Ideas

The AFL-CIO Center for Strategic Research today released a new report that questions whether Milwaukee-based Palermo Villa Inc. has lived up to its commitments to create family-supporting jobs after receiving $26 million in government subsidies.

MillerCoors, the Milwaukee Bucks and the BMO Harris Bradley Center announced a 10-year sponsorship renewal that maintains the brewer's status as the team's exclusive beer sponsor and a major supporter of the arena.

Oak Creek-based Master Lock LLC has unveiled the Master Lock Vault, a free mobile smart phone application that enables consumers to safely store and organize a wide range of personal information, including account passwords and log-ins.

Menomonee Falls-based Alto-Shaam Inc., a manufacturer of commercial food service equipment, plans to expand by adding a 20,000-square-foot addition that will connect a 100,000-square-foot building and a 140,000-square-foot building at W164 N9221 Water St., Menomonee Falls.

Vernon Hills, Ill.-based Rust-Oleum Corp. plans to install a new aerosol spray-paint filling structure on the rear portion of its Pleasant Prairie facility at 8105 95th St., in the LakeView Corporate Park.

The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited Fontarome Chemical Inc. for 17 serious safety violations following a fire at the company's pharmaceutical manufacturing facility in St. Francis on April 13.

Sussex-based Quad/Graphics Inc. has signed an agreement to acquire substantially all of the assets of Vertis Holdings Inc., a Baltimore, Md.-based company that has filed for bankruptcy, for $258.5 million.

Milwaukee-based Briggs & Stratton Corp. announced it will complete its delivery of nearly $1 million in donated generators and pressure washers to an additional 58 American Red Cross chapters nationwide.

A bill making its way through the state Legislature could provide more incentive for consumers to recycle lead-acid batteries and control costs for battery manufacturers and distributors.

The following quote (courtesy of a blog post by Esther Dyson, savvy internet investor) should be posted on billboards next to every large company, especially in Japan where once-great electronics giants face the Herculean challenge of reversing an accelerating decline: