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The Towel Tote is a Dairy Expo success story

John F. Oncken — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 11:35:00 CDT

It was 1994 when Cheryl Mohn set up her first booth at World Dairy Expo in Madison. She remembers the wind blowing through the tent that was far from airtight, the water running across the blacktop floor (really the parking lot) and her efforts to sell the "Towel Totes" she had sewn together the prior week. The Minnesota dairy farmer had brought 200 of her Towel Totes to Dairy Expo with hopes she might find some ...

Washington Post: Make-or-break holiday season looms large

Ylan Q. Mui and Kendra MarrWashington Post — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 08:24:00 CDT

Each day of financial tumult is bringing more pressure to bear on the nation's retailers -- and time is growing short. Yesterday, as the clock ticked ominously down to the critical holiday season, department stores and clothing retailers reported a sharp drop in sales while Target said its shoppers are delinquent in their store credit card payments. Port traffic, meanwhile, has been plummeting as retailers cut back on ...

UW entrepreneurs hope laptop stickers become 'Livestrong' of renewable energy

Jeff Richgels — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 15:38:00 CDT

Some of the guilt over using a power-sucking laptop may subside with a simple sticker. University of Wisconsin-Madison senior Ted Durkee and recent graduate Brandon Gador co-founded a company called Powered Green, which they hope could "change the way everyday people perceive and use renewable energy." The company is selling "Energy Seal" stickers for $16 each. People then affix them to their laptop computers to show that the computer's lifetime energy consumption has been offset with certified ...

Stone House Development escapes worst of housing crisis

Mike Ivey — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 05:51:00 CDT

Back when other developers were pursuing luxury condominiums for the affluent, Stone House Development Inc. was quietly going in a different direction. Specializing in apartments for moderate-income renters, Stone House has completed a variety of projects statewide in recent years. Its biggest local ventures are the 111-unit Madison Mark on King Street and the 76-unit Park Central on East Wilson Street. Now, with the mortgage lending world in crisis and hundreds of unsold properties languishing on the ...

American Superconductor gets new big wind deal

Jeff Richgels — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 11:38:00 CDT

American Superconductor Corp., which has its booming wind power unit based in Middleton, on Wednesday announced that it has signed another multimillion-dollar contract for wind power in China. The deal makes XJ Group Corp. the fifth manufacturer to provide American Superconductor's Windtec-designed wind turbines to the Chinese market. Under the terms of the deal, American Superconductor will provide XJ Group with designs for its WT2000df, a two-megawatt wind turbine, and will provide core electrical components for the ...

Business Beat: Yo-yo economy comes home to roost

Mike Ivey — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 06:04:00 CDT

Well, if this is the ownership society, I'm not digging it. Since the Reagan revolution of the 1980s vowed to get government out of the way, Americans have been told to go it alone. Some have labeled it the yo-yo economy: you're on your own. Lose your job? Start your own business. Need health care? Open a medical savings account. Want money for retirement? Better start an IRA. But now after some 30 years of deregulation, tax cuts for the ...

Hooters closes with plans to nest on east side

Kevin MurphyCorrespondent for The Capital Times — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 20:18:00 CDT

Hooters restaurant has closed its doors after 15 years on Madison's west side and plans to reopen next year on the city's east side, according to its general manager. The national chain, which touts chicken wings and female sex appeal, wants a higher traffic location than its current setting tucked off the corner of Mineral Point Road and Grand Canyon Drive. GOOGLEMAP2[300|maps.google.com/maps?f=q:hl=en:geocode=:q=Mineral+Point+Road+and+Grand+Canyon+Drive,+madison:sll=37.0625,-95.677068:sspn=46.677964,79.101563:ie=UTF8:s=AARTsJrj6TZk5SVPjmBlRQi6h43iqPUBWg:ll=43.06964,-89.492912:spn=0.01881,0.034332:z=14:iwloc=addr:output=embed] Instead, Hooters is looking at a former Country Kitchen restaurant near East Towne Mall, said ...

Stocks tumble as Street worries about financials

Tim ParadisAssociated Press — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 17:46:00 CDT

NEW YORK -- The misery worsened on Wall Street on Tuesday, with stocks piling on losses late in the session and bringing the two-day decline in the Dow Jones industrials to more than 875 points amid escalating worries about credit markets and the financial sector. The Dow lost more than 500 points and all the major indexes slid more than 5 percent. The Standard & Poor's 500 index saw its first close below 1,000 in five ...

