The Business Journal-Milwaukee articles from March 1999

The Business Journal-Milwaukee archives from March 1999

State's electricity supply vastly improved.(Wisconsin)
March 26, 1999... There's a light at the end of the electricity supply tunnel - and it's on. Utility executives and regulators say the outlook for meeting electric power demand in Wisconsin during the coming summer is brighter today than in the past two...

Briggs hiring more workers.(Briggs & Stratton Corp.)(Brief Article)
March 26, 1999... Briggs & Stratton Corp., which had about 700 employees on layoff as recently as two years ago, has called almost all of its workers back and has started hiring people off the street. The small-engine maker is shifting more production of...

Dynapro awarded $3.5 million in industrial revenue bonds.(Dynapro Thin Film Products Inc)(Brief Article)
March 26, 1999... A snack-food company, computer touch-screen manufacturer and paper-filing products maker have received several million dollars in low-interest government financing for plant expansions in the Milwaukee area. The three companies were...

Wisconsin Gas seeks growth through acquisitions.(Brief Article)
March 26, 1999... Wisconsin Gas Co. and its sister company, Wicor Energy Group, are determined to grow by acquiring other companies. That's why Bronson Haase, president and chief executive officer of the Milwaukee-based natural gas company and the...

Schwarz Pharma develops skin patch to treat Parkinson's.
March 26, 1999... Schwarz Pharma Inc., a Mequon drug company, is developing a skin patch to treat Parkinson's disease, The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) isn't expected to review the treatment for at least three years, but the company claims the...

Waukesha State Bank launches SBA Express.(Small Business Administration Express loan)
March 26, 1999... When Mary Hartwig told her father, a retired businessman, that her company was applying for a Small Business Administration loan, he winced. Having taken out an SBA loan years ago, Hartwig's father remembered the mountain of paperwork...

Columbia-St. Mary's in talks with Dynacare for lab work.
March 26, 1999... Columbia-St. Mary's Inc. is negotiating with Toronto-based Dynacare Inc. to manage the east side Milwaukee hospitals' laboratory services. The two companies are discussing an alliance similar to United/Dynacare Inc., a partnership...

Beautiful idea: The Beauty Center plans to stock beauty supplies in vending machines.(on Savannah State University campus)
March 26, 1999... A few weeks from now, someone will plug in a vending machine on the Savannah State University campus in Georgia, and Torrence Borum will start executing the idea he's been pitching for the past several months. The idea: selling health...

Computer makers face price squeeze.
March 26, 1999... Craig Schiefelbein has a problem. His computer company is selling more computers but bringing in less money on each new sale. "It does make it harder to make a dollar, doesn't it?" said Schiefelbein, president and chief executive officer...

Satellite Internet fails to connect with consumers.(satellite Internet service DirecPC)
March 26, 1999... DirecPC receives little response here; Circuit City doesn't carry When the satellite Internet service DirecPC was introduced three years ago, Jeff Thompson received three e-mails and four phone calls about the product on the same day....

As Bucky ups the ante, others fold.(Midwestern state legislatures are taking steps to control or scale down gambling)
March 19, 1999... ALL BETS OFF After allowing gambling expansion for years, most Midwestern state legislatures are taking steps to control or scale back gambling. STATE BILL Illinois Rejected dockside gaming for riverboats Indiana Moratorium...

Aurora to expand St. Luke's.(Aurora Health Care; St. Luke's Medical Center in Milwaukee)
March 19, 1999... Aurora Health Care will borrow $250 million through the sale of bonds to fund a series of capital improvements, including another expansion of St. Luke's Medical Center in Milwaukee. In addition to the St. Luke's project, Aurora plans to...

Rockwell may cut more jobs.(Rockwell Automation Division)
March 19, 1999... Rockwell Automation is considering more job cuts in its hourly work force in Milwaukee as it continues a restructuring that began last summer. The factory controls maker has been evaluating its "manufacturing competencies" but is...

Vencor to sell De Paul Hospital.(Vencor Inc.)
March 19, 1999... For the second time in two years, the former De Paul Hospital is for sale. Vencor Inc. of Louisville, Ky., is selling the former drug and alcohol rehabilitation facility as part of the company's efforts to shrink its Milwaukee hospital...

