said during a panel discussion Monday morning at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. “Manufacturers and most of American businesses are challenged by a work force that will diminish in size and is ill equipped in skills,” said keynote speaker Emily Stover DeRocco, president of the Manufacturing Institute of the National Association of Manufacturers, of Washington, D.C. “I am convinced that America’s systems for educating and training its future work force are in need of deep and dramatic reform,” said DeRocco, who is the former assistant U.S. Secretary of Labor for Employment and Training.
http://milwaukee.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/stories/2008/04/21/daily6.html?surround=lfn
Farmers eagerly wait for warmth: Cold spring could mean later planting, lower crop yields… This time of the year, farmers are getting restless while counting the days until spring planting. Normally by now, many of them would be planting oats, barley and hay crops. Then they would be planting corn, often starting in late April. But this year, winter delayed the process and pushed the planting season back at least a couple of weeks. It takes sufficient soil temperatures for the seeds to germinate, and the ground hasn’t warmed up in many areas. Also, some fields are still too wet to handle heavy farm machinery. “The wind helped dry things out. Now we need the sun and some heat, because the ground is still extremely cold,” Ross Bishop, a Washington County farmer, said Monday while setting up his planting machinery.
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=741842
Making Mount Horeb famous: Beer wins gold: You’ve probably seen those TV spots for Miller Lite, bragging about gold medals the brand has won at the World Beer Cup. The Grumpy Troll Restaurant and Brewery, in Mount Horeb, doesn’t have TV ads. But the brewpub, about 25 miles west of Madison, does have a World Beer Cup gold medal, which it won Saturday in San Diego. The Grumpy Troll was one of just three Wisconsin breweries – along with Miller and Milwaukee’s Lakefront Brewery Inc. – to win an award at this year’s competition, which drew nearly 2,900 entries from 644 breweries in 58 countries. The Grumpy Troll won a gold award in the Baltic-style porter category, which had 15 entries.
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=741848
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TECHNOLOGY (back to top)
– Leopold Center’s low- carbon, high-efficiency design wins honor
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=741889
– Sensient profits up 19 percent
http://milwaukee.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/stories/2008/04/21/daily2.html?surround=lfn
BIOTECH (back to top)
– Web site helps Wis. residents find renewable energy
http://www.lacrossetribune.com/articles/2008/04/22/wi/04wis0422.txt
– Contaminant in blood thinner linked to deadly allergic reactions
http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/local/282518
ECONOMY (back to top)
– Is changing Spectrum sign a sign of things to come?
http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/local/282508
– Marathon could see 8,000 participants, $3M impact
http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080422/GPG03/804220558/1247/GPGbusiness
MANUFACTURING (back to top)
– Marten Transport profits decline
http://milwaukee.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/stories/2008/04/21/daily10.html?surround=lfn
LABOR (back to top)
– Experience counts in work world
http://www.postcrescent.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080422/APC03/804220457/1028
– Unified work could go local
http://www.journaltimes.com/articles/2008/04/22/local_news/doc480d09131d333564945004.txt
– Engineers remain hot in job market
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=741847
SMALL BUSINESS (back to top)
– Cheffetta’s heads from Allouez to downtown
http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080422/GPG03/804220559/1247/GPGbusiness
INVESTING (back to top)
– Kimberly-Clark declares dividend
http://www.postcrescent.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080422/APC03/804220461/1028
– Lubar & Co. invests in medical imaging firm
http://milwaukee.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/stories/2008/04/21/daily8.html?surround=lfn
– Dow ends day down
http://www.postcrescent.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080421/APC03/80421073/1028
REAL ESTATE (back to top)
– Mortgage company under new ownership
http://www.postcrescent.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080422/APC03/804220462/1028
– Area communities spend millions on land
http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080422/GPG0101/804220571/1207/GPGnews
– Lincoln Lutheran plans to build 14-unit condominium development
http://www.journaltimes.com/articles/2008/04/22/local_news/doc480d1daeb187d482186774.txt
AGRIBUSINESS (back to top)
– Many Wisconsin dairy farmers switch to grazing
http://www.gmtoday.com/news/business/front/bizfeature.asp
– WMMB Budget Approved by Directors
http://wisconsinagconnection.com/story-state.php?Id=495&yr=2008
– Spring Has Sprung in Certain Parts of State
http://wisconsinagconnection.com/story-state.php?Id=496&yr=2008
TRANSPORTATION (back to top)
– Retail gas hits record $3.50 a gallon as oil marches higher
http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/biz/282512
– State traffic deaths down nearly 30% from ’07
http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080422/GPG0101/804220596/1207/GPGnews
RETAIL (back to top)
– BREWHAHA in West Bend?
http://www.gmtoday.com/news/local_stories/2008/April_08/04212008_02.asp
– Chain to phase out baby bottles with bisphenol A
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=741891
– Mattel: New boutiques boost American Doll
http://milwaukee.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/stories/2008/04/21/daily7.html?surround=lfn
REGULATION (back to top)
– Law stirs up medical community
http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080422/GPG0101/804220573/1207/GPGnews
– Age rule removes Mequon firefighter
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=741893
TOURISM (back to top)
– Oshkosh benefits from ‘Public Enemies’ movie filming
http://www.postcrescent.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080422/APC0101/804220485/1979/APCnews
– Arts institutions feeling impact of ailing economy
http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/local/282523
UTILITIES (back to top)
– Water utility wants 18% rate increase
http://www.madison.com/wsj/topstories/282524
– Menasha stormwater utility, pond plan proposed
http://www.postcrescent.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080422/APC0101/804220478/1979/APCnews
– Portable meters help find your home’s energy leeches
http://www.madison.com/wsj/topstories/282491
HEALTH CARE (back to top)
– Aspirus joins heart study
http://www.wausaudailyherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080422/WDH0101/804220626/1581/WDHnews
FINANCIAL SERVICES (back to top)
– National City raising $7B through stock sale
http://milwaukee.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/stories/2008/04/21/daily3.html?surround=lfn
MANAGEMENT (back to top)
– Leaders like Green Bay area’s business climate
http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080422/GPG03/804220565/1247/GPGbusiness
– Executive eminence to be cited
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=741851
– Northwest CEO Steenland gets bonus to stay
http://milwaukee.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/stories/2008/04/21/daily1.html?surround=lfn
– UW-Whitewater chancellor finalists named
http://milwaukee.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/stories/2008/04/21/daily9.html?surround=lfn
BUSINESS COLUMNS (back to top)
– Greg Linnemanstons: Candidates set new standards for Web marketing
http://www.postcrescent.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080421/APC03/804210393/1028
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