The Daily Reporter articles from July 2007

The Daily Reporter archives from July 2007

Nation's airports get $66B lift.
July 2, 2007... Byline: Paul Snyder Federal legislation that would put $66 billion toward airports across the country might not even solve the runway upgrades that are needed throughout the United States. But it's a definite start. The American...

Suit against Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District, Cape & Sons settled.
July 2, 2007... Byline: Joe Grundle A New York-based bonding company's loss is a Milwaukee public school's gain. An environmental lawsuit officially settled Tuesday in Milwaukee County Circuit Court resulted in a $35,000 fine for the Milwaukee...

What went wrong with two of Milwaukee's tax incremental financing districts?
July 2, 2007... Byline: Sean Ryan Out of Milwaukee's 48 tax incremental financing districts, two are duds. The city is looking to pull $3.4 million in property taxes from its more successful TIF districts to balance the books on the two problem...

Bioenergy lab could jumpstart Wisconsin Gov. Doyle's plan.
July 3, 2007... Byline: Paul Snyder A lot of people in Wisconsin were fairly excited last week when the U.S. Department of Energy announced a $125 million federal grant to construct the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center in Madison -- not least of all,...

Central city development plan in Milwaukee may be altered.
July 3, 2007... Byline: Sean Ryan Milwaukee's Zoning, Neighborhoods and Development Committee Tuesday is set to consider some changes to a roughly $15 million development deal aimed to replace vacant city property with new homes. The city owns a...

Milwaukee Board of Harbor Commissioners approves lease agreement for new biodiesel refinery.
July 3, 2007... Byline: Sean Ryan The Milwaukee Board of Harbor Commissioners on Thursday unanimously approved a lease agreement that would bring North American Biodiesel's new refinery to the city's port. The refinery would be built on 2.5 acres of...

Milwaukee holds commuter rail trump card.
July 4, 2007... Byline: Sean Ryan Kenosha Mayor John Antaramian told the Milwaukee aldermen he was willing to make sacrifices to get the Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee rail project moving. Speaking at Milwaukee's Zoning, Neighborhoods and Development...

Economic development in Wisconsin earns accolades.
July 5, 2007... Byline: Paul Snyder Jerry Murphy wants to change some perceptions about Wisconsin. "People think it's all Packers and cheese, and I don't think that's a bad thing or that people perceive that as a necessarily bad thing," he said. "It's...

Milwaukee holds commuter rail trump card.
July 5, 2007... Byline: Sean Ryan Kenosha Mayor John Antaramian told the Milwaukee aldermen he was willing to make sacrifices to get the Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee rail project moving. Speaking at Milwaukee's Zoning, Neighborhoods and Development...

Wisconsin Public Service gauging 1890s gas plant's environmental impact.
July 6, 2007... Byline: Paul Snyder Stevens Point residents shouldn't be too concerned about an environmental investigation near Pfiffner Park slated to start Monday and last through the rest of the month -- it's merely protocol, says Jim Rosenberg. ...

Wisconsin Supreme Court sides with injured worker.
July 6, 2007... Byline: Joe Grundle A subcontractor who sustained serious injury after falling 30 feet led to a state Supreme Court decision Tuesday saying that paid health insurance benefits are not admissible evidence under the collateral source rule....

Top Job.
July 6, 2007... South Milwaukee/Food Store Project Construct a new Aldi Food Store (approximately 16,800 square feet) at 3105 S. Chicago Ave. Bids due: July 13, 2007 is the date that Aldi's is accepting bids from invited general contractors...

Racine gives park land to Habitat.
July 9, 2007... Byline: Paul Snyder No one on the Racine City Council had a problem with Habitat for Humanity on Tuesday night, said Alderman Thomas Friedel -- they were just unsure about giving up half of Jones Park. The City Council approved giving...

Wis. COA rules Travelers Property Casual Company of America breached duty.
July 10, 2007... Byline: Paul Snyder Too many cooks made up one expensive broth for Travelers Property Casual Company of America. The Wisconsin Court of Appeals last week affirmed the decisions made in trial court that ruled that Travelers breached its...

Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle approves five airport projects.
July 10, 2007... Byline: Joe Grundle Gov. Jim Doyle approved five airport improvement projects Thursday, releasing about $50,000 in state funding. The projects will cost a total of $2.1 million, with $57,000 of that picked up by local governments and...

