Green Bay Packers president Mark Murphy presided over his first annual shareholders meeting this morning at Lambeau Field, where he addressed the Brett Favre situation right at the outset.
Murphy said the team's stance on Favre's desire to come out of retirement is a "football decision," according to the Green Bay Press Gazette. Murphy said he was personally engaged in the team's discussions about Favre.
"We're all in unison," Murphy said to a combination of cheers and boos, the Gazette reported. "We want to be fair to Brett but we also want to do what's in the best interest of the Green Bay Packers."
Fans called from the stands for the Packers bring Favre back, and general manager Ted Thompson also was greeted by a combination of cheers and boos, the publication reported.
The Packers expected 10,000 to 12,000 shareholders to attend today's meeting.

Milwaukee Gear Co. and its sister company, Treat All Metals, have been acquired by High Road Capital Partners, a New York-based private equity firm.
Milwaukee Gear is a manufacturer of custom precision spur and helical gears utilized in a number of markets, including energy, compressors, mining and other general industrial applications. Treat All Metals is the heat-treating arm of Milwaukee Gear and offers a line of heat treating services to Milwaukee Gear as well as outside customers.
Rick Fullington, president and chief executive officer of Milwaukee Gear, said he is "excited about the company's future and the capital and operating support High Road and its equity partner, Charter Oak Equity, will bring to the company."
Robert Fitzsimmons, High Road's managing partner, told SBT that the Milwaukee companies' management teams, employees and names will be retained. However, Milwaukee Gear's former chief executive officer, Harold Trusky, plans to retire. 
"Milwaukee Gear (and Treat All Metals) have a lot of great opportunities in the markets they're already in," Fitzsimmons said. "We'd like to find ways to increase their capacity and we will look for add-on acquisitions that make strategic sense."
Both Milwaukee companies are poised for growth, according to John Emory Jr., president and chief executive officer of Emory & Co., a Milwaukee-based investment banking firm that advised the Milwaukee firms on the transaction.
Debt financing for the transaction was provided by Babson Capital Management LLC and JP Morgan Chase. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Utrecht art supply store will open its second Wisconsin location on the campus of the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD) in the Historic Third Ward.
Among the new store's first clients during its opening the week on Aug. 11 will be members of the largest incoming class in MIAD's history.
In addition to its own line of art products, Utrecht offers an assortment of fine art materials and supplies from the leading national brands.
"This new partnership will provide our students with the highest quality art and design materials and supplies by a company that has been known for unique quality and value since its founding in 1949," said MIAD president Neil Hoffman. "Our partnership with Utrecht is just one important aspect of the college's dedication to providing the best services to our students."
Bill Houghton, manager of the Utrecht store on Milwaukee's east side, said, "Partnering with a college the caliber of MIAD has been a goal of ours for years. We are extremely excited to be opening the new store and look forward to a long and successful relationship."
MIAD alumnus Steve Lubahn, an exhibiting artist and assistant manager of Utrecht's east side store for seven years, will be the manager of the new store at 143 N. Broadway in a building owned by the college adjacent to the Student Union.

Snap-on Inc., a Kenosha-based manufacturer and marketer of tools, diagnostics, equipment, software and service solutions for professional users, today reported second quarter net earnings of $66.9 million, or $1.15 per share, up from $43.8 million, or 74 cents per share, in the same period a year ago.
The company's quarterly net sales grew to $766.1 million from $711.9 million a year earlier.
"Snap-on's second quarter operating performance evidences continued achievements in our strategic diversification and growth initiatives," said Nick Pinchuk, Snap-on's president and chief executive officer. "Despite the continued macroeconomic challenges, the strength of our global and diverse customer base and the value created by our innovation and rapid continuous improvement processes combined to deliver significant sales and profit improvements."
Snap-on expects that its sales and earnings for the balance of 2008 will continue to exceed 2007 levels. Snap-on incurred $6.6 million of restructuring costs in the first six months of 2008 and expects full year 2008 restructuring costs to be in a range of $13 million to $16 million, down from its previous estimate of $15 million to $20 million.

Beginning on Sunday, July 27, select Milwaukee Brewers games will be broadcast on radio in Spanish on ESPN Deportes 1510 (WRRD-AM), a station owned by Good Karma Broadcasting.
ESPN Deportes 1510 will broadcast every remaining Brewers home afternoon game during the season and will broadcast all home day games at Miller Park during the 2009 season.
"The Brewers Hispanic fan base is very strong and growing, and we're excited to bring Brewers Baseball to this audience through Spanish language broadcasts," said Brewers executive vice president of business operations Rick Schlesinger.
"The Brewers were the obvious choice for our first local play-by-play partnership due to our listener's interest, the team's commitment to the Hispanic community, and the Brewers commitment to winning," said ESPN Deportes 1510 and Good Karma Broadcasting owner Craig Karmazin. 
The play-by-play announcer for the Spanish broadcasts has not yet been named.

