For the first time, Milwaukee will have its own New Year's Eve lighted ball to drop tonight.
The joint venture construction team of CG Schmidt/Barton Malow, which is building the new Columbia St. Mary's Hospital on Milwaukee's east side, has constructed a lighted ball that will be dropped from a 300-foot crane at the stroke of midnight.
Workers constructed a five-foot ball of welded wire covered with white lights to be raised later today. The numbers "2007" will be lit at the top of the crane. At one minute to midnight, the ball will begin its descent to the ground. As the ball proceeds downward, the "2007" will dim, and at midnight, "2008" will be illuminated in its place.
The site is located at the intersection of Prospect and North Avenues.

The Pewaukee Chamber of Commerce will honor Mary Schwister as its 2007 Person of the Year Award recipient.
Schwister will be honored at the Pewaukee Chamber of Commerce Community Awards Banquet, to be held Wednesday, Jan. 23, from 6 to 9 p.m. at Western Lakes Golf Club, Pewaukee.
A reception will be held at 6 p.m., followed by dinner at 7 p.m. Members of the community are invited to attend. Cost of the dinner is $35 per person in advance and $45 at the door, or $250 for a table of eight.  
Schwister has a master's degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in history and administration. She has been a teacher, as well as an elementary school principal.
She worked in retail management positions at both J.C. Penney and Kohl's stores. Before retiring, Schwister operated her own property and casualty insurance agency for 10 years in Shorewood.
After her retirement, she became interested in prairie restoration and protection of native plants. As chairperson of the Pewaukee Woman's Club Conservation Department, she worked on local conservation projects.
Schwister's interests gradually led her to focus on water conservation issues, and she has been the president of the Pewaukee River Partnership. In addition, she has worked on beautification projects in cooperation with the Pewaukee Park & Recreation Department.
The chamber also will honor three Business of the Year Award recipients at the dinner:  Large Business, Waukesha State Bank; Medium Business, Visiting Angels; and Small Business, Mo's Southwest Grill.
In addition, the chamber will also present five 2007 Employee Recognition Awards: Debbie Fayhee, Waukesha State Bank, Pewaukee; Cindy Carroll, ASA Clark Middle School; Judy Keefe, Horizon School; Gayle Best, Pewaukee Schools; and Amy Barootian, Pewaukee Lake Elementary School.
For more information about the event, visit www.pewaukeechamber.org or call (262) 691-8851.

Corporate executives are invited to attend a special forum on "Business Preparedness and Emergency Planning," which will take place at the Waukesha County Technical College's Richard T. Anderson Education Center, 800 Main Street, Pewaukee, on Monday, Jan. 14.
The forum is scheduled for 7:30 a.m. to noon.
The featured topics and speakers will include:
"Protecting America's Infrastructure" by Ed Gleason, protective security advisor, U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
"Sustaining Communication in an Emergency" by Robert Jabubek, senior director of network operations and engineering, U.S. Cellular.
"This Could Happen at Your Business - Exclusive Debrief of the Brookfield Sheraton Shooting" by Phil Horter, captain, City of Brookfield Police.
"Economic Espionage and Vulnerabilities That May Affect Your Business" by Mark Ormsby, FBI intelligence analyst.
"Preparing for Business Continuity" by Ron Kase, president, Landmark Credit Union.
"What is Next ... Protecting our Business Community" by Brian Dorow, associate dean, Department of Criminal Justice, Waukesha County Technical College, and Bill Mielke, Waukesha County Action Network (WCAN) Public Safety Committee chair.
The cost to attend the event is $50 per person. Seating is limited. RSVP by Friday, Jan. 4.
For additional information contact Dorow at (262) 691-5374; Mielke at at (262) 542-5733; or Carla Rutley, WCAN executive director, at (262) 510-8112.

The owner of CenterPoint MarketPlace, Stevens Point's downtown mall, is considering a dramatic redevelopment plan for the shopping center. Read more in SBT's daily roundup of headlines from newspapers across the state at www.biztimes.com.

In today's Milwaukee Biz Blog, author and consultant David Bohl offer five great small New Year resolutions to help small businesses grow.

The BizTimes Stock Index gained 3.53 points to close at 171.18 Friday, but local stocks tumbled with the broader market in early morning trading today. The largest local decliners this morning were Bucyrus International Inc. (down $3.03 to $97.50) and Joy Global Inc. (down $1.05 to $65.87). The largest local advancers this morning were Midwest Air Group Inc. (up 26 cents to $14.79) and Manpower Inc. (up 20 cents to $57.55). 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.

Small Business Times wishes the readers of the BizTimes Daily a happy, healthy, peaceful and prosperous 2008. The BizTimes Daily bulletin will return with the first edition of the year on Wednesday, Jan. 2.