For simplicity's sake: newcomer Wier tries to master retail side of lawn mower industry.(Jim Wier, new president and CEO of Simplicity Manufacturing Inc.)
March 19, 1999... When Jim Wier took over as president and chief operating officer of Simplicity Manufacturing Inc. Feb. 1, the move represented both continuity and change. Continuity, because Wier's previous employer, Briggs & Stratton Corp., supplies...

Snafu threatens to shoot down Derco contract.(Derco Aerospace Inc.)
March 19, 1999... Derco Aerospace Inc. has been snagged in a convoluted web of U.S. and Brazilian laws that could derail a $50 million contract with the Brazilian government. The Milwaukee aircraft-parts distributor is appealing to the Export-Import Bank...

Wisconsin Gas hopes to build pipeline.
March 19, 1999... Wisconsin Gas Co. is teaming with two other firms to build a natural gas pipeline from a terminal hub in northern Illinois to southeastern Wisconsin. The public utility subsidiary of Milwaukee-based Wicor Inc. is building the pipeline to...

Good times are rolling for most Harley dealers.(Harley-Davidson)
March 19, 1999... Most salesmen tell customers why they must buy a product. Kirk Toper has been telling many of his customers why they can't. Such is the life of a Harley-Davidson dealer. For most of the 1990s, Milwaukee-based Harley-Davidson Inc. has been...

WEPCO's Michaud enlightens peers on power plants, public health.(Wisconsin Electric Power Co. environmental scientist Dave Michaud)
March 19, 1999... There's no shortage of confusing environmental research swirling around electric utilities. Dave Michaud's job is to take the mystery out of the data. So highly regarded is Michaud among his peers that a utility industry think tank named...

Large investor puts heat on Gehl.(James Dahl; Gehl Co.)
March 19, 1999... A Florida investor who has urged Gehl Co. to sell its farm-equipment business has increased his stake in the West Bend manufacturer to 9.9 percent. Investor James Dahl said Gehl has failed "to explore opportunities to increase...

Fiserv acquires clients abandoned by Firstar.
March 19, 1999... Fiserv Inc., Brookfield, is acquiring contracts to perform the back-office operations of about 15 banks that formerly paid Firstar Corp. for the services. Milwaukee-based Firstar notified about 80 banks in November that it would no...

Time Warner selects Commerce Street site.(location of Time Warner Cable's home office)
March 12, 1999... Time Warner Cable, which has spent months negotiating with the owners of two downtown Milwaukee properties for the site of its next home office, has finally settled on the Commerce Street Power Plant over the old Marshall Field's building in...

Day of reckoning for Kenosha alliance.(Kenosha Health Care Partners)
March 12, 1999... Health care group faces test of its cost-saving effectiveness When three of Kenosha's largest employers - the city, the county and Manu-Tronics Inc. - issued a collective cry for help in controlling their health care costs seven years...

Other firms hope to snare Siemens workers.(Siemens Westinghouse Power Corp.)
March 12, 1999... If there's any silver lining in Siemens Westinghouse Power Corp.'s decision to close its West Allis plant, it may be this: The workers there who will lose their jobs are in high demand elsewhere. Since Feb. 17, when Siemens said it would...

Venture capital soon will be more abundant in Wisconsin.
March 12, 1999... Wisconsin venture capitalists will have a new $50 million pool from which to draw for investments in emerging businesses this summer. Bureaucrats inside the Wisconsin Department of Commerce (DOC) are putting the finishing touches on rules...

State exports fell with economies in Asia, South America.(Wisconsin)
March 12, 1999... Exports by Wisconsin companies fell last year for the first time in at least a decade as global economic turmoil curbed demand for U.S. goods. Wisconsin exports totaled $10.7 billion in 1998, a 4.8 percent drop from the year before,...

East side hospitals to consolidate services, programs.(Milwaukee, Wisconsin)
March 12, 1999... Closing either Columbia Hospital or St. Mary's-Milwaukee and consolidating to one east side Milwaukee campus would have cost too much and still would not have met the hospitals' space needs. Now Columbia and St. Mary's hospitals which...

Grebe's Bakery expands by taking Meurer accounts.(Meurer Bakeries)
March 12, 1999... Grebe's Bakery will fill the void created by Meurer Bakeries' exodus. Grebe's recently became the wholesale bakery provider for four customers that previously were served by Meurer: * The Pick 'n Save supermarket at 5851 S. Packard...

