WEDC has reshaped the former commerce department’s positions of regional development managers into regional account managers with an emphasis on local engagement.

Jadin recalled during his time as Green Bay mayor he had little communication with the regional commerce representative, “I probably ran into him more at church than I did my office.”

WEDC has added regional account managers in the “New North” and “M-7″ area of Milwaukee.

The agency head talked of expanding markets globally. The state has offices in Canada, Mexico, Brazil and China but Jadin said they are looking into similar expansions in Africa, Europe, the Middle East and Russia. 

Jadin said this spring the state will take trade missions to Vietnam, Thailand and Singapore; to India; and to Brazil, Chile and Colombia.

The ferry, which runs between Ludington, Michigan and Manitowoc, dumps an estimated 500 tons of waste ash into the lake each year. The EPA had previously set a December 2012 deadline for them to stop the practice.

Lynda Matson with Lake Michigan Car Ferry, which owns the ship, says the decision comes after the ash was tested and found to be benign. She says it is mixed with lake water and put back into Lake Michigan, but the dilution level is so high it has no effect on drinking water.

Matson says they are cooperating with the EPA in converting the ship to burn natural gas. She says a new permit will give them more time to develop the infrastructure and design needed to complete that process.

Matson adds the Badger is a historic vessel that provides over 200 jobs in both communities.

Both sides are scheduled to meet in the next few weeks.

Brian Norton, WOMT

Matt Lehman, WSAU 

Research director Dale Knapp says the report used tax returns to determine how many people were coming to and leaving the state. He says in the mid ’90s, Wisconsin was a popular place to relocate. But trend has been changing in recent years and in 2010, about 10,000 more people left than came to the Badger State.

Many are retirees looking for warmer weather and friendlier tax climates. The report says 45,000 Wisconsinites – which equals the entire population of Fond du Lac – moved to Florida and Arizona from 2006 to 2010.

“As the baby boom continues to head toward retirement we expect that to continue,” says Knapp. He adds improving the state’s economy is the only way to reverse the trend.

Rick Schuh-WHBY contributed to this report

AUDIO: Rep. Scott Suder (:45)

The Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters is running a statewide television ad campaign, highlighting concerns that the legislation enabling an open-pit iron ore mine will damage the state’s groundwater resources. “It specifically states in the bill, that contamination of our groundwater supplies – in Wisconsin this is where we get our drinking water – it’s permissible by a mining company,” says the league’s Ann Sayers. “It specifically states that the state of Wisconsin must approve a project, even if we know that it endangers public health.”

Suder is disputing claims from environmental groups that the measure strips away water protections. “We’re making sure that not only is the aquifer in the area protected, but also making certain that local units of government are able to not only able to negotiate with the mining company but will be able to have a part of the process in terms of the environmental impact, and making certain that they are heard,” he says.

The bill rewrites and streamlines the process by which the Department of Natural Resources grants mining permits in the state. It’s seen as a neccessary first step, for Gogebic Taconite to apply for a permit to operate an open-pit iron ore mine in Iron County. Suder is confident the bill will pass, with or without the support of northern Wisconsin Democratic lawmakers. “I fail to understand how someone, especially from that area, could vote against a job creation bill, for their own people, for northern Wisconsin,” he says.

Sayers says it’s the hope of her organization, and the intent of the television ad, to halt progress on the mining legislation in the state Senate. “It shouldn’t be the case that one out state mining company gets to avoid all of the conservation laws that we hold dear, while all other companies in the state must obey them,” she says.

WIBA’s John Colbert contributed to this report

An economic development group involved with the process says such access is even more important outside of metro areas where face-to-face contact is not easy. However these are the areas that have the least access to broadband.

“Obviously Dane County is important but we really want to reach out to the none Dane Counties as well because they are the ones most impacted by this,” says Joe Klosterman, Project Manager with Thrive.

The PSC says another goal of the event is to gather public and private investment of time and money for more and better broadband.

