Ideas

The City of Milwaukee and the City of Waukesha continue to trade jabs in the debate over negotiating a water contract.

Jennifer Boerst has been promoted to COO of Milwaukee-based staffing company The Novo Group.

The share of homes sold for under $100,000 in the four-county metro Milwaukee area dropped 19 percent in May, according to the Greater Milwaukee Association of Realtors (GMAR).

Home sales in Wisconsin increased 18.9 percent in May, compared to May of 2011, according to the Wisconsin Realtors Association. In southeastern Wisconsin, home sales were up 21 percent.

Plano Molding Company of Plano, Ill. has acquired Frabill Inc. of Jackson. Corporate Financial Advisors of Milwaukee represented Frabill in the transaction.

ARI Network Services, a Milwaukee-based provider of software of solutions that connect consumers, dealers, distributors, and manufacturers in selected vertical markets, reported fiscal third quarter net income of $210,000, or 3 cents per share, down from $541,000, or 7 cents per share in the same quarter a year ago.

Brookfield-based QPS Employment Group, an employment services firm, has acquired Cambridge TEMPositions Inc., a recruiting firm based in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

The Milwaukee office of Baker Tilly Capital, LLC, a mergers and acquisitions advisory firm and subsidiary of Baker Tilly Virchow Krause LLP, has completed the sale of Milwaukee-based Nature's Protein Inc. to J. Strickland Company of Olive Branch, Miss.

Menomonee Falls-based ZBB Energy Corp., a developer of intelligent, renewable energy power platforms, announced the pricing of an underwritten public offering of 31.6 million shares of its common stock at a price to the public of 38 cents per share.

Pewaukee-based PJs Plumbing Company Inc. has acquired J.D. Wilson Plumbing LLC of Merton.