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MOSINEE - Crystal Finishing to add 250 jobs, expand to Mosinee  
A Weston-based manufacturing company announced Thursday that it will add roughly 250 to 350 jobs and expand to Mosinee, a city that has lost hundreds of industrial jobs during the last two years.

Crystal Finishing Systems bought the former SNE Enterprises building, a 677,000-square-foot facility that closed last year, resulting in 550 layoffs.

It will expand some of its liquid- and powder-coating and aluminum extrusion work to the industrial park across Highway 153 from Central Wisconsin Airport. Crystal Finishing President Mark Matthiae said he wants to open the facility in Mosinee in part to attract manufacturing employees that might have been laid off in the last few years to work for his business.

“We really like central Wisconsin; there’s good, hard-working people here,” Matthiae said. “The Mosinee area, that area has got a good, experienced workforce.”

Crystal Finishing Systems currently employs 540 workers.

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MADISON – Budget committee adopts UW tuition freeze, spending cut  
The Legislature’s budget committee approved a two-year tuition freeze for the University of Wisconsin System and cut state funding by $152 million from what Gov. Scott Walker had promised.

The panel’s cut included the transfer of $58 million of system funds to the Higher Education Arts Board. The committee also moved more than $89 million to the compensation reserve fund.

The 14-2 vote came in response to the revelation last month that the system had hundreds of millions of dollars in reserves.

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MADISON – LogistiCare lays of 64 at Madison call center  
LogistiCare, an Atlanta-based provider of non-emergency medical transportation, will lay off 64 people from its Madison call center, starting July 17.

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GREENVILLE - School Specialty to exit bankruptcy within two weeks  
The company announced Thursday that the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware entered an order confirming its reorganization plan.

The company said it has spent the past four months strengthening its capital structure and making its operations more efficient.

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MADISON – Regional economic development group Thrive rebrands  
Thrive, the eight-county economic development group for south-central Wisconsin is now the Madison Region Economic Partnership.

The new name, a new logo, and the next round of plans for growth were unveiled Thursday at the organization’s state of the region summit, along with a report showing the Madison area is not keeping up with peer regions in jobs, income or population gains.

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FOND DU LAC - Buffalo Wild Wings, outdoor store among new businesses in Fond du Lac area  
New homes and businesses are springing up in the Fond du Lac area.

“(The development) is encouraging,” said Fond du Lac Community Development Director Wayne Rollin. “I think the economy is definitely looking stronger than it has in some time.”

Construction in the city of single family homes, multifamily, commercial and industrial developments is up over last year. Through April, there were seven single-family homes under construction compared to four at the same time last year. New site plans for multifamily, commercial and industrial totaled eight at the end of April, compared to five approved at the same time in 2012.

“I look for this year to be stronger than last,” Rollin said. “The most striking thing we see is continued increases in commercial and industrial development. At year-end 2012, it was up 150 percent over 2011 in the value of construction. This year is up even over (this point in) 2012.”

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MADISON – GOP lawmaker working on revamp of tax code  
A Republican member of the Legislature’s powerful budget committee wants to overhaul the state’s income tax system, including eliminating little-used tax credits, reducing tax brackets and lowering overall rates.

Rep. Dale Kooyenga, R-Brookfield, said he plans to announce a detailed proposal Tuesday that would increase the amount of the income tax cut in Gov. Scott Walker’s state budget proposal by at least $300 million and reduce individual income tax brackets from five to three.

Walker’s budget proposal would cost $343 million over the biennium and save the average taxpayer $83 per year.

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MADISON – Opposition mounts against Walker’s rent-to-own budget proposal  
Opposition is mounting against Gov. Scott Walker’s budget proposal to exempt rent-to-own companies from Wisconsin’s consumer protection laws.

The pushback comes as lawmakers learned the provision would allow customers to sign contracts with blank spaces in them.

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LA CROSSE - Ho-Chunk Nation donates $100,000 to Safe-Cam Project  
The Ho-Chunk Nation donated $100,000 Wednesday to the Safe-Cam Project to install 41 police security cameras downtown.

