(WisBusiness) THURS News Summary — 2 Apr. 2009

From WisBusiness.com …

— Maysteel provided notice to the state that it will close its Columbus plant at 100 Continental Drive on or before July 31, affecting 89 workers. Maysteel may offer 20 to 24 employees opportunities to transfer to other Wisconsin facilities.

See the state filing: http://www.wisbusiness.com/1008/large/090401maysteel.pdf

— Gov. Jim Doyle told the Wisconsin Hospital Association that in spite of budget difficulties the state must continue to focus on priorities, including education and expanding affordable health care to all.

Doyle lauded the efforts of the WHA in helping get more state residents covered with health insurance and noted despite a $6 billion budget deficit that forced tough cuts across the board, his proposal moves forward with expanding BadgerCare Plus to include childless adults.

“We have worked too hard to get to the point we are at … I believe we can’t stop the momentum we have built here,” Doyle told the WHA’s advocacy day luncheon at the Monona Terrace convention center. “We are not going to stop and we are not going to go in the other direction.”

Read more from the event: http://www.wisbusiness.com/index.iml?Article=154137

— Journal Sentinel Inc. extended another round of contract buyout offers to 200 staff members of its newsroom at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

The offers went to all of the members of the Milwaukee Newspaper Guild Local 51, which represents the bulk of 260 people who work in the newsroom, sources told BizTimes Milwaukee on condition of anonymity. The company is seeking $1.2 million in payroll savings from the Guild through additional cuts, buyouts or furloughs.

Members of the guild have until Friday, April 10, to notify the company about their intentions to apply for the buyout offer or reject it. The offer is the third made by the company. The previous offer included two weeks of severance pay for every one year worked at the company, plus two weeks of health insurance and a $5,000 lump sum bonus, sources said.

See more: http://www.biztimes.com/daily/2009/4/1/#journal-sentinel-extends-buyout-offers-to-200-in-newsroom

— The State Building Commission has approved a $23 million maintenance plan over the next 10 years for Milwaukee’s Bradley Center.

Sen. Fred Risser, D-Madison, proposed an amendment to reduce the timeframe to six years, noting that he didn’t want to encumber future legislators with planning for the home of the Milwaukee Bucks and Marquette basketball teams. The amendment was defeated 3-5, with Doyle noting that future legislatures or Building Commissions could modify the contract.

Sen. Ted Kanavas, R-Brookfield, said the proposal lacked specifics.

“There’s no real plan here. It’s just a list of concerns.” Kanavas said. “I just don’t understand what the money’s for.”

Doyle said the Bradley Center was “quasi-public” in nature and that the plan would provide planners with some security as the city and state face daunting questions about the NBA’s oldest arena.

“This is quite a small contribution that the state is making to make sure that we do maintain it,” Doyle said. “The big decisions are not going to get made now, but later.”

The Bradley Center proposal was approved 7-1, with Kanavas voting no.

— While experts wonder about the future of the nation’s manufacturing sector, others expect biofuels to be a big economic driver in years to come.

That positive feeling about the biofuels industry is reflected in a new national survey fielded by University of Wisconsin researchers.

The survey showed that 67 percent of respondents were interested in learning more about renewable biofuels, 66 percent agree that using biofuels can help the United States reduce reliance on foreign oil and another 53 percent believed biofuels can have a positive impact on climate change trends by reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

But respondents indicated concerns about ethanol, with 44 percent believing that the production of corn-based ethanol will create pressure on the food supply, 43 percent indicating ethanol will create pressure on local water supplies and only 24 percent saying they’re interested in using corn-based ethanol for their transportation needs.

The survey questions are part of the Cooperative Campaign Analysis Project, a joint venture that brought together more than 60 researchers from 25 academic institutions, including the Department of Life Sciences Communications at UW-Madison.

These results are based on a sample of some 1,200 respondents interviewed last fall.

See more from the survey:
http://www.wisbusiness.com/index.iml?Article=154087

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