Corporate support of time and talents are needed to help celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Milwaukee Braves' 1957 world championship. To learn how you can help, visit www.onmilwaukee.com/sports/columns/articles/bravessupport.html. Meanwhile, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett declared today to be "Lew Burdette Day" in the city, honoring the two-time National League all star pitcher who played a key role in the city's only World Series title. Burdette passed away on Tuesday. "Lew, most known for his 1957 World Series triumphant pitching performance against the New York Yankees, was an inspiration to Major League Baseball and to me personally. A dedicated hard-worker, Lew worked for Miller Brewing Co. in Milwaukee in the off-season during his 13 seasons with the Braves, from 1951 to 1963. On behalf of the City of Milwaukee, I salute Lew Burdette for his remarkable athletic accomplishments in Major League Baseball and for bringing spirit and fanfare to the game," Barrett said.

After six non-production days related to a strike at its largest assembly plant, Harley-Davidson Inc. announced today that its motorcycle shipments for the first quarter of the year will not meet previously established guidance.
First-quarter shipments of Harley-Davidson motorcycles had been expected to be between 82,000 and 84,000 units.
In a statement today, the company said, "At this time, the company is not providing motorcycle shipment guidance for the first quarter, nor is it prepared to predict whether the strike will have an effect on full year financial guidance."
Approximately 2,800 union workers who are members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) Local 175 are currently on strike at the company's facility in York, Pa. The Harley-Davidson employees in York primarily manufacture and assemble Touring and Softail model motorcycles.
As a result of the strike, the company has reduced production of engines and transmissions at its facility in Menomonee Falls and injection-molded and other components in Tomahawk. Temporary layoffs of as 740 Harley employees in Wisconsin could begin as soon as next week.

The Wisconsin Restaurant Association's board of directors has voted to support a statewide workplace smoking ban that does not exempt bars or bar areas in restaurants.
In his recent State of the State address, Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle called upon the state Legislature to enact the law, which would ban smoking in all public buildings, workplaces, restaurants and taverns.
The WRA has traditionally defended business owners' rights to make their own decisions about such restrictions. However, the current "patchwork" of local smoking bans is a problem for the restaurant industry as it puts hundreds of restaurants at an unfair disadvantage, the organization said.
Currently, there are 30 local smoking ban ordinances in Wisconsin. As a result, there are hundreds of restaurants in the situation where they may lose customers to restaurants just outside the smoking ban area or to taverns who may be exempt from a smoking ban ordinance.
"There are only two paths to a level playing field on smoking," said Ed Lump, president and chief executive officer of the WRA. "One is no regulation, and the other is a complete ban. Anything in between unfairly creates winners and losers, with government regulations determining which businesses survive and which flounder."
The WRA board's vote was 36-1 to support the ban.
"The board of directors struggled with this issue but ultimately decided that a statewide smoking ban was going to be the best option for the foodservice industry in Wisconsin," Lump said.
"When Madison banned smoking in my bar in 2005, I was angry," said John Kavanaugh, owner of the Esquire Club in Madison. "My bar business went down because my smoking customers drove out to Westport. But, I've also seen an increase in dining customers, and I believe my smoking customers will come back for my steaks when they can no longer smoke at other restaurants or bars."

Kohl's Corp. today reported a strong January, with comparable-store sales increasing 8.7 percent over the same month a year ago.
The Menomonee Falls-based department store chain's total sales for January increased 46.6 percent to $991.6 million from $676.4 million a year earlier.
Larry Montgomery, Kohl's chairman and chief executive officer, said, "January's sales results were driven by strong customer demand for cold-weather merchandise as well as redemptions of gift cards. We are pleased with our sales performance for January as well as in fiscal 2006 and look forward to continuing our momentum into fiscal 2007."

The Potawatomi Business Development Corp. (PBDC) announced today a complete buyout of OneProspect Technologies, a Wisconsin company that has offices in Crandon and Rhinelander. By purchasing the remaining interest in the company, the Forest County Potawatomi Community now owns 100 percent of the business.
OneProspect provides state-of-the-art network infrastructure and Internet protocol (IP) communications solutions to business customers throughout the United States. PBDC first took a 49 percentage ownership in OneProspect Technologies in February 2006.
"Our strengthening relationship with the Potawatomi Business Development Corp. allows us to grow into a bigger and better organization, and to further support our customers,” said Jason Neilitz, chief executive officer of OneProspect Technologies. “Working with the PBDC the past year has been a great experience and our entire team is excited about the future of our company.”
“OneProspect has demonstrated the commitment and desire we are seeking with our acquisitions,” said Carol Leese, CEO of PBDC. “The buyout allows us to fully leverage our minority status for targeting Government contracts. Our immediate growth plans include opening a OneProspect Milwaukee office later this month and future offices on the west coast.”
PBDC also recently purchased Advancia Corporation, a government contracting company based in Oklahoma City that focuses on technology solutions. The buyout of OneProspect brings the PBDC's holdings to nearly $40 million.
"It's a great day for the Forest County Potawatomi. The buyout continues to help us reach our tribe's revenue diversification goals," said Kip Ritchie, vice president of business and community development for the PBDC. "Now, full profits from OneProspect Technologies will be returned to tribal government to support tribal programs and provide an additional shareholder distribution for tribal members. The purchase also clarifies ownership structure and creates a solid future for the growth of OneProspect."

