U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) today unveiled a comprehensive proposal intended to solve America's looming fiscal and economic crisis.
Ryan said his plan, titled "A Roadmap for America's Future," would transform the federal government and the strengthen American society for future generations.
At a press conference in Washington, D.C., today, Ryan said the challenges facing the United States are "immense." America's health care crisis has left millions uninsured, with millions more facing skyrocketing medical costs.  The "cumbersome" tax code punishes hard work and puts American businesses and American-made products at a competitive disadvantage against foreign competitors, he said.
The federal government is locked on an "unsustainable fiscal path, with trillions of dollars of unfunded liabilities," Ryan said. Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security represent the promise of health and retirement security for millions of the most vulnerable Americans, yet these 20th-century programs are headed for bankruptcy, Ryan said.
"Washington is broken, and has yet to face up to our most pressing domestic challenges.  My Roadmap for America's Future will fulfill the promise of health and retirement security, lift the crushing burden of debt we're passing to our children, and will strengthen American jobs and competitiveness for the 21st century," Ryan said. "As our nation's leaders continue to drag their feet on these reforms, we risk severing the great American legacy. This legacy provides that each generation tackles their historic challenge and leaves the next generation more secure and more prosperous. It is our duty to leave our children with a better America, and I believe that my Roadmap for America's Future will fulfill this duty."
To read the full report of Ryan's plan, visit  www.americanroadmap.org.

AMR Corp., the beleaguered parent company of American Airlines, announced today it will slash its domestic flight capacity by 11 to 12 percent in the fourth quarter, grounding several aircraft and cutting back its workforce.
The Fort Worth, Texas-based company said it plans to retire at least 75 mainline and regional planes, including many of its MD-80s and some Airbus A300 planes. The carrier did not indicate how many employees would be affected.
The company also did not specify which routes would be affected by the reductions in flights. American provides service to and from Milwaukee's General Mitchell International Airport.
Along with reductions in its domestic capacity, the company also announced it will become the first airline to begin charging $15 for passengers' first checked bag.
"The airline industry as it is constituted today was not built to withstand oil prices at $125 a barrel, and certainly not when record fuel expenses are coupled with a weak U.S. economy," said AMR chairman and chief executive officer Gerard Arpey. "Our company and industry simply cannot afford to sit by hoping for industry and market conditions to improve. We must work to overcome our near-term challenges and to secure our company's long-term future for the benefit of our shareholders, customers and employees. We must find ways to cover the cost of providing our services so that we can remain viable and have the resources to reinvest in our company for the future. Those goals are central to the actions we are outlining today."
Members of the Allied Pilots Association (APA), the collective bargaining agent for the 12,000 pilots of American Airlines, picketed outside the company's annual meeting in Forth Worth today. The union appealed to the AMR board of directors to address what the pilots termed "systemic failings" by the company's management.
"American Airlines management is failing its customers, its shareholders and its employees," said Capt. Lloyd Hill. "This dismal performance is not sustainable."
American Airlines placed last in on-time performance in March among 19 U.S. carriers, while parent company AMR's common stock share price is near its four-year low.
APA and American Airlines have been in contract negotiations for more than 18 months.
Hill cited "management intransigence" as the reason for the lack of progress at the bargaining table.
"Management has chosen to treat its employees as adversaries, rather than valuable allies," Hill said. "In contrast, at our cross-town competitor Southwest Airlines, management there has always believed in taking care of its employees first, who in turn take care of the customers. And we all know which employee-relations approach has proven more effective in producing a consistently successful company."