The Marcus Corp. today reported fiscal fourth quarter net earnings of $4.0 million, or 14 cents per share, down from $5.5 million, or 18 cents per share, in the same period a year ago.
The Milwaukee-based company's total revenues for the quarter dropped to $89.5 million from $92.2 million.
The company said its fourth quarter numbers of 2007 benefited from having an additional week. The company also said its 2007 slate of movies were stronger than its 2008 lineup in the quarter.
For the full fiscal year, total revenues were $371.1 million, up 13.3 percent from $327.6 million in the prior year.
Marcus Hotels and Resorts reported a 10.9-percent increase in revenues and a 36.5-percent increase in operating income for the year, driven by the addition of new properties and increased revenues from management contracts.
"We are pleased to report double-digit increases in revenues and operating income over the prior year. This is especially significant in view of the fact that this was a 52-week fiscal year, compared to last year's 53 weeks. New properties in both divisions were the major contributors to the improved performance," said Stephen Marcus, chairman and chief executive officer of The Marcus Corp.

The Milwaukee Mile speedway announced today the appointment of Marcus Lemonis as its new chairman.
The Miami, Fla., native attended Marquette University and said he "fell in love" with Milwaukee and Wisconsin. The NASCAR Camping World Summer Speed Weekend held this past June at The Milwaukee Mile was Lemonis' first involvement at The Mile.
"The Milwaukee Mile is one of this state's treasures, rich in history and full of potential and my immediate goal is to reintroduce the speedway to Wisconsin-based companies and residents," Lemonis said. "With their support, we'll be able to insure that the speedway continues to deliver a high caliber of outdoor entertainment. I have chosen to get involved to be able to bring focus and attention to this great city and state."
Lemonis will continue as chairman and CEO of Camping World/FreedomRoads, which is headquartered in Lincolnshire, Ill.
"Promoting both large businesses and smaller companies throughout state of Wisconsin fuels my passion and commitment to our community at The Milwaukee Mile," Lemonis said. "We are starting today working toward the full utilization of this extremely valuable franchise."
Lemonis succeeds past Milwaukee Mile chairman Craig Stoehr, who recently rejoined the global law firm Latham & Watkins to open offices in Dubai, United Arab Emirates and Doha, Qatar, where he will reside.
In a prepared statement, Stoehr said, "Marcus' passion for auto racing was clearly evident when we first met in May, and his business track record is exemplary. We have accomplished much over the last three years with The Mile under private ownership, and I have no doubt that Marcus will build on our success. We look forward to continuing our role as investors with Marcus leading the charge."
A spokeswoman for the Milwaukee Mile said Stoehr will remain a part of the track's ownership team.

Carroll University in Waukesha has received a $595,000 federal grant to support the development of a new physician assistant training program.
The three-year grant, from the Health Resources and Services Administration of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, will help Carroll develop, launch and assess a program that focuses on training physician assistants in primary care with an emphasis on serving Wisconsin's growing Hispanic population.
Based on current capacity, Wisconsin's three physician assistant training programs at the the University of Wisconsin-Madison, UW-La Crosse and Marquette University will not fill the state's need over the next decade, Carroll officials said.
Carroll's program would reduce the shortfall by 60 percent.
"We are aware of the need for more physician assistants and of the demand for a PA training program in our area," said Douglas N. Hastad, president of Carroll. "We are looking forward to providing more opportunities for students in the health care professions, to addressing the state's health care needs, and to working with a wide variety of community partners."
Dr. Russell Harland of Brookfield, a 1983 Carroll graduate, will chair a group of health care professionals who will advise Carroll on curriculum.
Carroll's 24-month training program will focus on primary care with an emphasis on Hispanic health care because research has consistently shown those are the two areas of greatest need in the physician assistant profession.
The school plans to admit its first students in the new program in June 2009.

