JSonline: Business Watch
Business Watch: A Weblog of Today's Local Business News

• November construction contracts rebound
  Contracts for construction rebounded in the Milwaukee area, according to data that McGraw-Hill Construction in New York compiled. In November, the contracts rose 28%, to $186.9 million, from $146.1 million in the same month a year earlier. That includes gains of 23% in residential and 32% in non-residential contracts. For the year, contracts were down 32%, to $1.61 billion, from $2.38 billion in the first 11 months of 2006. Residential contracts fell 26%, non-residential contracts dropped 37%. The data are for Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Washington and Waukesha counties.
• Orion IPO raised $78.8 million
  Orion Energy Systems Inc. (Suit claims nursing home discrimination
  A Neenah nursing home is being sued by the federal government, which claims residents were allowed to pick the race of their caregivers, discriminating against black employees, a complaint filed today said. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed the suit against Kindred Health Care Inc., which operates Vallhaven Care Center, in federal court Friday. The complaint alleges that since at least February 2006 at Vallhaven there was a policy that residents could pick caregivers based on race. The employees named in the suit were Stella Lobley and Rena Liggins, both African -American certified nursing assistants who were reassigned at the request of Caucasian residents, according to the complaint. The suit seeks an injunction against Kindred, a requirement that policies be changed as well as back pay and other damages for Lobley, Liggins and other affected employees. Officials from Kindred returned a call but did not comment this afternoon.
• State workforce official joins UMOS
  Bill Clingan, former division administrator for the Department of Workforce Development, has joined the United Migrant Opportunity Services Inc., as deputy vice president for workforce development, UMOS president and CEO Lupe Martinez said Friday. UMOS is a non-profit organization headquartered in Milwaukee that's now the largest Wisconsin Works W2 contractor. In his state job, Clingan oversaw the DWD budget, which exceeds $400 million and includes W2, child support and child care subsidy. Clingan previously worked at Black Hawk Technical College and the Dane County Human Services Department.
• Milwaukee County sells Park East parcel
  Milwaukee County has completed its sale of a 2.1-acre parcel in the Park East area to a Chicago developer, County Executive Scott Walker announced today. RSC & Associates LLC paid $2,725,000 for the lot, bordered by N. Milwaukee, N. Jefferson and E. Lyon streets and E. Ogden Ave. RSC plans to develop a 122-room Hyatt Place boutique hotel and a 102-room Hyatt Summerfield Suites extended-stay hotel, along with 105 apartments and retail space.
• UPDATE: Beloit stunned by Hendricks death
  Ken Hendricks, a high school dropout who made himself into a billionaire, died early Friday after falling through a hole in a floor on an addition being built at his Rock County home. Hendricks, the 66-year-old owner of ABC Supply Co. Inc. in Beloit, suffered massive head injuries and died in surgery at a hospital in Rockford, Ill. Rock County Sheriff's Department Commander Troy Knudson said Hendricks and his wife, Diane, were having construction done at their home near Afton, between Beloit and Janesville. The couple had returned home about 10 p.m. Thursday night and Ken Hendricks walked out to inspect the progress of the construction work. "There were blue tarps that were covering open areas that were nailed in place by two by fours and it appears he fell through one of those tarps," Knudson said. Hendricks fell more than 10 feet to the basement and struck his head, authorities said. No underlying medical condition figured in the accident, said Sue Fiduccia, Winnebago County (Ill.) coroner. His death has saddened many in Beloit, where Hendricks has been the once-struggling city's key benefactor - bringing in companies, creating jobs, fostering the arts and restoring abandoned industrial buildings. "It's almost a matter of what hasn't he done," said Ron Nief, public affairs director at Beloit College and a friend of Hendricks. "I think probably the most important thing he's done for Beloit is inspire." Hendricks, who grew up in Janesville and left high school at 17, built ABC Supply into a nationwide distributor of roofing, siding, windows and other building products. The company has 390 locations, 6,000 employees and about $3 billion a year in sales. Forbes magazine recently estimated Hendricks' net worth at $3.5 billion, making him the 91st-richest American. Hendricks started his business career as a part-time roofer, spotting potential customers as he drove a utility repair truck during the day. By age 30 he had 500 roofers working for him and was handling jobs at military bases and large stores. He also invested in real estate and, in 1982 with his wife, Diane, started ABC Supply. He owned controlling interest in 16 other companies, several of them firms that Hendricks either brought to Beloit or got started there. Hendricks, who decades ago moved his business base to Beloit because he felt he couldn't get financial backing in his native Janesville, restored the abandoned, run-down Fairbanks-Morse complex and situated ABC's headquarters there. He bought the vacant buildings of the defunct Beloit Corp. and installed a variety of new businesses there, along with a museum featuring sculpture fashioned from old papermaking machinery patterns Hendricks found in storage. "It's kind of unusual to have a champion of the stature of a Ken Hendricks," Beloit city manager Larry Arft said. "Communities do have their leading citizens who support philanthropy and the arts in those communities, but this was kind of an extraordinary relationship." Surviving Hendricks are his wife and their seven children.
• NewPage completes Stora Enso purchase
  Ohio-based NewPage Corp. said today that it has completed its $2.6 billion of Stora Enso Oyj's (State ranks 43rd in job growth
  Wisconsin ranked 43rd among the 50 states and the District of Columbia in annual job growth rate through November, according to federal data released Friday. A report issued by the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows Wisconsin gaining 12,400 jobs since November 2006, an employment increase of 0.4%. Only two states - Michigan and Ohio - had net losses for the 12-month period, according to preliminary payroll counts. Utah led all with a growth rate of 4.2%.
• Roofing exec dies in fall through roof
  Beloit - Ken Hendricks, a roofing company billionaire, has died after falling through his roof. The 66-year-old was checking on construction on the roof over his garage at his hom