— The Dow Jones opens well above the 10,000 mark this week. The index is at 10,270, nearly 250 points higher than last week’s open and up more than 500 points compared to two weeks ago. The WisBusiness index of Wisconsin stocks opens at 1,805, its highest opening value in months. That’s up more than 30 points over last week’s open. — The Wisconsin index got a boost from the nursing home company Assisted Living Concepts. The company’s stock gained nearly ten percent last week after its earnings report beat analyst expectations. Several more Wisconsin companies report their performance this week. On Thursday come earnings reports from Brady Corporation, the education company School Specialty and Boston Store parent Bon-Ton. See more on stock prices and earnings reports: http://www.wisbusiness.com/index.iml?Article=140042 — Peter Park, the star urban planner behind Milwaukee’s downtown revival, returned to Wisconsin Friday to discuss the lessons he’s learned in his new work as Denver’s planning chief. “We need to look at transportation and development together. They’re not separate,” he told a gathering of several hundred environmentalists at the Promega Corporation’s Biopharmaceutical Technology Center in Fitchburg. Park, 46, is working the land-use side of the most ambitious transportation project underway in the United States — the $4.7 billion FasTracks program. It promises 119 miles of light-rail and commuter-rail tracks by 2017, including 70 train stops that are expected to be the focal point of new residential and commercial development in the Denver area. Park’s talk to the “Bringing Bioneers to Wisconsin” conference was a stark reminder that Wisconsin’s marquee cities, Milwaukee and Madison, are laggards in sorting out their 21st century transportation systems. See more from Park: http://www.wisbusiness.com/index.iml?Article=176967 — A group of business people, community leaders and others have formed the Empire Builder High Speed Rail Coalition to lobby for a high-speed rail line that would connect Chicago and St. Paul via La Crosse and other Mississippi River cities. Some people in the Eau Claire area — calling themselves the West Central Wisconsin Rail Coalition — have lobbied for the route to run from the Twin Cities to that city and then south. The Empire Coalition argues that the Mississippi River route would service more people, businesses and universities. See more: http://www.wisbusiness.com/index.iml?Article=176972 — The CROPP Cooperative, operators of Organic Valley organic products, announced that it is expanding its partnership with Stonyfield Farms Inc. In a letter to shareholders dated Nov. 12, the CROPP Board of Directors and management announced the coop will manage the organic milk supply for Stonyfield fluid milk products and invite farmers linked with Stonyfield into CROPP. See details: http://www.wisbusiness.com/index.iml?Article=176975 — State grant funds are available to help Wisconsin manufacturers improve performance, stimulate growth and respond to new challenges as the economy recovers from the recession. The Next Generation Manufacturing grants, authorized by the Department of Commerce, are targeted to small and midsize manufacturers with less than 500 employees. Grants of $5,000 to $6,500 pay up to 50 percent of project costs for services delivered by Wisconsin Manufacturing Extension Partnership. The remaining project costs are paid by the company. See details: http://www.wisbusiness.com/index.iml?Article=176968 TOP STORIES Customers of We Energies to See Rate Hikes: The Wisconsin Public Service Commission granted We Energies a $90 million rate increase, which translates into an average boost of four percent. State schools face grim outlook: MILWAUKEE – A pair of recent reports on state economies and federal stimulus dollars should deliver this warning for public school funding in Wisconsin: It’s likely to get worse. Middleton calling center to close, affecting 120 jobs: Society’s Assets, a Racine-based nonprofit organization providing in-home services to help seniors and people with disabilities to live independently, filed notice with the state Friday that it will close its call center in Middleton and lay off 120 employees. Layoffs will start Nov. 30 and finish by Dec. 31, when the facility will close. Anchor BanCorp Wisconsin posts loss of $71.9 million: Anchor BanCorp Wisconsin, parent of AnchorBank, late Friday reported a net loss of $71.9 million, or $3.56 per common share, for its second fiscal quarter ending Sept. 30, compared with a net loss of $23.3 million, or $1.11 per share, for the same period last year.
************************************************************ See commentary from around the state and columns from WisBusiness contributors Jennifer Sereno, Kevin McKinley, Tom Burzinski, Gregg Hoffmann, Tom Still and Steve Jagler: ************************************************************
TECHNOLOGY (back to top) – Solar energy field remains strong in Wisconsin
BIOTECH (back to top)
ECONOMY (back to top) – Madison Area Technical College embarks on series of changes, not all of them popular
MANUFACTURING (back to top)
LABOR (back to top) – Wausau: Laid-off Kolbe employees adjust to new circumstances
RETAIL (back to top)
REGULATION (back to top)
UTILITIES (back to top) – Steam plant deal on Menasha Common Council agenda
FINANCIAL SERVICES (back to top)
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