Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett will provide the opening remarks at the BizTimes Commercial Real Estate & Development Conference on Thursday, Nov. 12.
Barrett will discuss the city's outlook for development and set the stage for a discussion featuring a panel of national commercial real estate experts.

The panel will include:

• Robert Bach, senior vice president and chief economist of Grubb & Ellis Co.
• Rhyne Brown, executive vice president of client development at NAI Global.
• Jack Durburg, executive managing director of the Chicago region for CB Richard Ellis.
• Ross Moore, executive vice president and director of market and economic research at Colliers International Property Consultants Inc.
• Maria Sicola, executive managing director and head of research for the Americas at Cushman & Wakefield Inc. in San Francisco.

The public is invited to attend the BizTimes Milwaukee Commercial Real Estate & Development Conference, which will take place at Potawatomi Bingo Casino, 1721 W. Canal St., Milwaukee.
BizTimes Milwaukee presents the conference annually in conjunction with the Bell Real Estate Chair and the Commercial Association of Realtors Wisconsin (CARW).
The breakfast panel discussion will be moderated by professor Mark Eppli, Ph.D., who is the Marquette University Bell Real Estate Chair and a fellow at the Urban Land Institute.
Jim Villa, president of the CARW, will provide some exclusive market data at the conference.
More information about the conference is available at: http://www.biztimes.com/site/commercial-real-estate-development-conference.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average soared to a new high for the year this morning, as the Conference Board reported that its forward-looking employment index improved for the second consecutive month.
The index, based on eight employment indicators, rose 0.7 percent for October after a 0.5-percent gain in September.
"The employment trends index has likely turned a corner in September, and the historical relationship between the index and employment suggests that job losses will end in early 2010," said Gad Levanon, senior economist at the Conference Board. "While layoffs have certainly declined in recent months, we still expect to see employers adding hours to their existing workforce before hiring will strongly increase."
The Dow rose more than 146 points to 10,171 by mid-morning today.
Local stocks in the BizTimes Stock Index were led this morning by Bucyrus International Inc. (up $3.54 to $54.00) and Joy Global Inc. (up $2.66 to $56.71). The largest local decliners this morning were Johnson Outdoors Inc. (down 22 cents to $8.43) and Strattec Security Corp. (down 22 cents to $14.75).

A federal court in Milwaukee has issued a preliminary injunction ordering a Milwaukee heating contractor and its owner and president to comply with federal employment tax payment requirements.
The preliminary injunction order, signed by U.S. District Judge J.P. Stadtmueller, was entered against Dykeman Family Corp. and its owner, Michael K. Dykeman.
The order bars the company from disbursing any funds after wages are paid to employees until the taxes withheld from those wages have been paid to the Internal Revenue Service. Violations of an injunction could lead to civil and criminal sanctions, including fines and imprisonment, according to the court.
The U.S. Justice Department filed the suit in September, seeking to enjoin the defendants from continuing to run up unpaid payroll tax liabilities. The complaint alleges that defendants have failed to comply with their tax obligations since 2002. According to the complaint, the business failed to pay more than $870,000 in federal employment and unemployment taxes between 2002 and 2007.
"When a business withholds taxes from employees' wages, it is required by law to turn those taxes over promptly to the IRS," said John DiCicco, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's Tax Division. "Failure to pay withheld taxes is a serious matter that can lead not only to an injunction, but also to substantial civil and criminal penalties."

Rockwell Automation Inc. today reported fiscal fourth quarter net income of $28.9 million, or 20 cents per share, down from $125.6 million, or 87 cents per share, in the same period a year ago.
The Milwaukee company's quarterly revenue fell 28 percent to $1.1 billion from $1.5 billion a year earlier.
Rockwell's sales for the full fiscal year were $4.3 billion, down 24 percent from $5.7 billion in fiscal 2008.
Keith Nosbusch, chairman and chief executive officer, said, "2009 was clearly a difficult year with significant year-over-year revenue declines for the full year and the fourth quarter. However, sequential revenue growth for the quarter supports our view that macroeconomic conditions and demand trends are stabilizing.
"I am pleased with our accomplishments during this challenging year. We took decisive actions throughout the year to right-size the cost structure to current business conditions, including cost actions in the fourth quarter that will create additional tailwinds for fiscal 2010. Excluding the charges associated with these actions, segment margin improved sequentially for the quarter, reflecting the benefit of our cost reduction efforts and the earnings leverage we expect as sales improve," Nosbusch said. "We also quickly aligned inventory levels to lower demand, effectively managed receivables in a difficult credit environment, and appropriately constrained capital spending, enabling us to generate strong free cash flow of over $430 million for the year. These accomplishments, made possible by the continued commitment of our employees, have allowed us to navigate this economic storm while continuing to invest in our core technologies and our most attractive growth opportunities."

