New competition from out-of-state banks and some strategic factors are spurring banks to renew their appetites for commercial lending. Read more in the cover story of the new edition of BizTimes Milwaukee magazine. This week’s publication also has a story about signs of revival at The Tannery office complex in Milwaukee’s Walker’s Point neighborhood, along with some insights about the impact of the expiration of the Bush tax cuts and the Dodd-Frank Act of financial reform.

The U.S. economy shed 54,000 nonfarm jobs in August and the nation’s unemployment rate ticked upward to 9.6 percent from 9.5 percent, but the stock market rose this morning, as the jobs data was not as weak as most economists and investors had feared.
The U.S. Labor Department said health care and temporary staffing industries expanded to soften the blow from the layoff of temporary federal Census workers.
Jeff Joerres, chief executive officer of Manpower Inc., a Milwaukee-based global staffing company, remarked on Twitter about the report, “US: Unemployment rises to 9.6% but more private sector jobs created than expected. All points to slow, steady recovery.”
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by more than 70 points this morning.
Local stocks in the BizTimes Stock Index were led this morning by Manpower Inc. (up $1.19 to $48.00), Bucyrus International Inc. (up $1.09 to $64.82), Snap-on Inc. (up $1.06 to $44.42) and Joy Global Inc. (up $1.03 to $63.53).

Nine of 23 business activity indicators for metro Milwaukee’s economy posted year-over-year gains in July, according to the latest monthly report by the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce (MMAC).
July’s improvements match the number of positives posted in June.
“The metro area moved closer to a renewed employment growth phase in July with the smallest year-over-year job decline registered in over one and one-half years,” said Bret Mayborne, economic research director for the MMAC. “The manufacturing sector in particular has made large strides over recent months in getting back to the break-even point.”

Highlights of the report include:

• Employment in the metro area fell 0.8 percent in July (vs. year-ago levels), the smallest year-over-year decline posted in 21 months (since October, 2008).
• Three of 10 major industry sectors registered July job gains (vs. one year ago), while seven recorded declines.  Jobs in the government sector rose at a 6-percent pace, the month’s largest year-over-year increase. Among sectors with July job declines, a 5.5-percent loss in the construction, mining & natural resources sector marked the largest decrease posted.
• Both local housing and real estate indicators posted steep declines in July. Existing home sales in the metro area fell 43.4 percent from a year ago, and mortgages recorded in Milwaukee County dropped 46 percent.
• Back-to-back double-digit declines were posted in unemployment totals for the metro area. The number of unemployed averaged 68,100 in July, a 10.6-percent fall from one year ago.
• The unemployment rate for the metro area in July (not seasonally adjusted) fell eight-tenths of a percentage point from one year ago to 8.6 percent.
• For the second month in a row, Mitchell International Airport reached record high usage levels. Passengers totaled 928,497 in July, up 17.3 percent from one year ago and surpassing June’s 922,984 previous record high.
• The value of signed construction contracts, as reported by F.W. Dodge for June, was $83.5 million, down 21.7 percent from June 2009.

Anthony Corona, owner of Eddie Z’s Blinds and Drapery at 14640 West Capitol Drive in Brookfield, has sold the company back to Eddie Z’s Inc. of Chicago.  
“They were my business partners,” Corona said. “It was just time for me to move on.”
Corona has owned the Eddie Z’s Brookfield location for the past 15 years. Eddie Z’s has eight locations in Wisconsin and Illinois.
Eddie Z’s Inc. now owns and operates the Brookfield location as well as the location in Madison, Corona said.
Corona and his wife, Missi, own and operate Halloween Express stores in the Chicago area, but Corona said he has not yet decided about his next business venture.

Frontier Airlines announced it will move its seasonal service between Milwaukee and Tampa International Airport to the St. Petersburg/Clearwater International Airport, beginning Nov. 18.
Passengers already booked on flights between Milwaukee and Tampa will be moved to St. Petersburg/Clearwater and will be contacted with their new itineraries. The St. Petersburg/Clearwater airport is located about 12 miles from the Tampa airport.
Introductory fares for the new route will be available for a limited time at $89 one-way and can be purchased beginning Sunday, Sept. 5.
"The move to the St. Petersburg/Clearwater airport supports Frontier's effort to provide our guests with convenient and affordable air travel," said Daniel Shurz, vice president of strategy and planning for Frontier, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Indianapolis-based Republic Airways Holdings Inc. "With easy access to the gorgeous beaches, our guests can start their vacation as soon as they arrive. In addition, guests flying out of the St. Petersburg/Clearwater airport will now enjoy nonstop access to two Frontier destinations with connections to our more than 70 destinations across the United States, Mexico and Costa Rica."
In addition to the Milwaukee service, Frontier also announced seasonal nonstop service between St. Petersburg/Clearwater and Omaha, Neb., beginning Jan. 16, 2011.

