Ideas

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has awarded Associated Bank a Certificate of Achievement for assisting the department and the Rural Development Guaranteed Rural Housing Program in 2011.

Plexus Corp. announced today it intends to construct a $50 million, 410,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Neenah.

Lakeside Manufacturing Inc. in West Milwaukee has teamed up with Second Chance Partners for Education to provide an alternative education center at its plant.

Dylan Hoffman, a seven-year-old boy from the Prairie School in Racine, was named the national winner of this year's Doodle 4 Google competition. His efforts have earned him a $30,000 college scholarship and a $50,000 technology grant for his school.

The ongoing dispute about the number of jobs in Wisconsin took another turn today with the release of new federal statistics that show Wisconsin lost 21,400 jobs from April 2011 to April 2012, ranking last in the nation for job creation, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Frances Richman, executive director of the Milwaukee Symphony Youth Orchestra has announced she will retire as of December 31, 2012 after serving as executive director for 24 years.

I’m in favor of unions. Their purpose is to represent their constituency. Enlightened union leadership’s job is to see that the union constituency is enabled to do their jobs more effectively through education and a creative work environment.

A healthy manufacturing sector is key to better jobs, rising productivity and higher standards of living. Today, U.S. manufacturers, both small and large, are locked in a fierce global battle for customers with China, Japan, Germany and others.