Kohl's Corp. remained a retail darling of Wall Street today, as its stock soared $1.98 per share to $60.17 this morning, one day after the Menomonee Falls-based company posted another sterling quarter of results.

Kohl's reported second quarter net income of $232.4 million, or 69 cents per share, up from $187.2 million, or 54 cents per share, in the same period a year ago. The company's net sales for the quarter increased 14 percent $3.3 billion from $2.9 billion a year earlier. Comparable store sales increased 5.5 percent.

Larry Montgomery, Kohl's chairman and chief executive officer, said, "We are very pleased with our performance for the second quarter and in the first half of the year. We exceeded our guidance for both sales and net income. We continue to see consistency in all lines of business and all regions of the country. At the same time, we achieved improvement in our gross margin rate and experienced significant expense leverage on our sales increase. We also made great progress on our share repurchase program, buying over $1 billion of our stock during the quarter."

Kohl's now operates 749 stores in 43 states, compared with 670 stores in 40 states at the same time last year. The company plans to open 68 new stores this fall. The Company will make its initial entry into the state of Washington with four stores in the Seattle market and will continue its expansion into Florida, entering the Tampa market with three stores.

Based on its performance, Kohl's raised its full-year earnings projection to $3.04 to $3.13 per share. Previously, it had forecast per-share earnings of $2.91 to $3.02.

Kohl's was one of the few bright lights in the BizTimes Stock Index, which lost 2.18 points to close at 152.55 Thursday, and most local stocks continued to plummet in early morning trading today. The largest local decliners this morning were Bucyrus International Inc. (down $1.48 to $45.69) and Manpower Inc. (down $1.37 to $55.63). The BizTimes Stock Index was created by Small Business Times and is monitored by North Shore Bank. The index, which measures the stock values of publicly held companies based in southeastern Wisconsin, is updated daily and can be viewed at www.biztimes.com.

Jockey International Inc. is celebrating a strong inaugural year for its Jockey Person to Person home sales program.

Jockey Person to Person Inc. is a party plan business and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Kenosha-based Jockey International Inc. The Person to Person business features a unique product line of women's intimate apparel, sleepwear, activewear, men's underwear and a new collection of "comfort extras." The products are available through an in-home party setting with a Jockey "comfort specialist."

"Our business is off to a phenomenal start, only exceeded by your passion and commitment," Debra Waller, Jockey Person to Person founder and Jockey International Inc. chairman and chief executive officer, said to the Person to Person sales specialists attending a three-day convention this week in Chicago. "I am proud that you have embraced our vision of creating comfort through career opportunities that balance family and work. You have made it a reality."

Jockey said the new program achieved a record month of recruiting sales specialists in July. For additional information, visit www.jockeypersontoperson.com.

Thiensville has received a federal grant of more than $1.7 million for a project to minimize flooding in the village.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) released the Pre-Disaster Mitigation-Competitive Grant Program (PDMC) funds to the Ozaukee County village Thursday.

The grant application was prepared for the village by Ruekert/Mielke Engineering of Waukesha.

Thiensville's $2.5 million project is designed to provide improved flood conveyance along Pigeon Creek and create additional water storage to protect surrounding homes and businesses from flooding, and to relieve sanitary sewer back-up.

Acting village engineer Michael Campbell, who also is chief operating officer at Ruekert/Mielke, said the grant enables Thiensville to move forward with aggressive flood control measures.

"To put this grant in perspective, the dollar amount is almost as large as the annual village tax levy," Campbell said.

The FEMA grant will cover 75 percent of the project's costs, and the village's tax incremental financing (TIF) district will pay for the remaining portion. The village plans for the TIF district to generate additional tax revenues for the project from the redevelopment of an area formerly in the flood zone.

The FEMA/TIF combination means that no special assessments or charges will be levied on property owners in the village, according to Campbell.

"This kind of project is the cornerstone of disaster prevention efforts and illustrates the importance of local, state and federal government working together for the benefit of citizens," said Edward Buikema, regional director of FEMA's Region V.

Milwaukee County remains the primary engine for economic development and growth in Wisconsin, with 10,361 jobs accounting for 60 percent of the available full-time openings in the state, according to a new survey.

The amount of new job openings in Milwaukee County is up 27 percent from the number of openings available in 2005, the report states. The employment sector with the largest number of increases is manufacturing. Health care and computer-related jobs also posted significant growth.

The survey was prepared by the Private Industry Council of Milwaukee County in conjunction with the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Employment and Training Institute.

"There are more jobs available than last year, and those jobs are paying more than in the past," said Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker. "The vast majority of those jobs are available in Milwaukee County, which shows we are still the economic engine of the state."

Midwest Airlines senior vice president and chief marketing officer Scott Dickson expects the company's new security screening procedures to operate more smoothly today.

The U.S. Transportation Security Administration ordered more rigorous screenings Thursday after an alleged massive terrorist plot was foiled in the United Kingdom. The extra security measures went into effect after the Department of Homeland Security raised the threat level to "orange" for all commercial aviation in the United States.

Under the new measures, no liquids or gels are permitted in carry-on baggage. Exceptions are made for baby formula and prescribed medicines. Liquids and gels must now be in checked baggage.

To assist passengers, Oak Creek-based Midwest Airlines temporarily increased its free checked baggage allowance to three bags per person. Carry-on baggage continues to be allowed on all Midwest aircraft.

Dickson said the new precautions resulted in some flight delays Thursday, but most were less than 30 minutes in length. He said the airline expects fewer delays today. Travelers can find additional information about the new flight restrictions at http://tsa.gov.