Milwaukee-based ZBB Energy Corp. announced today that it has executed a memorandum of understanding with Envision Solar International to provide energy storage systems as part of the LifeVillage solar project in Cote d'Ivoire on the west coast of Africa.
LifeVillage will incorporate ZBB's energy storage system along with roof-mounted photovoltaic panels designed to provide a reliable source of electric power to remote areas. The system is a complete modularized solution that is durable and long-lasting, deployable via truck to virtually anywhere on the continent.
The prototype for the LifeVillage project is scheduled to be completed by ZBB and Envision by the beginning of October. The prototype will be built and initially demonstrated in the United States and then shipped to Cote d'Ivoire. Based on the success of the prototype, the two companies plan to establish remote area village power systems throughout west and central Africa.
ZBB chief executive officer Robert Parry said, "LifeVillage promises to be a major advancement for remote areas without access to any adequate power. Since the ZESS 50 is compatible with alternative energy sources such as solar, it is the perfect energy storage system for this project."

The Seattle Mariners' four-year player development contract with the Timber Rattlers - which play at Fox Cities Stadium in Grand Chute - expires in September, and Rattlers officials are holding off on a new deal for the class A team. Meanwhile, the Milwaukee Brewers are in the final year of a two-year deal with the class A West Virginia Power of the South Atlantic League, and so far have declined to negotiate a new contract that would keep the team in Charleston, W.Va. Those two situations are leading some to speculate that the Brewers will move the West Virginia class A affiliate to the Fox Valley. Read more in SBT's daily roundup of headlines from newspapers across the state at www.biztimes.com/#news.

National City Corp. today reported a second quarter net loss of $1.8 billion, or $2.45 per share, compared with net income of $347 million, or 27 cents per share, in the same period a year ago.
The Cleveland, Ohio-based company's latest quarter's losses also were steeper than its first quarter loss of $171 million.
National City entered the Milwaukee market in 2007 by acquiring MAF Bancorp Inc., the former parent company of Mid America Bank. MAF had acquired St. Francis Capital Corp., the former parent company of St. Francis Bank, in 2003.
National City attributed its quarterly losses mainly to increased loss reserves on liquidating mortgage loan portfolios and a non-cash goodwill impairment charge of $1.1 billion related to previous acquisitions. The second quarter provision for loan losses was $1.6 billion, of which $1.0 billion pertained to liquidating portfolios of brokered home equity, nonprime mortgage, and construction loans to individuals.
The company said its second quarter provision for loan losses included supplemental reserves of $478 million, specifically reflecting the "difficult environment" in the housing market.
In response to its exposure to the housing market, National City is restructuring its mortgage business under a new management team, exiting all broker-based mortgage and home equity operations, closing correspondent lending, reducing national home equity exposures and lowering its mortgage headcount.
"In this very challenging environment, we have made significant progress during the quarter in strengthening our balance sheet, mitigating losses in our liquidating portfolios and positioning National City for long-term growth when the credit cycle turns. With the completion of our $7 billion capital raise, National City is by far the best capitalized bank among its peer group - and is the best capitalized of all major U.S. banks," said National City chairman, president and chief executive officer Peter Raskind. "We continue to generate strong pre-provision income, and we are confident that we have more than sufficient capital to ride out turbulent credit markets. We fully recognize that we need to improve performance. Our management team is aggressively executing on plans to manage risk, cut expenses, and improve profitability. We are sharpening our focus on our core businesses while continuing to serve customers as one of the leading banks in our region. We believe that the fundamental strengths of our business model will help drive a return to profitability. As we continue to work through the current credit market turbulence, we are building our core business through profitable relationship growth and expansion."

Resales of single-family homes and condominiums in America fell 2.6 percent in June to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.86 million, the lowest level in 10 years, the National Association of Realtors reported today. The news sent the Dow Jones Industrials Average on a triple-digit decline this morning. The BizTimes Stock Index gained .57 points to close at 141.24 Wednesday, but local stocks fell with the broader market this morning. The largest local decliners this morning were Joy Global Inc. (down $2.33 to $65.81), Manpower Inc. (down $2.10 to $48.59), Badger Meter Inc. (down $1.97 to $53.32) and Rockwell Automation Inc. (down $1.19 to $43.91). A handful of local stocks posted gains this morning, led by Snap-on Inc. (up $4.96 to $57.19) and A.O. Smith Corp. (up 84 cents to $38.01). 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.

Congress approved the American Housing Rescue and Foreclosure Prevention Act Wednesday. Taxpayers already have been asked to bail out America's banking industry, and now the housing market. Meanwhile, America's automobile and airline industries are teetering on bankruptcy. In his weekly Milwaukee Biz Blog at OnMilwaukee.com, Small Business Times executive editor Steve Jagler raises concerns about the nation's economic infrastructure. OnMilwaukee.com is a media partner of SBT.