Time Warner Inc. today announced plans to spin off its Time Warner Cable Inc. subsidiary into an independent company.
The respective boards of directors of the companies have approved an agreement that will result in their complete legal and structural separation. With the spinoff, the parent company will receive a dividend payment of $9.25 billion.
Time Warner president and chief executive officer Jeff Bewkes said, "This is the right step for Time Warner and Time Warner Cable stockholders. After the transaction, each company will have greater strategic, financial and operational flexibility and will be better positioned to compete. Separating the two companies also will help their management teams focus on realizing the full potential of the respective businesses and will provide investors with greater choice in how they own this portfolio of assets. We're bullish on Time Warner Cable's prospects, but its strategic goals and capital needs are increasingly different from those of our other businesses."
Time Warner Cable president and CEO Glenn Britt said, "Today's announcement marks the next important step in Time Warner Cable's evolution as a stand-alone, public company. In a single transaction, we increase our strategic and financial flexibility, simplify our capital structure, enhance the public float and liquidity of our stock and return substantial capital to our stockholders. Importantly, we expect to accomplish all of this while maintaining solid investment-grade credit ratings. Paying a sizeable, one-time dividend is a reflection of our continued confidence in our growth prospects. Our separation from Time Warner also enhances our ability to compete aggressively and perform well in a highly competitive environment by delivering the innovative telecommunications services that our customers need, while making prudent investments to deliver continued value for our stockholders."
Time Warner Cable is the second-largest cable operator in the nation. Its service territory includes southeastern Wisconsin, New York State (including New York City), the Carolinas, Ohio, southern California (including Los Angeles) and Texas.
Bev Greenberg, vice president of public affairs for Time Warner Cable in Milwaukee, said she planned to learn more about the transaction in a conference call with the parent company later today.
"There should be absolute no direct impact on our customers. Really, this transition affects who are shareholders are, and that is it. It will not affect our services," Greenberg said. "The benefit is it positions Time Warner Cable for greater growth."
Greenberg said an independent Time Warner Cable may be able to respond more quickly to changes in the competitive video entertainment market.

Ademi & O'Reilly LLP, a Cudahy law firm that specializes in class action law suits involving securities, has filed a class action suit against Milwaukee-based MGIC Investment Corp.
The suit alleges MGIC's leadership team violated terms of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 by issuing a series of misrepresentations to the market that led the artificial inflation of the company's stock price.
Investors who bought MGIC stock between Feb. 6, 2007, and Feb. 12, 2008, may be eligible to join the class action suit.

The Buffalo Water Beer Company, Milwaukee's newest microbrewer, will begin bottling its beer for the first time this afternoon at its brewery on Milwaukee's near south side.
The company will begin bottling its flagship lager, Bison Blonde, at its brewery, which is located at 613 S. Second St.
Since its introduction to the market in 2007, Buffalo Water has been available on tap at various local taverns, including the Milwaukee Ale House, the Carleton Grange Pub, Triskele's, the Donges Bay Clubhouse and Dairyland Greyhound Park.
The Buffalo Water Beer Company was founded in Milwaukee in 2007 by local beer enthusiast and entrepreneur Craig Peterson. Created to complement hot foods, particularly Buffalo wings, Buffalo Water Bison Blonde Lager is brewed in accordance with the Bavarian purity law of 1516, meaning there are only four ingredients in the brew: water, malt, hops and yeast.
The bottled Buffalo Water Bison Blonde will be available at Woodman's Food Markets throughout Wisconsin.
For more information about the company, read a previous feature story by Small Business Times or visit www.buffalowater.com,

A handful of spots for foursomes are still available in the U.S. Bank Championship's Raising the Grass Ceiling golf event to be played Thursday, June 26, at the Brown Deer Park Golf Course.
Teams of four will compete for a chance to golf in the July 16 Aurora Health Care Professional-Amateur (Pro-Am) tournament and the July 14 U.S. Bank Championship Pro-Am tournament.
The event supports The First Tee of Milwaukee County, which provides free golf programs to the youth of Milwaukee County who otherwise may not have been introduced to the game of golf. The First Tee program encourages girls and boys to grow as individuals through the values inherent in golf, such as honesty, integrity and sportsmanship.  Now in its second year, Raising the Grass Ceiling encourages women to participate in competitive golf by requiring each foursome to contain at least two women. 
 "Women's golf has become one of the fastest-growing segments in the golf industry,” said Kim Hodgkinson, committee co-chair of the event. "Raising the Grass Ceiling is an opportunity for women to participate in a PGA Tour-related event, while supporting Milwaukee's youth."
The event format is one best ball per foursome, with each team recording its best individual score per hole. Entrance to the event is $1,500 per foursome, which includes 80 grounds tickets good for any day at the U.S. Bank Championship to be held July 14-20 at Brown Deer Park Golf Course in Milwaukee.
The winning team will be awarded a foursome in the Aurora Health Care Pro-Am on Wednesday, July 16, and the runner-up will receive four spots in the U.S. Bank Championship Pro-Am on Monday, July 14.
For more information and to register for the golf event, call (414) 431-GOLF. For more information about The First Tee of Milwaukee County, visit www.thefirstteemilwaukeecounty.org.