Milwaukee-based Marshall & Ilsley to buy First Indiana.
July 10, 2007... Byline: Emily Fredrix Marshall & Ilsley Corp. will acquire First Indiana Corp. in a deal worth about $529 million, the two financial services companies announced Monday. Milwaukee-based M&I said shareholders of First Indiana will...

Respected construction industry leader in Wisconsin fondly remembered.
July 10, 2007... Byline: Joe Grundle Ed Hayden's name wasn't often in lights, but he preferred it that way. Jeff Beiriger, executive director of the American Subcontractors Association of Greater Milwaukee and long-time colleague of Hayden, described...

Racine's Uptown due for upgrade.
July 11, 2007... Byline: Joe Grundle The gateway to Racine hangs on rusted hinges. But city officials are committed to rejuvenating the Uptown neighborhood, which lies on Highway 20 between downtown and Interstate 94. Following a public hearing...

State of Wisconsin keeps missing its minority standards.
July 11, 2007... Byline: Chris Thompson The state has not once met its overall 5 percent goal of contracting with minority firms since it was established 23 years ago. Milwaukee attorney Roy Evans is fed up with that track record. In a letter to Lt....

Commentary: Create a cohesive team without 'I' or 'me'.
July 11, 2007... Byline: Edward Poll Lawyers, like managers everywhere, must connect with their staff. Creating an effective team is perhaps your number one practice responsibility. Your staff must share your work ethic, values and belief in the work...

State of Wisconsin distributes transportation aids.
July 11, 2007... Byline: Paul Snyder Gov. Jim Doyle announced last week that quarterly checks totaling nearly $101 million for general transportation aids, connecting highway aids and expressway policing aids were conveyed to Wisconsin units of local...

Rivianna's size approved despite neighbors' opposition in Milwaukee.
July 12, 2007... Byline: Sean Ryan After lending a helping hand to the $100 million Rivianna condominium project in Milwaukee, the Wisconsin Laborers District Council is ready to spend more time at City Hall. "One of my first priorities after being...

Wisconsin beer bill brews up confusion.
July 12, 2007... Byline: Sean Ryan Eliot Butler, president of the Great Dane Pub and Brewery, said he had to swallow 28 pages of compromises in the Brewpub Tourism Development Act to get the one thing he wanted. Butler brews about 4,400 barrels of beer...

Climate control pro shares energy advice at meeting in Wisconsin.
July 12, 2007... Byline: Paul Snyder If there was one thing to take from the Governor's Task Force on Global Warming meeting in Madison Wednesday, it was that Wisconsin would do well to look west. Daniel Lashof, the Climate Center science director for...

Michels Pipeline lands $34M Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District project.
July 13, 2007... Byline: Joe Grundle Michels Pipeline Construction's $33.9 million bid on a relief sewer project at first seemed too good to be true to Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District officials. After all, the two other bids on the project -...

Sun Prairie City Council says 'No' to passenger rail.
July 13, 2007... Byline: Paul Snyder Hariah Hutkowski says some form of communication on a passenger rail system running from Middleton to Sun Prairie would have been nice. "We never so much as received a phone call or something asking for input," the...

Is Wisconsin's Smart Growth law being dumbed down?
July 16, 2007... Byline: Joe Grundle If you can't beat it, change it. That's the gist of Assembly Republicans' latest effort to ease the state's Smart Growth statute, which requires all local governments that regulate land use to have a comprehensive...

Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority explores foreclosure rescues.
July 16, 2007... Byline: Sean Ryan The Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority is wondering if it should get into the home refinancing business to counter the rising wave of foreclosures. The authority is talking to banks and community...

Mentor planning $12M building in Madison.
July 16, 2007... Byline: Paul Snyder Construction on a formidable fountain of youth may have just started in Madison. Madison-based Vogel Bros. Building Co. started construction this week on a $12 million facility for Santa Barbara, Calif.-based Mentor...

Former Army Reserve Center in Milwaukee vacant.
July 17, 2007... Byline: Sean Ryan The Milwaukee Board of Harbor Commissioners and city planners are starting to consider what to do with the 6-acre former U.S. Army Reserve Center. The Army Reserve's 88th Regional Readiness Command, based in Fort...

Public Service Commission of Wisconsin approves transmission line.
July 17, 2007... Byline: Paul Snyder Like it or not, the Waunakee area may just have been pulled out of the dark. The Public Service Commission of Wisconsin Thursday approved construction of a 138-kV transmission line from Vienna to Westport. The...

