A Milwaukee Circuit Court Judge today granted the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce's lawsuit to gain an injunction against the City of Milwaukee's mandatory sick leave ordinance.
Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Thomas Cooper, who was assigned the case after two previous judges recused themselves, granted the injunction.
The injunction temporarily stops the mandate from taking effect. Had the injunction not been grated, the ordinance would have taken effect on Tuesday, Feb. 10, even if Milwaukee businesses are not prepared for compliance or the city is not prepared to enforce the ordinance.
The mandate was approved by 68 percent of the Milwaukee voters in the Nov. 4 election. The referendum was placed on the ballot after the 9to5 National Coalition of Working Women gathered enough signatures from residents to ask the question.
The judge said he had read through the written arguments from both sides, including affidavits filed by individual business owners about the negative impact the mandate would have on their companies.
The defendants in today's hearing were the city and 9to5.
"This is such an important issue for the city that we better do it right from the start. My overall concern is that we do this right. I have no doubt that the court of appeals and the Supreme Court will eventually get to weigh in on this decision," Judge Cooper said.
The MMAC was represented today by attorneys Scott Beightol and Joseph Olson of Michael Best & Friedrich LLP.
Atttorneys from the City of Milwaukee said the city was not prepared to enforce the mandate.
9to5 was represented this morning by attorney Barbara Zack Quindel of Hawks Quindel Ehlke & Perry S.C. of Milwaukee.

The recession grew deeper in January, as the nation's unemployment rate jumped to 7.6 percent and nonfarm payrolls fell by the largest amount in 34 years, the U.S. Department of Labor reported today.
Nonfarm payrolls fell by a seasonally adjusted 598,000 in January, on the heels of a revised loss of 577,000 in December, the department said. January marked the largest payroll loss since December of 1974.
About 3.6 million jobs have been lost since the recession began just over a year ago. About half of the jobs disappeared in the past three months.
Today's gruesome labor report added fuel to the debate in the U.S. Senate, which is contemplating President Barack Obama's American Recovery and Reinvesment Plan.
"I hope they share my sense of urgency and draw the same unmistakable conclusion: The situation could not be more serious. These numbers demand action," Obama said today.
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said the GOP is ready to support a bill, "But we will not support an aimless spending spree that masquerades as a stimulus."
McConnell added, "Putting another $1 trillion on the nation's credit card isn't something we should do lightly. We need to get a stimulus. But more importantly, we need to get it right."
Obama said, "We can't embrace the losing formula that says only tax cuts will work for every problem we face; that ignores critical challenges like our addiction to foreign oil, or the soaring cost of health care, or falling schools and crumbling bridges and roads and levees. I don't care whether you're driving a hybrid or an SUV - if you're headed for a cliff, you've got to change direction."
The stock market surged today, as investors shrugged off the bleak jobs report and expressed optimism that some type of bipartisan stimulus plan would be reached. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained more than 190 points this morning.
Locally, stocks in the BizTimes Stock Index also rallied today. The largest local gainers this morning were Joy Global Inc. (up $1.81 to $23.97), Bucyrus International Inc. (up $1.25 to $17.70) and Johnson Controls Inc. (up $.20 to $14.02). The largest local decliners this morning were Badger Meter Inc. (down $1.26 to $29.25) and Koss Corp. (down 25 cents to $11.50).

President Barack Obama today signed an executive order establishing the new Economic Recovery Advisory Board, which will include General Electric Corp. chief executive officer Jeffrey Immelt, who previously served as the president of GE Healthcare in Waukesha.
Modeled on the Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board created by President Dwight Eisenhower, the Board will provide an independent voice on economic issues and will be charged with offering independent advice to the president as he formulates and implements his plans for economic recovery.
The Economic Recovery Advisory Board will provide regular briefings to the president, vice president and their economic team. The board will be established initially for a two-year term, after which the president will make a determination on whether to extend the work of the board.
Obama said the members of the board are private citizens outside the government who are qualified on the basis of achievement, experience, independence and integrity.
Paul Volcker will serve as chairman, and Austan Goolsbee will serve as staff director and chief economist.
In addition to Immelt, members of the board include:
William H. Donaldson, former chairman of the Securities & Exchange Commission under George W. Bush; Roger Ferguson Jr., president and chief executive officer, TIAA-CREF; Robert Wolf, chairman and CEO, UBS Group Americas; David Swensen, CIO, Yale University; Mark Gallogly, founder, Centerbridge Partners L.P.; Penny Pritzker, chairman and founder, Pritzker Realty Group; John Doerr, partner, Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers; Jim Owens, chairman and CEO, Caterpillar Inc.; Monica Lozano, publisher and CEO, La Opinion; Charles Phillips Jr., president, Oracle Corp.; Anna Burger, chair, Change to Win; Richard Trumka, secretary-treasurer, AFL-CIO; Laura D'Andrea Tyson, dean, Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley; and Martin Feldstein, George F. Baker Professor of Economics, Harvard University.

Maria Monreal-Cameron has built the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Wisconsin into a regional force for Latino businesses. Her story is the cover story of the print edition of this week's BizTimes Milwaukee. The new edition also includes the Real Estate Spotlight and Made in Milwaukee.

As job layoffs compound, Wisconsin's Unemployment Insurance fund is on the verge of running out of money. State Rep. Mark Honadel (R-South Milwaukee) sounds the first warning in today's Milwaukee Biz Blog, an exclusive from BizTimes Milwaukee.