Milwaukee-based Brady Corp. today reported that its fiscal third quarter net income rose 18.5 percent to $34.4 million, or 63 cents per share, from $29.0 million, or 53 cents per share, in the same period a year ago.
Fiscal 2008 earnings per share calculations reflect the completed repurchase of approximately 944,000 shares in the quarter.
Brady Corp.'s sales for the quarter were $381.9 million, up 10.3 percent from $346.3 million a year earlier.
"This has been a strong quarter for us with good improvement in both gross margin and earnings per share. Our year-to-date operating cash flow is up 91 percent to $152 million from $80 million last year. Our pro-active efforts to adjust our cost structure and control working capital to cope with a slowing economy have clearly paid off," said Brady president and chief executive officer Frank Jaehnert.
"Based on current trends and including the two acquisitions made earlier this year, we are increasing sales guidance from $1.43-$1.46 billion to $1.50-$1.52 billion. While we continue to be concerned about economic softness in some of our key markets, we believe that our operational improvements allow us to reconfirm our net income guidance of $129-$135 million. We are, however, increasing our earnings per share guidance by $0.02 to $2.33-$2.44 to account for shares repurchased in the quarter," said Brady chief financial officer Thomas Felmer.

Amato Automotive Group announced that Joe Tolfa has been named as general manager of Amato Cadillac in Glendale.
Tolfa will be responsible for daily operations of the dealership, as well as sales and marketing. Tolfa previously served as Mercedes Benz brand manager at Concours Motors.
Tolfa has extensive dealership experience, serving in both retail sales and as a consultant and trainer at dealerships throughout the United States, Canada and Australia.
Amato Cadillac is located at 5200 N. Port Washington Road.

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett announced that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has awarded the City of Milwaukee $779,044 from the Port Security Grant Program to enhance security and response capabilities of the city's port facilities.
"The Port of Milwaukee is a world-class port that is strategically located, exceptionally maintained and unfortunately, susceptible to homeland security threats by those who wish to do harm to our borders," Barrett said. "It is critical to improve security at the Port to protect its role in our local economy."
The city's grant application included requests for funding to be allocated to the Port of Milwaukee, the Milwaukee Police and Fire Departments and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to provide for an all-season maritime response and rescue capability, and to fund a full-scale emergency response exercise in 2009.

The PRSA of Southeastern Wisconsin announced the winners of its 2007 Paragon Awards at a banquet in Milwaukee Tuesday night.
The chapter gave its Paragon Communicator of the Year Award to Tim Hoeksema, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Oak Creek-based Midwest Airlines. In 2007, Hoeksema led Midwest Airlines in thwarting a hostile take-over bid by Air Tran Airways and steered the company through what was a challenging year for the airline industry as a whole, the PRSA said. The award is given annually to a businessperson, educator, politician or other community leader who effectively uses public relations and/or communications skills in the performance of their responsibilities.
The Best of Show Award went to Manpower Inc. for its "World Headquarters Communications Campaign," which promoted the relocation of its corporate headquarters to a new office in vibrant downtown Milwaukee. The company used a series of techniques to reach both external audiences and its staff.
The Paragon Awards were created in 1983 to encourage members to strive for public relations excellence.
For a complete list of winners of the Paragon Awards, visit www.prsawis.org/current_winners.asp.

Dream Dance, the Potawatomi Bingo Casino's upscale restaurant, will have a new location in the expanded casino with its own entrance. In the past, customers had to walk through the casino to get to the restaurant. The new Dream Dance will open in June. Read more in the latest edition of the BizTimes Real Estate Weekly bulletin.