The union representing about 2,300 Kohler Co. employees has filed an unfair labor practice charge against the company with the National Labor Relations Board. The charge alleges Kohler Co. acted in bad faith by distributing a letter to all employees outlining wage and benefit concessions the company is seeking during negotiations with the union. For more, read today’s edition of the BizTimes Wisconsin Morning Headlines bulletin.

City Year, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping students stay in school, recently kicked off its Milwaukee operation by having corps members welcome students back to school on the first day. Corp members are made up of 18- to 24-year-olds who have volunteered for a year of service in schools around the neighborhood. For more, including a webcast interview by reporter Alysha Schertz, read the new edition of the BizTimes Nonprofit Weekly, which also includes information about the new fundraising campaign for the United Way Serving Greater Milwaukee.

Busy readers of the BizTimes Daily can get a jumpstart on the holiday weekend, which will conclude with a visit by President Obama at Milwaukee’s LaborFest on Monday. Read the OnMilwaukee.com Weekend Preview. OnMilwaukee.com is a media partner of BizTimes Milwaukee.

The Midwest, including Wisconsin, is particularly positioned to benefit with more demands for its exports, as the global economy recovers, according to William Testa of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. Wisconsin’s strong manufacturing sector and agriculture production bode well for the state, he says in today’s Milwaukee Biz Blog.

The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals today reinstated Wisconsin’s minimum markup law on gasoline.
The court in Chicago ruled in favor of the Wisconsin Petroleum Marketers & Convenience Store Association, which had argued that mom-and-pop gas station owners would be driven out of business by larger competitors if the law was struck down, according to The Associated Press.
The law requires stations to sell gas above their cost, thereby discouraging large-volume gas station chains from undercutting smaller operators.
A federal judge had ruled last year that the law was unconstitutional and conflicted with federal antitrust law. That decision was overturned today.

Milwaukee Catholic Home today announced that David Fulcher is the continuing care retirement community’s new chief executive officer.
Fulcher brings more than 20 years of experience in the health care and senior living Industry, including positions in strategic planning, development and executive leadership.
He most recently served as president of Presbyterian Homes of Wisconsin. Fulcher earned a dual undergraduate degree in theology and a master’s degree in social welfare.
Milwaukee Catholic Home is an accredited continuing care retirement community for older adults on Milwaukee’s east side. The Residence, 2462 N. Prospect Ave., is a 126-unit apartment complex for older adults. The Health & Rehabilitation Center, located next door at 2330 N. Prospect Ave., has 122 private skilled nursing rooms, 29 assisted living apartments, intergenerational adult day programming, specialized Alzheimer’s and dementia care and rehabilitation services. The two buildings are connected via an underground walkway, which is also connected to Columbia- St. Mary’s Hospital.

On this Labor Day weekend, union leaders representing about 1,400 Wisconsin employees of Harley-Davidson Inc. and the company have reached an agreement on contract concessions that the company says it needs to keep production work in the state.
About 1,400 Wisconsin union workers of Harley will meet on Tuesday and Wednesday of next week to hear about the wage and benefit concessions the company says it will need.
The members of United Steelworkers of America Local 2209 in Milwaukee and Local 460 of Tomahawk will meet, as will members of the International Association of Machinists Lodge 78.
Union leaders and company officials have been negotiating since July. A union spokesman told BizTimes that union leadership and the company have agreed upon a basic proposal that would keep production work in Wisconsin. Union members are scheduled to vote on the proposal on Monday, Sept. 13.
“We got a proposal from the company on what it would take to continue operations in Wisconsin and to retain the manufacturing and the jobs in Wisconsin,” the spokesman said. “The parties have been talking since July. The company said it needed to make a decision on its future plans by the middle of September. The union is presenting to the membership something that they say will retain the work in Wisconsin.”
The company has threatened to move production work to Kansas City, Mo, if it cannot achieve the lower labor costs in Wisconsin.

At his Labor Day appearance in Milwaukee this afternoon, President Barack Obama will announce plans to invest another $50 billion in economic stimulus to rebuild the nation's roads, railways and runways and create jobs.
Obama will speak at the Milwaukee Laborfest at Henry Maier Festival Park, where he is expected to call for the funding of a permanent infrastructure bank that would invest in projects most critical to the economy.
The initial investments would go to modernizing the nation's highway system and while providing jobs. They also would include investments in the nation's bus and rail systems, including an overhaul of the Amtrak rail fleet.
The final component would be the modernization of the nation's air traffic control system.
Laborfest is presented annually by the Milwaukee Are Labor Council. According to the White House schedule, Obama will speak at 2:10 p.m.