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The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's digital subscription program is set to begin Jan. 4. With its digital offering, called "JS Everywhere," the Journal Sentinel will offer access to JSOnline.com, the Journal Sentinel e-edition, its mobile site for smartphones, plus coming iPad and other digital applications for a subscriber's fee. Readers who subscribe to the print edition of the newspaper will receive free access to all digital products.
DEVELOPERS PLAN TOWN HOMES IN GRANDVIEW ESTATES
A Billings Park housing development that got its start before the housing bubble burst could take on a slightly modified look if Rapid River Development/Kuepers Construction is successful in its bid to garner tax credits for the project. The company that started the Grandview Estates is considering a plan to build four six-plex townhomes on the northern portion of the project site.
Trek's bike-sharing business landed another Texas customer earlier this month, when the Houston City Council awarded B-cycle a $105,000 contract to install three kiosks and 18 bikes. In Spring, B-cycle installed kiosks and bikes in San Antonio, and now has its bike sharing system operating in 10 cities, including Madison. The Trek venture was a finalist for the mega-contract in New York City, but lost out to Alta Planning & Design. According to the Houston Chronicle, the three kiosks will be installed to whet the appetite of commuters at popular locations. Officials plan to add bikes and rental kiosks as more money becomes available. In Madison, the B-cycle operation has grown to include 35 locations and 350 bicycles for short-term rental.
The U.S. economy will grow faster in 2012 _ if it isn't knocked off track by upheavals in Europe, according to an Associated Press survey of leading economists. Unemployment will barely fall from the current 8.6 percent rate, though, by the time President Barack Obama runs for re-election in November, the economists say. The three dozen private, corporate and academic economists expect the economy to grow 2.4 percent next year. In 2011, it likely grew less than 2 percent. The year is ending on an upswing. The economy has generated at least 100,000 new jobs for five months in a row _ the longest such streak since 2006.
A family-owned investment group has completed its previously announced plan to buy the Little Switzerland skill area, in Slinger. Schmitz Brothers LLC bought a 47-acre portion of the property, for an undisclosed price, from Wayne Erickson on Thursday. Little Switzerland has been closed since 2007. Schmitz Brothers is owned by Rick, Mike and Dave Schmitz, who all grew up in the Hubertus area and learned to ski at Little Switzerland. They plan to have it open for the 2012-'13 season.
Developers have applied to the Public Service Commission for a permit to build a large wind farm in western Wisconsin, the first application of its kind in more than two years. Emerging Energies applied this month to build Highland Wind Farm, a 41-turbine, 102.5-megawatt project in the St. Croix County towns of Forest and Cylon, about 25 miles east of the Minnesota border. The application comes as new wind siting rules remain in limbo in the PSC, with officials trying to broker a deal between the wind industry and its critics. SUN PRAIRIE GETS BROWNFIELD GRANT FOR SENIOR HOUSING PROJECT The city of Sun Prairie will receive a $350,000 brownfield grant from the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. to help prepare a five-acre downtown site for the construction of the New Perspective senior living complex. The grant will reimburse the city for costs to clean up soil and groundwater contamination from two previously removed underground storage tanks. The 144-unit project is expected to create up to 11 full-time jobs in the first year of operation, the WEDC said in a news release. RED CLIFF CHIPPEWA IN WIS. TO OPEN PARK TO PUBLIC A Wisconsin tribe will become the first in the nation to open tribal land to the public, giving visitors a chance to enjoy nearly 89 acres of pristine forestland along the coast of Lake Superior. The Red Cliff Chippewa are creating Frog Bay Tribal National Park, an area flush with towering trees _ hemlock, white pine, white spruce, balsam fir, yellow birch and white cedar. The park is expected to open in August. "This is a rare gem," said Chad Abel, the tribe's administrator of natural resources. The National Park Service says there are no other parks that are tribally owned or controlled by tribes that are open to the public, according to a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel report. PICK 'N SAVE BUILDING NEAR FORMER NORTHRIDGE MALL SELLS AT LOWER PRICE A 61,667-square-foot building leased for a Pick 'n Save supermarket, near Milwaukee's former Northridge Mall, has been sold for a price 30% lower than what it sold for just under five years ago. The building,at 8120 W. Brown Deer Road, was sold by Sun Life Assurance Co., of Canada, to Granville Investors LLC for $5.1 million, according to documents filed with the Milwaukee County Register of Deeds. Sun Life bought the building, in February 2007, for $7.3 million from an affiliate of Tucker Development Co., based in the Chicago area. The number of Americans who signed contracts to buy homes in November rose to the highest level in a year and a half. The best reading on pending homes sales since a federal home-buying tax credit expired appeared to encourage traders on Wall Street. Still, the National Association of Realtors cautioned that a growing number of buyers are canceling their contracts at the last minute, making the gauge less reliable. The Realtors group said Thursday that its index of sales agreements jumped 7.3 percent last month to a reading of 100.1. A reading of 100 is considered healthy. The last time the index was that high was in April 2010, one month before the tax credit expired. Stocks rose after the index was released. The Dow Jones industrial average gained more than 70 points in morning trading, and broader indexes also increased. Contract signings usually indicate where the housing market is headed. There's a one- to two-month lag between a signed contract and a completed deal. ALL EYES ON GERMAN RENEWABLE ENERGY EFFORTS This tiny village of 37 gray homes and farm buildings clustered along the main road in a wind-swept corner of rural eastern Germany seems an unlikely place for a revolution. Yet environmentalists, experts and politicians from El Salvador to Japan to South Africa have flocked here in the past year to learn how Feldheim, a village of just 145 people, is already putting into practice Germany's vision of a future powered entirely by renewable energy. To continue receiving News&Notes, please add our 'From' address (editor@parktowne.com) to your address book. This will help ensure against overzealous spam filters. If you believe you have gotten this in error or no longer want to receive News & Notes send us a reply at optout@parktowne.com. If you have questions or comments about News & Notes or if you have been forwarded this email and would like to be added to the mailing list please email me, Joe Ring, at editor@parktowne.com. Thanks! News&Notes archives are located at http://parktowne.com/news.asp |