Brookfield-based Evans Transportation Services Inc. has hired Don Cox as chief operating officer.
Cox previously worked at Chr. Hansen Inc., where he held the position of senior vice president of sales for that company's North American business unit. He has spent the past 20 years in a variety of leadership positions in the food and agriculture industry.
In addition to managing the current client needs for Evans, Cox's responsibilities will include leading the development and implementation of a long-term service and growth plan.
Evans Transportation moved into a new 16,000-square-foot location at 21755 W. Gateway Road in the Gateway West Commerce Center last year.

The Wisconsin Manufacturing Extension Partnership (WMEP) today received the state's top economic development award from the Wisconsin Economic Development Association (WEDA). 
The award was presented at the 2007 Governor's Conference on Economic Development in Madison. The award is given once every two years to an organization that has had a significant impact on economic development in the State of Wisconsin.
"It's a great honor to receive this award and an exciting day for our organization," said Mike Klonsinski, WMEP's executive director. "We certainly appreciate this recognition for our contribution to the state's economic growth and vitality."
James Haney, president of Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce (WMC) and a WMEP board member, said the state's investment in WMEP delivers a substantial return for manufacturers and taxpayers. "I don't know of any other state-supported organization that gets as much bang for the buck as WMEP," Haney said.
Since 2001, WMEP has helped more than 1,200 Wisconsin manufacturers implement strategies to boost competitiveness, profitability and growth. During that time, WMEP-assisted firms reported $849 million in economic impact.
"The results speak for themselves. This is an organization with a solid track record that is responding to a critical need in our state's $44 billion industrial economy," said Jim Lang, president of New Berlin-based AdvanTech Manufacturing Inc. and chairman of WMEP's board of directors.
One of the companies WMEP has worked with is Madison-based TomoTherapy Inc., which won the WEDA Business Award. WMEP helped TomoTherapy implement lean techniques throughout its plant.
For more information about how the organization can help Wisconsin's manufacturers, visit www.wmep.org.

Pewaukee-based author and speaker Susan Wehrley will take her personal and leadership empowerment message to the airwaves this spring in her second Milwaukee Public Television special.
Wehrley will share her formula for a complete life in the TV show, which is based on her latest book, "The Personal Leadership Puzzle: 8 Missing Pieces to a Complete Life!” (See recent SBT article at www.biztimes.com/news/2007/2/2/missing-pieces)
A limited number of tickets are available for the Feb.12 taping of the show at 4 p.m. at Discovery World's Innovation Theater on Milwaukee's lakefront.
"We saw value in her message," said MPTV executive producer Raul Gavan, who is again working with Wehrley to create the new show that will air March 12 at 7 p.m. on the spring MPTV Friends on-air membership drive on Channel 10.
Wehrley is the author of three personal empowerment books and is known for being a "transformation expert" because of her training and development business, Susan K. Wehrley & Associates Inc. Visit www.solutionsbysusan.com for additional information.

The BizTimes Stock Index continued its string of all-time highs by gaining .97 points to close at 184.66 Wednesday, but that streak is being threatened by a weak session of early morning trading today. The largest local decliners this morning were MGIC Investment Corp. (down $2.08 to $66.51) and Johnson Controls Inc. (down 90 cents to $94.49). The largest local advancers this morning were Ladish Co. (up $1.82 to $44.29) and Manpower Inc. (up 63 cents to $75.29). 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.

Robert W. Baird & Co. Inc. announced today it will keep its headquarters in the U.S. Bank Center at 777 E. Wisconsin Ave. in downtown Milwaukee.

The company said it has signed an extension for its lease in the building through 2014. The extension provides Baird with about 264,000 square feet of space on 12 floors with options for additional space in the future.

The announcement is a blow to Milwaukee-based JBK Properties Inc.'s plans to build Lake Pointe Tower, a proposed 42-story mixed use building at the current site of a parking garage just southeast of the U.S. Bank Center. JBK needs to obtain an anchor tenant to get that project going and was trying to convince Baird to move to the proposed new tower.

"We know they were under a tight deadline and they had to decide if they were going to stay or go," said Carl Mueller, a spokesman for JBK. "Of course we would have loved to have them in the new building."

Despite the decision by Baird, Mueller said the Lake Pointe Tower project is still "very much alive" and there are other potential anchor tenants that could commit to moving to the building, which would allow construction to begin. He declined to name those tenants.

"The project is very much alive," Mueller said. "I think this will have a potential impact on the timing, but other than that this is still a very attractive location. We fully expect the planning and process to move forward."

Baird said its executives conducted a "very thorough review of a wide variety of options" for its headquarters location.

"Throughout our review process, our primary considerations have been providing the best experience for our associates and clients while positioning us for the future," said Paul Purcell, Baird's chairman, president and chief executive officer. "We felt it important to have our home office associates working in close proximity. And, we know that maintaining our headquarters in the city's premier lakefront property underscores the important role Baird and its associates play in Milwaukee's downtown as well as the greater metropolitan area."

Baird is the largest tenant in the 1.1 million-square-foot, 42-story U.S. Bank Center, which is the state's largest office building. Baird has more than 900 employees who work in the building.

Baird studied numerous locations and facilities in the greater Milwaukee area for a possible headquarters relocation. In reaching its decision, the firm said it considered a number of factors including cost, convenience for clients and employees and site amenities.

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett said he is glad the company is staying downtown.

"I'm extremely pleased that Baird has committed to staying in downtown Milwaukee for years to come," he said.

"Downtown Milwaukee has proven to be a great place for Baird to do business, and we like to think we've helped make downtown a more vibrant place to work and live," Purcell said. "We're pleased to be an integral part of the city's future."