Miller Park's ironworkers remembered.
July 17, 2007... Byline: Joe Grundle "Welcome to the house that labor built." Babe Ruth may have put the New York Yankees on the map with his towering home runs, but Jim Jorgensen's greeting to the crowd amassed outside Miller Park's front entrance...

Corporate Express moves into new building in Oak Creek.
July 17, 2007... Byline: Sean Ryan National office supplier Corporate Express has moved into a new 280,000-square-foot distribution facility in Oak Creek on Opus North Corp.'s Oakwood Crossings Business Center. It is the second facility built in the...

U.S. Senator Herb Kohl helps secure HUD dollars for Milwaukee projects.
July 17, 2007... Byline: Sean Ryan U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl helped get $1.2 million for Milwaukee projects worked into the Department of Housing and Urban Development's proposed 2008 budget. "Milwaukee has some exciting initiatives that will help spur...

Comments on Brookfield landfill sought by EPA.
July 17, 2007... Byline: Sean Ryan The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is accepting public comments on a plan to stop pumping contaminated ground water out of the former Master Disposal Service Landfill in Brookfield. Since 1997, pumps have pulled...

Gestra moving headquarters to Milwaukee from Oak Creek.
July 17, 2007... Byline: Joe Grundle Gestra Engineering Inc. received a $75,000 state grant Tuesday to redevelop a Milwaukee brownfield for its new headquarters. Gestra, which provides geotechnical, structural, pavement and construction materials for...

$5M to go toward Wisconsin transit projects.
July 18, 2007... Byline: Paul Snyder U.S. Senator Herb Kohl, D-Wis., announced Thursday that he directed $5 million toward the Wisconsin transit system for construction projects and bus purchases as part of the Senate appropriations bill that funds the...

Milwaukee's Lion bridges falling down.
July 18, 2007... Byline: Sean Ryan Milwaukee County is looking to repair the historic Lion bridges in Lake Park, marking the third historic project in that area of the park. Just north of the two bridges, crews just finished using lasers to burn the...

Dane County is officially 'Cool'.
July 18, 2007... Byline: Paul Snyder Dane County was one of 12 counties from across the country that joined the Sierra Club Monday in announcing the creation of the Cool Counties Climate Stabilization Declaration, a major new initiative to combat global...

Union of Concerned Scientists and Clean Wisconsin report cites benefits of renewable energy.
July 19, 2007... Byline: Paul Snyder The Union of Concerned Scientists and Clean Wisconsin jointly released a report Tuesday detailing the economic benefits Wisconsin could gain should Congress enact a renewable electricity standard. The report is one...

'Mac' Slater, of Milwaukee-based Kahler Slater Architects, dies at 76.(Obituary)
July 19, 2007... Byline: Paul Snyder George Meyer is going to miss finding things in the freezer. Meyer, one of the three executive officers of Milwaukee-based Kahler Slater Architects Inc., recalled Wednesday how Thomas "Mac" Slater used to make lunch...

Custom Metal Fabricating in La Crosse to expand.
July 19, 2007... Byline: Sean Ryan Custom Metal Fabricating in La Crosse is getting $54,000 in tax credits from the state to expand its facilities and create 12 new jobs. "While neighboring states are losing their manufacturing base, we continue to...

Tenants for former Northridge Mall in Milwaukee sought.
July 19, 2007... Byline: Sean Ryan Inland Commercial has hired CB Richard Ellis to find tenants to fill the almost 1 million-square-foot former Northridge Mall in Milwaukee, now known as the Granville Complex. Inland's list of 35 potential future uses...

Wisconsin's park-and-ride lots filling up.
July 19, 2007... Byline: Joe Grundle The Department of Transportation opened northeast Wisconsin's 35th park-and-ride lot on July 11, with several more in the works for the 11-county region. WisDOT will build three new lots in Door and Winnebago...

Don't leave door open to disability access suit (part 1).
July 19, 2007... Byline: Rich Meneghello Dolan Media Newswire - Problem: When your place of business opens its doors each morning, there are some people you don't want coming in. You don't want a visit from Kornel Botosan, who has filed more than 200...

Wisconsin Dept. of Natural Resources reviewing waterfront development rules.
July 20, 2007... Byline: Paul Snyder The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is about to take another swing at updating shore-land development regulations. Lori Grant says fear not. Grant, the water policy manager for the River Alliance of...