Wauwatosa-based WaterStone Financial Inc., the parent company of WaterStone Bank, today reported a fiscal third quarter net loss of $3.6 million, or 12 cents per share, which was a vast improvement over a net loss of $28.2 million, or 92 cents per share, in the same period a year ago.
Formerly known as Wauwatosa Savings Bank, the company said its provision for loan losses in the third quarter was $8.9 million, compared with $23.3 million a year earlier.
The company is primarily a mortgage lender with residential loans comprising 97.0 percent of its total loans receivable as of Sept. 30.
"Generally, our results of operations are highly dependent on our net interest income and the provision for loan losses. In recent periods our results of operations have also been negatively impacted by other than temporary impairment of securities available for sale, by increased real estate owned expense and by higher deposit insurance premiums. Net interest income is the difference between the interest income we earn on loans receivable, investment securities and cash and cash equivalents and the interest we pay on deposits and other borrowings," the company said in its quarterly earnings report filed today with the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission.

Wells Fargo & Company said today it has named Lisa Johnson as regional head for commercial banking in Illinois and southeastern Wisconsin.
Johnson is based in Chicago and reports to Richard Kerbis, head of Wells Fargo's Midwest division of commercial banking.
Johnson, who led Wells Fargo Business Credit’s Central Region, will be responsible for building Wells Fargo commercial banking's presence throughout the region. Wells Fargo has 3,400 employees in Illinois and 1,400 in southeastern Wisconsin.
"Illinois and southeast Wisconsin are terrific markets for Wells Fargo because of the significant number of owner-operated middle-market customers," said Kerbis, who leads a network of 18 Commercial Banking offices in nine Midwest states. "Continuing to expand these markets in particular is a big focus for Commercial Banking’s national strategy."
Johnson began her 26-year commercial banking career with United Bank of Denver (now Wells Fargo) and moved into the asset-based lending group in 1990.

Chrysler Group LLC has offered contract buyouts to 84 more employees at its engine manufacturing plant in Kenosha. Kenosha employees who were offered buyouts have until Friday to decide if they want to accept the offer. The Kenosha plant has about 500 union and salaried employees now. Read more in the new edition of the BizTimes Manufacturing Weekly.

Passenger traffic at the Dane County Regional Airport is up 5 percent from last year. However, the entry of Southwest Airlines in Milwaukee could cut into the Madison airport's business. Read more in BizTimes Milwaukee's daily roundup of headlines from newspapers across the state at www.biztimes.com/#news.

The U.S. House of Representatives approved a health care reform bill Saturday night. BizTimes collected reactions about the bill from all of Wisconsin's Congressional delegation, as well as many other people. Read their reaction's in today's Milwaukee Biz Blog.

Pandl's in Bayside, which opened in 1968, will close after serving brunch on Sunday.
The restaurant is closing because it has been sold by the owner, Jimmy Pandl, a restaurant manager said.
Pandl's in Bayside was built by George Pandl, who sold it to Jimmy, his son, in 1987.
Jimmy also operates Eagan's on Water, Milwaukee Waterfront Deli and Pandl's Catering Complete.
The Pandl restaurants started in 1915 when Anna and John owned what is now called Jack Pandl's Original Whitefish Bay Inn. John Pandl died in 1932, and Anna eventually passed the business on to her sons George and Jack.
Today, Jack's son, John, is operating the Whitefish Bay restaurant.
The closing of Pandls in Bayside will not affect any of the other restaurants, the manager said.