Week In Review

Sunday, March 24, 2002

Ameritech moves ahead on long-distance service

Ameritech took its first formal step to sell long-distance service in Wisconsin by filing a 1,000-page document with the state Public Service Commission.

Currently, Ameritech sells local service and an array of other add- on services, including high-speed connections to the Internet.

Ameritech downplayed the significance of the document, describing it as a "draft application," and said that it will formally apply for permission to enter the long-distance business later this year.

Wisconsin Color Press seeks bankruptcy help

Wisconsin Color Press has filed for Bankruptcy Court protection because of a slowdown in business created by overcapacity in a shrinking printing market.

Wisconsin Color Press is based in Illinois but has its printing plant at 5400 W. Good Hope Road in Milwaukee. The company is owned by a consortium of businesses and individuals, and it has about 250 employees.

USF Holland opens new truck terminal

USF Holland this week opened operations at its new $7.8 million facility at 6161 S. 6th St.

After being turned down in Oak Creek, Franklin, West Milwaukee and the Town of Yorkville, USF Holland spent $1.1 million to clean up environmental contamination at the 19.5-acre Milwaukee site.

More shoppers visiting Mayfair, study finds

The new addition at Mayfair Mall last year pushed the Wauwatosa shopping center further ahead of the pack, according to a new Milwaukee Journal Sentinel study.

Of the households surveyed for the study, 55% said they had visited Mayfair in the previous 30 days.

That figure is up from 46% for the same period a year ago.

More shoppers spending money at Kohl's

Kohl's department stores appear to have gained market share last year, with 73% of households surveyed in a recent study by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel saying they made a purchase at one of the Menomonee Falls-based chain's stores during the 30 days preceding Sept. 24.

Kohl's also led the nation in its category in 2001, racking up the largest annual comparable store gain, 6.6%, among department stores and large discount chains.

Lake Superior cable part of power plant proposal

A 90-mile underwater cable could be laid across Lake Superior to link proposed power plants near Thunder Bay, Ontario, to customers in the United States.

A partnership that includes a U.S. company, Canadian municipal utilities and an Ontario Indian tribe wants to generate 1,120 megawatts of electricity using petroleum coke -- a waste product of mining.

Power from the $5.7 billion project would likely move through Wisconsin on transmission lines.

Reggie White firm seeks Wisconsin customers

An Oklahoma long-distance phone company whose chairman is former Green Bay Packer Reggie White has begun soliciting customers in Wisconsin.

PromiseVision Technology Inc., which promotes moral, ethical and biblical values, sent potential subscribers a letter in which the firm promises to contribute 15% of the customer's long-distance bill to the charity of his or her choice.

The firm said it had signed up 40,000 customers nationwide last year.

Reader's Digest to buy Reiman Publications

Vowing not to tamper with Reiman Publications' folksy formula for success, Reader's Digest Association Inc. said it would buy the Greendale company for $760 million in cash.

Reader's Digest plans no job cuts, nor does it plan to introduce advertising into Reiman's table of ad-free magazines, a group led by the 4.6 million-subscriber "Taste of Home," the country's top- selling food magazine.

PSC seeks more details on power projects

The Wisconsin Public Service Commission has asked three of Wisconsin's major utilities to offer more details about their plans to meet the state's reliability needs over the next few years, citing concerns about the status of several previously announced power projects.

The request comes amid growing concern from industry experts and consumer groups that utility companies are becoming too dependent on independent power producers, which build power plants and sell the power to utilities on a contractual basis.

State jobless rate leaps to 5.8% in February

Wisconsin's unemployment rate leaped to 5.8% last month, its highest seasonally adjusted mark since March 1991. The increase from a revised rate of 5.2% in January was one of the biggest month-to- month gains in more than 11 years.

Preliminary figures released by the state Department of Workforce Development showed manufacturing continuing to lose jobs, in addition to employment drops in retail trade and construction.

Study looks at gambling revenue, contracts

Casino gambling revenue in Wisconsin would increase by at least 50% and would generate an extra $50 million per year in tax revenue for the state if the casinos secured 30-year compacts, a recently released study says.

The study also says that in Wisconsin, revenue from slot machines ranks last among 12 states included in the study, with an average income of $150 a day.

Since blackjack is the only table game allowed under the current compacts, Wisconsin's tables also make the least amount of money, $845 daily, of the 12 states.

Manitowoc Co. to buy crane manufacturer

Manitowoc Co. said it will buy Pennsylvania-based Grove Worldwide, a crane manufacturer that recently emerged from bankruptcy.

The Manitowoc-based manufacturer said the $270 million deal would be funded through a combination of cash and approximately 2 million shares of Manitowoc stock.

By acquiring Grove, Manitowoc adds mobile cranes to its product mix, which has centered on crawler cranes until the addition of tower cranes with the 2001 acquisition of France-based Potain.

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