Fed to buy large amounts of short-term debt

Associated Press — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 17:49:00 CDT

WASHINGTON -- The Federal Reserve announced Tuesday a radical plan to buy massive amounts of short-term debt in a dramatic effort to break through a credit clog that is imperiling the U.S. economy. A day after financial markets around the world had one of their worst performances in years, the U.S central bank, known as the Fed, invoked 1930s Depression-era emergency powers to begin buying commercial paper — short-term funding that many companies rely on to ...

Lieutenant governors make economic trip to China

Associated Press — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 08:18:00 CDT

The lieutenant governors of five states, including Wisconsin, are in China this week on a mission to bring jobs and economic development to the U.S. Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Barbara Lawton says her goal is to give Chinese officials a clear vision of Wisconsin's business climate, hardworking employees and environmental expertise. The eight-day trip started Saturday and goes to Oct. 12. It will include visits to earthquake-affected ...

Law firm closing its Madison office

Mike Ivey — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 11:37:00 CDT

A national law firm specializing in biotechnology and life sciences issues is closing its Madison office but the 25 affected employees are expected to land with another firm. San Francisco-based Heller Ehrman White & McAuliffe opened here in 2000 because of the city's burgeoning biotech sector. It had hired local attorneys John Skilton and David Harth from the Madison office of Foley & Lardner to help launch the practice. But Heller ...

Japanese marketing experts to tour cranberry bogs

Associated Press — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 12:38:00 CDT

Japanese marketing experts will be in central Wisconsin next week with one goal in mind -- increasing cranberries consumption in Japan. The team will visit cranberry bogs and manufacturing plants near Wisconsin Rapids and Tomah on Monday and Tuesday to learn about different varieties of cranberries and how the harvest is done. Research showing the health benefits of the red fruit also be presented.

Wisconsin to produce largest wheat harvest yet

Associated Press — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 12:56:00 CDT

Wisconsin will produce its largest wheat harvest in state history this year. That's according to the National Agricultural Statistics Service, which says Wisconsin will produce 23 million bushels of wheat, up 22 percent from last year. Statistician Doug Bounds of the Wisconsin Field Office in Madison says Wisconsin hasn't traditionally been a big wheat-growing state but high prices have encouraged farmers to plant more wheat in ...

Cross Country: Dairy Expo's cow judging draws a herd

John F. Oncken — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 21:13:00 CDT

Friday and Saturday are traditionally the biggest days crowdwise at World Dairy Expo -- that's when the Holstein cattle are paraded before the judge in the Coliseum show ring. The International Red and White Show (most are Holsteins) cow judging runs Friday morning with the International Holstein calf classes beginning at noon. That's when race is on for the close-in seats that the true Holstein experts occupy -- ...

Dow finishes below 10,000 for first time since '04

Joe Bel Bruno and Tim ParadisAssociated Press — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 17:49:00 CDT

NEW YORK -- Wall Street joined in a worldwide cascade of despair Monday over the financial crisis, driving the Dow Jones industrials to their biggest loss ever during a trading day. Even a big afternoon rally failed to keep the Dow from its first close below 10,000 since 2004. The sell-off came despite the $700 billion U.S. government bailout package, which was signed into law Friday after two weeks in which traders had appeared to count ...

Dairy Expo exhibits show a dazzling array of products

John F. OnckenSpecial to The Capital Times — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 13:05:00 CDT

A walk through the commercial exhibit aisles at the World Dairy Expo is an experience in distraction, wonder and enlightenment. The 700 organizations and companies with their 1,600 exhibit spaces neatly arranged in lines circling the insides of the Exhibition Hall, Arena and two floors of the Coliseum -- and not so neatly arranged in the parking lot and in front of the dairy barns -- are mind-boggling in scale and diversity. "Where do we ...

Charter CEO gets 25 percent raise, $2 million signing bonus

Associated Press — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 11:05:00 CDT

Charter Communications Inc., a debt-burdened cable operator controlled by Microsoft Corp. co-founder Paul Allen, on Tuesday disclosed that it has agreed to an amended employment agreement which boosts the pay and benefits of its CEO. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Charter said it will give President and CEO Neil Smit an annual salary of $1.5 million, a 25 percent increase from the $1.2 million he received as part of a former ...

True Value on north side to have grand opening

The Capital Times — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 11:10:00 CDT

North Side True Value Hardware will have its grand opening Friday and Saturday in its new location at 2935 N. Sherman Ave. The 14,000 square foot store will have an expanded product selection in the traditional core product categories including hardware, paint, plumbing and lawn and garden. North Side True Value opened in 1977, owned and operated by Tom Meikle. It had been located at 2865 N. Sherman Ave. ...