Insurance companies scrambling to be Y2K compliant.(Year 2000 date transition problem)
March 12, 1999... Thirty-one percent of Wisconsin insurance companies' computer systems are not yet compliant with Year 2000 requirements, according to a survey by a state agency. The Wisconsin Office of the Commissioner of Insurance (OCI) recently asked...

Rising insurance costs lift national health care debate.
March 12, 1999... Is another debate over national health care just around the corner? If a recent hearing before the Wisconsin Assembly Health Committee is any indication, it might be. National health care was mentioned more than a few times during the...

Melody Cookies finds a bigger jar.(purchases new building)
March 12, 1999... Melody Cookies has purchased a new building in Oak Creek as demand for the family-run bakery's specialty cookies has soared beyond what the company could meet in its small, one-oven bakery. "We need to go bigger," said Milt Baggenstoss....

City's offer to settle pension dispute may be doomed.(Milwaukee, Wisconsin)
March 12, 1999... The city's offer to settle a dispute with participants in the city of Milwaukee Employee's Retirement. Pension & Annuity Fund appears doomed even before the final draft of the proposal is prepared. A group of retirees who would be forced...

Poor service fores NWA to reroute flight plan.(Northwest Airlines Inc.)
March 12, 1999... Northwest Airlines has such a poor reputation for customer service that Milwaukee business traveler Dwight Homer knows when the airline will cancel his flight before it happens. Homer frequently has been delayed getting home from Detroit...

Commercial sites planned for park-and-rides.(Wisconsin)
March 5, 1999... The state is launching a new plan to encourage commercial development at the park-and-ride lots along freeways in southeastern Wisconsin. The Wisconsin Department of Transportation (DOT) has sent out 192 queries to real estate developers...

At the wheel: Gay Terry takes control in Delphi's new journey.(Delphi Automotive Systems Corp. managing director)
March 5, 1999... Gay Terry began her career in the auto industry almost by accident. In 1972, as she was on her way to sign up for a doctoral program at Ball State University, Terry dropped by the Delco Remy plant in Anderson, Ind., in search of a summer...

Father knows bread: Joseph Campione Inc. plans $6 million bakery expansion.
March 5, 1999... When he was a young boy in the mid-1960s, Sal Campione often napped on bags of flour in his parents' Brady Street bakery. As Campione grew up, so did the business, which expanded from a simple bakery that sold bread to local grocery...

Nursing homes' Medicare woes hit hospitals.
March 5, 1999... Milwaukee-area hospitals are having a tougher time placing patients with complex medical problems into nursing homes, now that Medicare has capped how much it pays nursing homes for patient care. "Basically, we're pretty upset about the...

New joint venture targets housing for elderly.(Meadowmere)
March 5, 1999... Several Milwaukee-area businesses have formed a joint venture to build assisted living housing complexes. The new partnership, called Meadowmere, includes: Robert Schmidt III, president at Boulder Venture; Doug Weas of Weas Development...

Attendance up for Milwaukee teams.
March 5, 1999... Milwaukee's professional sports teams have seen a bump in attendance since the beginning of February. The increase in fans coming through the turnstiles coincides with the return of the Milwaukee Bucks to the hardwood, but the Milwaukee...

Utility investors push for faster deregulation.
March 5, 1999... Dave Parker will implore state legislators next week to do something soon to help Wisconsin's investor-owned utilities escape the deregulatory "limbo land" that's dragging down their stock performances. Parker, a utility analyst for...

Credit union's CU Cash links up with national ATM network.(Wisconsin Credit Union League; automated teller machine)
March 5, 1999... CU Cash, the ATM network of the Wisconsin Credit Union League, will become part of a national cash machine network within the next three months, allowing Wisconsin credit union members to use automated tellers nationwide without paying a fee....

Financially troubled Recycling Industries fires local managers.
March 5, 1999... Grossman Bros. parent firm files for reorganization Less than a week after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, Recycling Industries Inc. has fired its top three managers in the Milwaukee area. The Englewood, Colo., metals...

Building a new tradition: Salzmann speaks new language at conservative Heritage.(Heritage Mutual Insurance Co. Pres and CEO Ben Salzmann)
March 5, 1999... When Heritage Mutual Insurance Co. was founded in 1925, it was owned by local farmers who held German-language board meetings. English soon took over, but other old-fashioned systems remained in force for decades. Those traditions are...