Published: February 12, 2010
Tags: health care, insurance, Medicaid, Medicare, Pommer, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance
By Matt Pommer
An estimated 1.1 million Wisconsin residents now get their health needs met through Medicaid, the state-federal program for the poor.
Enrollment growth has averaged 9.7 percent annually for the last 10 years. More than $6 billion is now spent on the program annually. The federal government pays about 58 percent of the Medicaid costs [...]
Published: February 9, 2010
Tags: asbestos, Beiriger, Christon, F.J.A. Christiansen Roofing, Greg Johnson, Kubica, roofing, safety, Shelley Bruce, shingle, training, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Department of Health Services
Comments: 1
By Sean Ryan
The only difference between a 40-hour asbestos course and an eight-hour class is the size of the bill, according to roofers who want the state to back off a new training requirement.
“There really isn’t a payback to all of the additional costs that go into asbestos service and training,” said Greg Johnson, vice [...]
Published: February 3, 2010
Tags: Bauer & Bach LLC, Department of Transportation, eminent domain, Highway 100, Michael Best & Friedrich LLP, Reidenbach & Sajdak SC, roadwork, South 27th Street, stimulus, Wesolowski, Whistling Straits Golf Course, Wisconsin
Comments: 1
By Jack Zemlicka
Dolan Media Newswires
It seems impossible to drive anywhere in Wisconsin without encountering roadwork.
Federal stimulus money has accelerated several highway and city street projects in the state, and the work beyond those orange barrels is expected to create more green for condemnation lawyers.
“It’s kind of exploding,” said attorney Brian C. Sajdak, of Wesolowski, Reidenbach [...]
Published: January 22, 2010
Tags: Assembly Committee on Labor, Associated Builders & Contractors of Wisconsin Inc., iron workers, Iron Workers Local 8, ironworkers, Jorgensen, journeyman, master, Mielke, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, safety, state licensure, Teska, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Department of Commerce
By Paul Snyder
Backers of a bill requiring ironworkers to be licensed in Wisconsin say safety is at the core of their effort. But they lack evidence showing that the ironworkers or the public would be safer with state licensure.
Nationally, data show accidents among ironworkers declined during a recent five-year period despite more people working in [...]
Published: January 22, 2010
Tags: Employment Policies Institute, Irvine, job growth, law, sick leave, unemployment, University of California, Wisconsin
To the editor:
Especially with Wisconsin’s unemployment rate increasing 52 percent from November 2008 to November 2009, efforts to mandate paid sick leave are thoroughly misguided — “Milwaukee sick leave law appeal to get hearing Wednesday,” dailyreporter.com, Jan. 20.
Forcing employers — a majority of whom already have sick leave policies in place — to commit to [...]
Published: January 22, 2010
Tags: budget, law, pension, Pew Center for the States, retirement, State Investment Board, Wisconsin
By Matt Pommer
Wisconsin’s public employee retirement system is well-financed. Whether that is good news or bad news may depend on how you view credit and debt.
In mid-January the State Investment Board reported that money in the basic, core pension program was up 22.2 percent to $67.8 billion in 2009. More than 142,000 retirees are collecting [...]
Published: January 19, 2010
Tags: Asian carp, Chicago, Chicago River, Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, Lake Michigan, locks, Minnesota, National Resources Defense Council, New York, Ohio, Ontario, preliminary injunction, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Supreme Court, Wisconsin
By John Flesher
AP Environmental Writer
Traverse City, Mich. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to order immediate closure of shipping locks near Chicago to prevent Asian carp from infesting the Great Lakes.
The court rejected a request by Michigan for a preliminary injunction to close the locks temporarily while a long-term solution is sought to [...]
Published: November 23, 2009
Tags: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, American Subcontractors Association of Wisconsin, Beiriger, Bender, Drewianka, economy, employment, Jorgensen, Painters and Allied Trades District Council No. 7, stimulus, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Wisconsin
By Sean Ryan
The construction industry is falling from a sustained boom that peaked in 2007 and 2008, resulting in a plummeting number of jobs this year.
There are two ways to interpret the dramatic shift in the industry, said Keith Bender, assistant professor of economics at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. One, the decline is as bad [...]
Published: October 14, 2009
Tags: 534 area code, California Energy Commission, Federal Aviation Administration, Federal Electricity Commission, furloughs, Gov. Jim Doyle, Mexico, Office of State Employee Relations, Philippines, televisions, United Airlines, US Airways, Wisconsin
State agencies may have to cut because of furloughs
Madison (AP) — State agencies may find themselves looking for even more cuts than expected if employees decide to cash in unused vacation time for pay to offset the effect of furloughs.
Cashing out up to five days vacation, or banking unused vacation days to cash out [...]
Published: October 8, 2009
Tags: Capone, foreclose, hideout, sheriff’s sale, Wisconsin
Robert Imrie
AP Writer
Wausau — Chicago mobster Al Capone’s former hideout in northern Wisconsin, complete with guard towers and a stone house with 18-inch-thick walls, was sold for $2.6 million Thursday to the bank that foreclosed on it.
Chippewa Valley Bank was the only bidder during a five-minute sheriff’s sale in the lobby of the county courthouse [...]
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