A/E Graphics, with locations in Milwaukee and Brookfield, has expanded its printing capabilities to include creating outdoor site signs, banners, wall graphics, window graphics, point-of-purchase displays, magnets, labels and more.
The company has purchased an environmentally-friendly Roland Soljet Pro printer.
"This expansion was really a logical step for our business. For over 30 years, we have been providing our customers with quality printing on paper with fast turnarounds, and now we are able to offer this same level of service across more mediums to better assist clients with their total branding efforts," said Tom Taubenheim, owner of A/E Graphics.
A/E Graphics has also added sign installation, removal and storage to its list of services. In addition, the company is using the new printer to expand into vehicle, fleet and floor graphics.
"Our goal really is to be a full-service printer for our customers helping them with all of their marketing and display needs from site signs, point-of-purchase, trade show graphics, small and large format digital printing and scanning, to banners, window clings, wall graphics and more," Taubenheim said. "This will provide them a level of consistency that they have been unable to achieve up until now."

Michael Grebe, president of the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, will be installed as the new chairman of the Greater Milwaukee Committee (GMC) on Monday, Feb. 9.
The GMC's annual meeting will take place at the University Club, where Grebe will succeed outgoing GMC chairman Ed Zore, chief executive officer of Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co.
Grebe, who is a retired chief executive officer and partner of Foley & Lardner LLP, will serve a two-year term on the GMC board.
Key topics of discussion at Monday's meeting will include regional transit and water. Badger Meter Inc. chief executive officer Rich Meeusen will provide an update on the progress of the Milwaukee 7 Water Council.
Chancellor Carlos Santiago of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee will present the latest information on the developing UWM School of Freshwater Sciences.

Economic indicators for metro Milwaukee's economy continued their weak performance in December, as only two of 20 indictors tracked by the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce (MMAC) posted year-over-year gains.
December's two improved indicators are down from the three positives posted in November.
"At this point, the hope is that the local economy is at or near the bottom of this economic
downturn, but only time will tell," said Bret Mayborne, economic research director for the MMAC. "If there is anything positive to be drawn from December's numbers, it is that the overall job declines and unemployment situation registered locally are not as bad as those posted nationally."

Key indicators for December included:

• Over the past twelve months the metro area posted a net loss of 13,000 jobs.
• Only two of 10 major industry sectors registered December job gains (vs. one year ago), while eight registered declines. The educational & health services sector, up 1.6 percent, The financial activities sector posted its first back-to-back employment gains since June, 2007 - up 0.5 perc3ent.
• Air passenger usage of Mitchell International Airport fell for the fourth consecutive month on a year-over-year basis.
• The number of unemployed in metro Milwaukee rose by a double-digit percentage for the second consecutive month, up 22 percent vs. year-ago levels, to 45,500. New unemployment compensation claims rose even faster, up percent. As a result, the metro area's seasonally unadjusted jobless rate rose 1.1 percentage points from one year ago, reaching 5.8 percent in December.
• December's 1,904 mortgages, dropped 36.4 percent from year-ago levels.
• New-car registrations in the metro area fell 40.7 percent in December (to 1,661) after posting a 44.7-percent decline in November.
• The value of signed construction contracts, as reported by F.W. Dodge for November, was $234.6 million, up 1.9 percent from November, 2007.
• The Milwaukee area Consumer Price Index for Urban Customers (CPI-U) reached 201.955 for the first half of 2008, a 4.8-percent increase from the first half of 2007.

"Social Media 101" will be the subject of the next Milwaukee Press Club Newsmaker Luncheon.  The event will take place on Wednesday, Feb. 25.
A panel of experts also will discuss and demonstrate strategic applications for social media and explain how people, businesses and organizations can benefit by using social media platforms.

The experts on the panel will be:

• Wayne Breitbarth, president and owner of M&M Office Interiors, who has become an expert and prolific user of LinkedIn.
• Ryan Thompson, sales account executive for The Onion magazine, who has been described as a "social media strategist" by The Los Angeles Times.
• Mary Louise Schumacher, art and architecture critic at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, who trains newsroom staff on how to leverage social media tools to engage readers, improve reporting and build audience. She uses Facebook, Twitter, delicious and other new media tools for "Art City," a multi-platform source on art and urban design.

The public is invited to attend the panel discussion, which will take place Wednesday, Feb. 25, from noon to 1:30 p.m. at the Newsroom Pub in downtown Milwaukee at 137 E. Wells St.
The cost to attend is $15 for MPC members, $20 for non-members, $10 for students. Lunch is included. Pre-registration and advance payment is required and may be done online at www.milwaukeepressclub.org.

Amerequip Corp., which has locations in New Holstein and Kiel, laid off about 35 of its 200 employees this week, citing dropping orders due to the economic downturn. Read more in BizTimes Milwaukee's daily roundup of headlines from newspapers across the state at http://www.biztimes.com/#news.

Busy readers of the BizTimes Daily can get a jumpstart on the weekend ahead by reading the OnMilwaukee.com Weekend Preview. OnMilwaukee.com is a media partner of BizTimes Milwaukee.

Key senators and the White House have reached a tentative compromise agreement on an economic stimulus plan, and a vote could come as early as tonight, according to a report by The Associated Press,

The AP said cited two anonymous sources saying that the compromised plan would carry a $780 billion price tag, which would be smaller than the $937 billion version that cleared the House of Representatives last week.

Democrats officials strongly suggested that the vote of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) would be needed to assure passage, the AP reported. Kennedy has been battling a brain tumor and has not been in the Capitol since suffering a seizure on Inauguration Day. The senator's office did not comment.

Earlier today, President Barack Obama said further delay would be "inexcusable and irresponsible," given the worst monthly jobs report in a generation, with 598,000 positions jobs in January and the national unemployment rate rising to 7.6 percent.

Democrats have a 58 to 41 majority in the Senate, but 60 votes are needed for passage of the economic recovery bill because it would raise the federal deficit.