Wisconsin's Great Lakes Water Resource Compact panel moving slowly.
July 20, 2007... Byline: Joe Grundle Like a coach giving a fiery halftime pep talk, the Department of Natural Resources sent a wake-up call to a state committee to get moving on Great Lakes Water Resources Compact legislation. Last week's DNR decision...

Wauwatosa's Hart Park to get public stage.
July 20, 2007... Byline: Sean Ryan Two Wauwatosa Rotary clubs are almost ready to complete their five-year effort to build a new public stage at Hart Park. The light bulb lit up in 2000 when the city and Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District...

Foreclosure fallout in Wisconsin.
July 23, 2007... Following the residential housing boom earlier in the decade, Wisconsin, like the rest of the country, has taken a turn in recent years and seen a rise in the number of residential foreclosures. Looking at figures for the first quarter of 2007,...

Lending practice changes mulled.
July 23, 2007... Byline: Joe Grundle The era of the high-risk mortgage loan could soon come to a close. With many of the economy's current struggles being blamed on overzealous mortgage lending by financial institutions, federal regulators are stepping...

Businesses see ups, downs due to foreclosure activity.
July 23, 2007... Byline: Jack Zemlicka It is no secret that the steady escalation of foreclosures around Wisconsin has forced thousands of homeowners to deal with financial and emotional hardships. The rise in foreclosures has affected businesses in a...

Foreclosures not a major factor in slow home starts.
July 23, 2007... Byline: Sean Ryan There's no clear-cut way to determine how the rising number of foreclosures is contributing to the decrease in new homes being built. In 2006, Wisconsinites pulled 8,005 fewer home-building permits than they did in 2005....

Residential foreclosures not seen as economic detractor.
July 23, 2007... Byline: Paul Snyder Foreclosures are up in Wisconsin in a pretty significant way. ForeclosuresWI.com reports that over the last year, the foreclosure rate shot up 45 percent in Milwaukee County, while they rose 11 percent in Dane...

Sunny workers to get back wages.
July 23, 2007... Byline: Paul Snyder Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen and Department of Workforce Development Secretary Roberta Gassman announced Thursday that the 326 workers laid off when Sunny Industries of Mazomanie filed for receivership in 2006 will...

City of Lake Mills receives brownfields grant.
July 23, 2007... Byline: Joe Grundle The city of Lake Mills received $250,000 to redevelop a brownfield site into a restaurant, pharmacy and bank. The state Department of Commerce issued the grant through its Blight Elimination and Brownfield...

Antigo's revitalizing its downtown.
July 24, 2007... Byline: Joe Grundle Two years ago, Antigo embarked on a downtown revitalization plan to appease a local business as well as raise its stagnated economy out of the doldrums. Thanks to a confluence of market factors and city involvement,...

Affordable housing study planned for Milwaukee County.
July 24, 2007... Byline: Sean Ryan Milwaukee County is joining Ozaukee, Washington and Waukesha counties in performing a housing affordability study to guide future planning. The federally mandated studies look at the range of housing prices as they...

Wisconsin businesses see ups, downs due to foreclosure activity.
July 24, 2007... Byline: Jack Zemlicka It is no secret that the steady escalation of foreclosures around Wisconsin has forced thousands of homeowners to deal with financial and emotional hardships. The rise in foreclosures has affected businesses in a...

St. Mary's Hospital in Madison building helipad.
July 25, 2007... Byline: Joe Grundle St. Mary's Hospital in Madison wants to construct a helipad as part of its ongoing $174 million expansion. The helipad would be built on the roof of the nearly completed new inpatient building that will feature an...

Asbestos violation brings fine to Menomonee Falls demolition company.
July 25, 2007... Byline: Joe Grundle A Menomonee Falls demolition company was fined about $59,000 Monday by the Milwaukee County Circuit Court for asbestos violations. SCS Wisconsin Inc. challenged the Wisconsin Department of Justice on a series of...

U.S. House approves dredging funds for Port of Green Bay, Sturgeon Bay and Kewaunee harbors.
July 25, 2007... Byline: Joe Grundle The U.S. House of Representatives approved more than $2.5 million in federal appropriations for dredging in the Port of Green Bay and the Sturgeon Bay and Kewaunee harbors. If the Senate approves the Energy and...

GE Healthcare building in Wauwatosa sold.
July 25, 2007... Byline: Sean Ryan Boston - based Eaton Vance Management bought GE Healthcare's new headquarters building in Wauwatosa from Irgens Development Partners for $96.5 million. The 506,195-square-foot office building cost $89 million to...