The government’s Link Wisconsin initiative ( Region 8 ) includes Columbia, Dane, Dodge, Green, Jefferson, Rock and Sauk Counties. The meeting begins at 4:30 pm at the Days Inn Portage.

Click here to see how broadband stacks up in Wisconsin.

AUDIO: Manitowoc Cranes workers (1:20)

Griffin says financially hurting workers felt they had no choice other than to accept the company’s terms. “That was nine weeks. And let this be the message for any other company that wants to propose this. It’s going to be a bare minimum of nine weeks work stoppage, if not longer.” The four-year contract contains a two percent annual raise – seven days to decide whether to pay union dues – a $250 signing bonus and management will continue to recognize Local 516 as their representative, no matter their membership status. They’ll be called back in stages within five working days.

“I voted no,” says union member. “Because the other unions around the whole country will be going downhill. They need someone to stand up for workers’ rights, whether union or non-union. Union member Gauthier explains his no vote. “Because I believe in my union. Just as my grandfather and whoever down the road before,” he says, adding that he feels let down by the vote. “These guys aren’t sticking up for their forefathers and whoever fought for the rights that we have now.”

Griffin, the IAM District 10 official, says the company said it wanted to “protect the two percent of the workforce that doesn’t want to belong to the union, doesn’t want to pay their fair share. And we do have to represent them, by law.” Union member Jason Peterson sympathizes with those union members who are financially hurting. “I understand that. They do have families to take care of. Like our union said, we’re caught between a rock and a hard place. Some people have no place to turn to.”

Brian Norton, WOMT

AUDIO: Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (:45)

President Obama on Thursday announced the rejection of the construction application, citing the State Department’s characterization of “the rushed and arbitrary deadline insisted on by Congressional Republicans.” Obama says that prevented a full assessment of the pipeline’s impact on health and safety and the environment.

Sensenbrenner says the decision will have a negative impact on U.S.-Canadian relations. “I don’t believe in the situation that we’re in today, both economically and foreign policy wise, that we ought to really hurt our friends and benefit our enemies. All this will do is force America to import more oil from the OPEC nations. None of the OPEC nations like us or share our values.”

TransCanada Corporation, the firm which had applied for the permit to build the pipeline, says it remains fully committed to the project.”We will re-apply for a Presidential Permit and expect a new application would be processed in an expedited manner to allow for an in-service date of late 2014,” said a statement.

Incentives include more than $3 million in tax incremental financing, $2.4 million in low-interest loans from the city and $500,000 dollars in loans from Douglas County, which also transferred title to land for the Kestrel plant. In addition, the state has provided incentives which include $90 million in New Market Tax Credits. The payoff for Superior should be huge: the builder of advanced general aviation planes is expected to bring 600 jobs by 2016, many of them highly skilled.

It’s the largest number of new jobs created in Superior since World War II, and the largest number brought to Wisconsin since Governor Scott Walker took office with a promise to create 200-thousand new jobs. “There will be other opportunities for businesses to grow here,” says Hagen. “It will ripple though the community very nicely.”

AUDIO: Parr, Griffin, Miller (1:22)

The second was to give all employees the option of remaining in the union. Parr says Manitowoc rejected their offer of giving current employees seven days after strike ratification to decide, and new hires the same seven days after a 90 day probationary period. Don Griffin, also with local 10, was asked if he was surprised by the vote. “I was kind of surprised because it’s hard to hang on financially, for eight weeks, let alone, who knows, go another four weeks.”

Gary Miller of the Local 516 committee reacts to Manitowoc Crane hiring approximately 40 replacement workers. “Look at the money they’re spending. How many thousands of dollars by bringing in these contract scabs,” he says. “Take the union busting language off. The money that they’re spending could have paid our portion of the insurance for the next four years.”

Representatives from Manitowoc Crane responded in a news release that they are disappointed with the vote. They are asking that their employees continue to talk rather than walk the picket lines, and return to their jobs. Both sides say they want to resolve this strike and would meet with a federal mediator if requested.

Brian Norton, WOMT