News and Media

Financial innovations and trends can often propel businesses forward in ways they never imagined. But it isn’t always easy to keep tabs on the ever-evolving world of finance, especially when you’re an entrepreneur already stretched thin. Join us for a free webinar, 10 Financial Trends Every Entrepreneur Needs to Know fo...Continue Reading

In the morning on October 5th, CVTC officially kicked off manufacturing month by inviting the local business community to gather, network, eat some breakfast, and tour the new manufacturing facilities. Attendees got to tour the brand-new Automated Fabrication Lab, complete with robotic MIG welders, and attend a short workshop abou...Continue Reading

Most businesses have not escaped supply chain challenges over the previous 12 months. When everyone expected COVID-19 to slow demand, it accelerated demand to a point where supply chains were stretched to their limits. But it not just COVID — the winter storm of 2021 reduced Texas’ capacity to refin...Continue Reading

CLEAR LAKE, Wis. ? Trying new things on his farm and then sharing what he learns with fellow farmers is a crucial component of being part of a conservation group for dairy and grain farmer Greg Friendshuh. Friendshuh milks about 2,000 cows and runs 3,400 acres of cropland near Clear Lake...Continue Reading

Jeffrey Counsell’s article in Area Development, “Siting a New Production Plant: A Challenge Intensifies”, was an excellent discussion of a new dynamic in food plant site selection: avoiding second-generation food plants solely due to the potential risk of pathogens. I also teach this tactic of risk management. Early in m...Continue Reading

The dust appears to be settling around long-debated proposals concerning a new aquatic center in Rice Lake. Now, a nonprofit is diving into a project to build two new indoor pools for the Rice Lake schools and community, with plans calling for the existing community swimming pool area to b...Continue Reading

High school students, transfer students and others who would like to know more about attending University of Wisconsin-Stout have some perfect opportunities coming up. UW-Stout Preview Days and Stout Saturdays events, designed for interested students and their families, are scheduled in late October and early November. “They are a great way fo...Continue Reading

Congratulations. Your business is growing! Revenue is up, and you just launched a new product that is flying off the shelves. The only problem is you need to hire more people and you have no place to put them. You have hired a site selector, and they have found th...Continue Reading

Wisconsin’s workers are always on our minds, especially now as our state and our economy recover from the coronavirus pandemic. Every worker is so vital, the value of their work significant. Gov. Evers and our administration have made key decisions over the past 18 months that have put our state i...Continue Reading

This week’s episode of “WisBusiness: the Podcast” is with Scott Suder, president of the Wisconsin Paper Council.  He provides an update on an industry-backed bill moving through the state Legislature that would limit how often inspections of certain mill machinery can be conducted. The bill recently passed a Senate committee 5-0.  “...Continue Reading

The economic development industry and the site selection process saw significant changes brought on by the events of 2020 — from economic development groups learning how to conduct effective virtual site tours to managing the disbursement of federal funding through the Cares Act. These changes may have been more manageabl...Continue Reading

“Action began this week on the 30-unit low-cost housing for the elderly project in Osceola. The $465,000 project will be a one-story building of 30 units.” This is the opening paragraph from a 1970 story in the Osceola Sun about what has become known as the 3rd Avenue Apartments. The apartment...Continue Reading

A current of creative energy is flowing upriver to Chippewa Falls, as Ivy Media – a professional video and photography production company – moves from Eau Claire to Chippewa Falls. Co-owners Kyle Lehman and Alak Phillips started Ivy Media in early 2019 and are now transitioning their business model and centra...Continue Reading

The tech talent workforce is steadily getting more diverse each year as employers emphasize it in recruitment and retention strategies. Still, diversity remains a challenge for tech employers, and to address it we must first understand its scope and implications. By most measures, tech talent in the U.S. long has lacke...Continue Reading

Leave it to a nun to get it done.” The good sisters have always seemed to have a way of making what seems impossible happen. In 1999, Emmanuel College, a small Catholic liberal arts college in Boston’s Fenway neighborhood, had fewer than 500 students, a dwindling endowment and none of th...Continue Reading

The City of Eau Claire is hoping to reach an agreement in the coming weeks with an undisclosed private developer to build the top three stories of the new – and already under construction – Eau Claire Transit Center. Ground was officially broken in September on a building that will combin...Continue Reading

MADISON — Gov. Tony Evers announced the departments of Administration (DOA), Health Services (DHS), and Natural Resources (DNR), and the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) are developing a comprehensive environmental and public health mapping system known as the Wisconsin Environmental Equity Tool which will analyze and visualize data online so user...Continue Reading

MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) - Departments across Wisconsin are teaming up to create a tool that will help determine environmental challenges statewide and the investments needed, Governor Evers stated Thursday. The Department of Administration, Health Services, Natural Resources and Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation will make an environmental and public health mapping system...Continue Reading

For property owners and managers with commercial spaces to fill, it’s worth keeping an eye on local business incubators for potential tenants ready to “hatch” and move into their own space. Business incubators are organizations designed to nurture and accelerate the growth of new companies by providing office or production spac...Continue Reading

We discuss the state’s economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic with Missy Hughes, secretary and CEO of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation. Read full article.Continue Reading

Even during the best of times, starting a small business is tough. During the Covid-19 pandemic, it became a quest for survival. While roughly one-third of small businesses were closed amid the lockdowns, many have reopened their doors or launched anew as consumer demand roars back. Each of the 31.7 millio...Continue Reading

Many people hear of transformative leadership, which sees people's needs as a means to an end. Transformative leadership believes that fulfilling people's needs will bring a positive change in them. However, servant leadership is a style of leadership that has been gaining popularity because it sees people's needs as th...Continue Reading

Waymo, Alphabet Inc.’s autonomous driving company, is vague on exactly when semis controlled by its technology will be hauling cargo—without drivers—across the U.S., but has a detailed list of challenges to be mastered first, ranging from rough winds and slick roads, stray pedestrians on the highway and figuring out ho...Continue Reading

It’s no secret that the continuing loss of manufacturing and agricultural jobs has brought economic hardship to many areas of rural Wisconsin. While small town main streets have been heavily impacted, many communities have reversed these negative economic trends by strengthening locally owned businesses and commercial corridors. The pandemic has threatene...Continue Reading