The contribution pushed the La Crosse City Vision Foundation’s campaign to nearly $200,000 in its quest to raise $425,000, said Mike Keil, a foundation board member who suggested the surveillance cameras shortly after Paul and A.J. Petras were slain in their downtown photo shop in September.

“I didn’t expect $100,000 from any person or organization,” Keil said in an interview after the press conference announcing the contribution. “This donation level came as a complete surprise.”

The goal for the camera project fundraising, announced Jan. 10, is $475,000, but that includes a cushion to add cameras later, Keil said. The project can move ahead when the fund drive reaches the $350,000 cost of buying and installing the first 41 cameras, he said.

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EAU CLAIRE - Census: Eau Claire experiences growing gains  
Eau Claire and Altoona were among the biggest winners in the population race among west-central Wisconsin cities in the first two years after the 2010 census.

The area's largest city, Eau Claire, extended its lead over the other 37 cities in the 12-county region by adding an estimated 1,083 residents between the official count in April 2010 and the latest population estimates for municipalities in July 2012, according to a report released today by the U.S. Census Bureau. After that gain, the bureau estimated Eau Claire's population at 66,966. The regional cities with the next largest population gains were Hudson, up 307 to 13,026; Altoona, up 240 to 6,946; River Falls, up 182 to 15,182; and New Richmond, up 80 to 8,455.

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WAUSAU - Region loses jobs, lags behind state  
Marathon County lost 300 jobs between March and April and 800 jobs between April 2012 and this year, according to local unemployment statistics released Wednesday.

The number of Marathon County jobs dropped from 66,200 in March to 65,900 in April, down from 66,700 jobs in April 2012, as unemployment rates remained essentially stagnant in central Wisconsin, according to the state Department of Workforce Development statistics. Wausau, with a 9.8 percent unemployment rate, still has the fourth-worst rate among the 32 Wisconsin cities with populations of 25,000 or more. The rate improved slightly from March, when it was 10.2 percent, but Wausau still was better than only Racine, Beloit and Milwaukee.

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MADISON – UW bids out concession contract  
An aggressive maneuver by University of Wisconsin Athletic Department officials appears to have alienated members of its most prominent booster group.

After 51 years, the National W Club has relinquished its contracted role as the official concessionaire for Badgers sporting events.

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FOND DU LAC - Trucking firm to add 55 jobs in Fond du Lac  
Con-way Freight will construct a new $8 million terminal and add 55 jobs in Fond du Lac.

The trucking company selected a 21-acre property in Fond du Lac’s Fox Ridge Business Park for a new facility that will serve as its local hub.

“We are very excited that Con-way has selected Fond du Lac for its new freight operations center,” said Sam Meyer, Fond du Lac City Council president. “The Con-way facility will create some excellent jobs for our community while providing important transportation and logistics support services for the local and state economies.”

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GREEN BAY- Ministry Health Care plans more than 200 layoffs  
Milwaukee-based Ministry Health Care plans layoffs that will be the equivalent of 225 to 250 full-time jobs, citing a decline in patients and reimbursement rates as well as the impact of the federal sequestration bill.

In Northeastern Wisconsin, Ministry operates three clinics in Door County and one in Algoma, along with Ministry Door County Medical Center in Sturgeon Bay, St. Elizabeth Hospital in Appleton, Mercy Medical Center in Oshkosh and Calumet Health Center in Chilton.

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MADISON – Budget committee passes foodshare work requirement  
Wisconsin would become the sixth state to have a statewide work requirement for able-bodied adults without dependents in order to receive full federal food benefits, under a proposal by Gov. Scott Walker was endorsed after a bitter debate by the Legislature’s budget committee Tuesday.

The measure would require an estimated 62,698 recipients to work or participate in job training at least 20 hours a week to get full FoodShare benefits.

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Cudahy receives Lifetime Achievement AwardMichael Cudahy receives BizTimes Lifetime Achievement Award
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