Park East parking at premium in Milwaukee.
July 26, 2007... Byline: Sean Ryan The problem in the Park East is parking. When a freeway ran through the 24-acre corridor in Milwaukee, there were tons of parking in the shadow of the bridges. But now that the highway's gone, high-density buildings...

Audit of American Transmission Company requested by Dane County.
July 26, 2007... Byline: Paul Snyder Dane County isn't about to sit quietly while the American Transmission Company builds new lines and plans others to bolster the county's transmission supply. County Supervisor Kyle Richmond held a press conference...

Illinois man fined for filling Marinette County wetland.
July 27, 2007... Byline: Joe Grundle An Illinois man who filled a wetland on his Marinette County property in 2001 was fined $20,000 by the Wisconsin Department of Justice Monday for not removing the fill by an agreed-upon deadline. Wisconsin law...

Jeff Bieriger to head Wisconsin plumbing groups.
July 27, 2007... Byline: Joe Grundle Wisconsin's Plumbing Heating Cooling Contractors Association and Master Plumbers Association announced a new location and executive director Tuesday. Jeff Beiriger was appointed the new executive director of the...

Wisconsin's budget process drags on.
July 27, 2007... Byline: Paul Snyder With the 2007-09 state budget now nearing a month past due and the budget's conference committee holding its first executive session Wednesday, the question on everybody's mind is quickly becoming "When?" "I think...

ITT Technical Institute's Wisconsin campuses begin construction management programs.
July 27, 2007... Byline: Joe Grundle ITT Technical Institute's two Wisconsin campuses added construction management degree programs in June. Both Greenfield and Green Bay are among 47 ITT campuses to begin offering a bachelor's in construction...

Milwaukee County Board approves Green Print measure.
July 30, 2007... Byline: Sean Ryan The Milwaukee County Board Thursday unanimously adopted the Green Print legislation aimed at making the county more environmentally friendly. "With the Green Print, Milwaukee County can lead by example," Supervisor...

Marquette Univ. in Milwaukee receives state grant for biofuel technology research.
July 30, 2007... Byline: Joe Grundle Could agricultural and paper waste be the new corn? A Marquette University research team led by Dan Zitomer received a $39,000 grant Friday from the state Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection to...

Despite job losses, manufacturing's still strong in Wisconsin.
July 30, 2007... Byline: Joe Grundle First in a four-part series. Job loss grabs headlines, but from a financial standpoint, Wisconsin's manufacturing industry is holding its own. Wisconsin's $44.6 billion manufacturing industry made up 21 percent...

Despite job losses, manufacturing's still strong.
July 30, 2007... Byline: Joe Grundle First in a four-part series. Job loss grabs headlines, but from a financial standpoint, Wisconsin's manufacturing industry is holding its own. Wisconsin's $44.6 billion manufacturing industry made up 21 percent...

Trench training program in Madison puts emphasis on rescue, not recovery.
July 30, 2007... Byline: Paul Snyder Task Force 2 of the Madison Fire Department's Heavy Rescue Team pulled two bodies from a trench on a plot of farmland Friday morning. The bodies were dummies, and the trench was specially dug to simulate one that...

Disaster assistance for Grant County requested by Wisconsin Gov. Doyle.
July 31, 2007... Byline: Joe Grundle Gov. Jim Doyle requested disaster assistance Friday from the U.S. Small Business Administration to aid Grant County property owners hurt by a July 18 flood. After receiving seven inches of rain, the village of...

Madison office of CG Schmidt awarded Monroe Clinic project.
July 31, 2007... Byline: Paul Snyder CG Schmidt Inc.'s recently opened Madison office is getting off on the right foot. The Milwaukee-based company was recently awarded the construction management services contract for Monroe Clinic's modernization and...

Benefit sponsered by Wisconsin-based Oliver Construction helps carpenter's family.
July 31, 2007... Byline: Joe Grundle Considering the difficulties endured by LeAnne Nord the last few months, an outpouring of emotion was certainly understandable. But LeAnne, whose husband, Bill, died of leukemia on July 8 and son Kyle passed away in...

State of Wisconsin leaders won't abandon economic flagship.
July 31, 2007... Byline: Joe Grundle Part two in a four-part series). Although Wisconsin lost nearly 100,000 manufacturing jobs from 2000 to 2006, state and industry leaders refuse to abandon the state's economic flagship. Despite suffering nearly...