Ted Hutton has some ideas on how to shake Milwaukee out of its fog in today's Milwaukee Biz Blog.

ArtWorks for Milwaukee Inc. recently hosted a fashion show and gallery night to showcase the work of youth apprentices in the program. The event culminated ArtWorks' two latest program offerings, the Urban Airbrush Project and Decorative Accessory Design. ArtWorks serves at-risk Milwaukee high school students by creating paid apprenticeships in arts-based programs, in which they learn the critical employability skills they need for future success. To view a photographic slideshow of the event, visit the latest edition of SBT Around Town.

The BizTimes Stock Index fell 1.02 points to close at 164.08 Tuesday, and local stocks struggled for some meager gains in early morning trading today. The largest local gainers this morning were Brady Corp. (up $1.23 to $34.77) and Sensient Technologies Inc. (up 61 cents to $30.47). The largest local decliners this morning were Kohl's Corp. (down $1.40 to $46.10) and Weyco Group Inc. (down 40 cents to $27.07). 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.

Thousands of Wisconsin businesses and residences were left without high-speed Internet service today after a road construction crew ruptured a major fiber optic line connecting the Milwaukee region to Chicago.

The line was accidentally cut by a crew working along Interstate 94 in northern Illinois this morning.

The cut line disrupted service for TDS Metrocom and TDS Telecom commercial and residential customers throughout the Midwest, according to DeAnne Boegli, manager of public relations for the companies.

TDS and several other Internet service providers (ISPs) rent bandwidth on the line that was ruptured, Boegli said.
Sources said service to subscribers of MSN's Hotmail in the Milwaukee area also was disrupted today.

"We have crews on site. We have to replace a span of 2,500 feet fiber optic line along Interstate 94," Boegli said. "We lease the bandwidth that goes through there from other vendors. That whole fiber optic tube was crushed by the digger. Because it's glass, it sort of shatters when it gets cut, not like copper (wire)."

TDS and other ISPs were forced to reroute their customers' Internet traffic around Chicago on lines with smaller bandwidth, causing considerable delays in service.

The slower connection speeds led many TDS customers to believe their problems were being caused by their individual computers, rather than their Internet service.

The disruption made conducting business difficult today for London-Tarsus Group PLC, which operates its U.S. headquarters in Brookfield.

"You always wonder if it is something internal - it has certainly had an impact on us," said Don Browne, marketing director for Tarsus Group. "Basically as a media company, we produce trade shows and conferences, we are heavily dependent on the web for our sales outreach, for our marketing communications. Plus, we are an international company, so we have a home office in the UK. I would say it probably put everybody back at least two or three hours of work and maybe more, depending on the kind of projects they are working on. It has made for a pretty difficult day."

Several customers of Stamm Business Technologies, a Milwaukee information technology (IT) company were affected by the disruptions, according to Ariel Donahue, help desk engineer at the firm, which also has an office in Chicago.

"Because we are an IT company, we have back ups. It did throw off our main line this morning for a while. It has affected a number of our DSL TDS subscriber clients," Donahue said. "Because all of the traffic is being rerouted, systems are a lot slower."

The disruption also caused the Small Business Times to send out its BizTimes Daily bulletin one hour later than normal today.

Boegli of TDS said, "We are trying to reroute as much as possible. We are fully expecting it to be completed by tonight. They'll work on it until they're done, and we'll bring people up as fast as we can," Boegli said. "We'll be trying to bring up as many of our customers as soon as we can. We're working hard to get it done."

High-speed Internet service was restored to thousands of Wisconsin businesses and residents late this afternoon after a road construction crew had ruptured a major fiber optic line connecting the Milwaukee region to Chicago early this morning.

The line was accidentally cut by a crew working along Interstate 94 in northern Illinois. The disruption caused slow or non-existent Internet connections for companies and residences throughout the Midwest for most of the day.

A spokesman for TDS Metrocom said the damaged line has been repaired and service has been restored for the company's customers throughout the Midwest this afternoon..

TDS and several other Internet service providers (ISPs) rent bandwidth on the line that was ruptured.