Riverfront Jazz Festival Raises Scholarship Funds

Stevens Point, WI – The Riverfront Jazz Festival, held on Labor Day Weekend, Saturday, September 3rd and Sunday, September 4th will run from 4:00 pm until 10:00 pm daily with live jazz music and food in a family friendly environment.  The line-up includes a variety of styles from Big Band to Brazilian.

Through the generosity of area businesses and individual sponsors, general admission to the Festival is totally FREE.  Attendees have the opportunity to help keep the festival free and to also raise student scholarship money by purchasing a “Supporter Pass”. The passes can be purchased prior to, or at the festival.  The cost is $25.00 for one day, $50.00 for the weekend.  By becoming a Supporter, you are not only supporting the festival, but you will also receive a $10.00 food voucher, (for each day), good at Michele’s Restaurant, and a V.I.P. Badge to wear during the festival which will allow you access to reserved seating.

The Riverfront Jazz Festival is a non-profit LLC that raises scholarship money for UW-Stevens Point Jazz Music Students and promoting the involvement, advancement, and enjoyment of jazz-based music in the community.  For more information on how to become a Supporter, please visit www.riverfrontjazzfestival.com, e-mail at riverfrontjazzfestival@gmail.com , or call  the festival office at 715.544.450.

Flood advisories for Portage and Wood Counties

The National Weather Service in Green Bay has issued an urban and small stream flood advisory for Portage and Wood Counties until 9:30pm tonight.

The National Weather Service doppler radar has estimated rainfall amounts between 1 and 1.5 inches with additional amounts of 1 to 2 inches expected. Some locations that will experience minor flooding include: STEVENS POINT…WISCONSIN RAPIDS…AMHERST…BABCOCK… PITTSVILLE AND WHITING.

Fire Stations are Drop-Off Points for Project Fresh Start

The Stevens Point Fire Department is proud to be a drop site for Project Fresh Start, which provides school supplies to students in Portage County who qualify for the free or reduced lunch program.

The start of a new school year means buying school supplies, and for lower-income families, it can be a time when money is tight. Project Fresh Start depends on the support of our Portage County community to help provide the school supplies for the students in need. This year there are over 2,900 students who are eligible.

Beginning in July, individuals, businesses, churches and other groups can collect school supplies to drop off at designated sites throughout the community. All of these supplies will be collected between August 15-19.

Both Stevens Point Fire Stations are drop-off points. Doors are open at both Stations from 7:30 am until 9:00 pm unless staff is out responding to an emergency. There is always at least one staff member at Station One (corner of Division and Franklin Streets) from 7:30 am to 4:00 pm Monday through Friday.

Click here for a list of needed supplies…

Lassa amendments prioritize good paying jobs & accountability

Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation Board adopts amendments to prioritize creation of good-paying jobs and accountability to taxpayers

The mission of the new Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation is to create family-supporting jobs for the people of Wisconsin. That’s the message of amendments to WEDC’s strategic plan proposed by State Senator Julie Lassa (D-Stevens Point) that were adopted unanimously by the group’s board of directors yesterday.

“This new quasi-public private organization has received over $80 million of taxpayer money and has a lot of leeway in determining how it is spent,” said Lassa, who is a member of the board. “Given this sizeable taxpayer investment, I believe it is important to make it clear that WEDC’s mission is to serve the public interest. The success of WEDC will not only be judged by the number of jobs created as a result of its efforts, but by the quality of those jobs for Wisconsin workers.”

WEDC was created by Governor Walker and the Legislature to take over the economic development and job creation role formerly played by the Department of Commerce. While the public-private corporation received the funding that once went to Commerce, it has few of the statutory restrictions that applied to Commerce job creation programs, such as requirements to promote the development of good-paying jobs.

The amendments Lassa proposed alter WEDC’s mission statement to make it clear that the organization exists to serve the people of Wisconsin, that its customers include taxpayers, and that it should focus its efforts on creating jobs that pay well above minimum wage and include benefits.

“Originally WEDC’s strategic plan focused solely on the interests and needs of business,” Lassa said. “Given the large investment of tax dollars, I am glad the board agreed to prioritize the creation good-paying family-supporting jobs and emphasize the organization’s accountability to taxpayers.”

The board, which is chaired by Governor Walker, approved the amendments at its meeting yesterday in Green Bay.

Slumberland Furniture Supports Children’s Hospital

Greg Hesch from Slumberland in Marshfield and Patti Shafto-Carlson

The Hesch Family takes a great deal of pride in their family business. They own and operate Slumberland Furniture stores in Minocqua, Rhinelander, Wausau, Rice Lake, Stevens Point and Marshfield. They also take pride in their local communities. Each year the family, including Greg Hesch, Mike & Candy Hesch, Mary Hesch and Craig & Ann Antonson, pool together their contributions and make a gift to the community.

This year the family donated $5,000 to Children’s Miracle Network, benefiting children in north central Wisconsin! “Giving to Children’s Miracle Network is an easy choice,” said Greg, owner of the Marshfield Slumberland. “We have contributed to CMN since we opened the Marshfield store in 2000. We know this gift will help children in each of the communities that our customers live and work in.”

The mission of Children’s Miracle Network (CMN) is to raise funds to support programs that improve the heath care of local children. Contributions help provide programs, services and treatment for sick and injured children and to support programs that seek to prevent childrens injuries, and promote healthy lifestyles in these communities.

Funds benefit an array of pediatric programs and services and it impacts young lives battling virtually every type of childhood illness and injury. Whether investing in the life of a premature infant whose weight is measured in grams rather than ounces, or preserving the dreams of a teenager whose hopes are threatened by the malignancy of cancer, Children’s Miracle Network is dedicated to our most precious resource – the health and happiness of children.

The Hesch Family and the Central Wisconsin Slumberland’s are very grateful to be in a position to assist Children’s Miracle Network.

Main St. Closed Downtown on Wednesday, July 27

Weather permitting, crews will applying a slurry seal on Main Street on July 25. Main St. will be closed to traffic from Church St. to just east of the Square into the early afternoon. If it rains, work could be delayed until Thursday or Friday.

Richards Makes 6 Winners, Weinfurter Triples, and more…

Richards Makes 6 Winners, Weinfurter Triples, and Ben Capek Arrives at Golden Sands
by Mike Barrett

Kenny Richards pulled into Golden Sands Speedway with 2 dozen other Late Models Friday night and showed that absence slowed him down not one bit. Tim Sauter lined up for the start next to Dave Neitzke and led quickly, leading the field around for the first 38 laps. Almost exactly halfway through the show Jeremy Lepak finished picking off car after car and strongly passed Sauter on the outside. A yellow flag on lap 42 caused by lapped traffic bumping Neil Knoblock off the track re-set the field, and Lepak’s engine stumbled badly at the start. Sauter could not avoid the rear of Lepak’s car, and turned the leader, resulting in a re-aligned start since no laps had been run from the restart. Lepak again pulled up lame and Sauter whistled by, looking like he may just collect his 1st win of the year at Plover. Kenny Richards had other ideas, and lined up behind Sauter the next few laps to assess the leader, moving past with 3 laps to go. Richards makes it 6 different winners this year in the Element Mobile Late Model series. Fast time for Lepak was his only consolation, ending in 16th place. Sauter has finished in the top three 5 out of 6 races, and is still looking for that win. Cardell Potter ran strong again in 3rd, and Brandon Selle and Colin Reffner both had solid nights to finish 4th and 5th.

The Super Stocks had another great field, posting 17 cars for the start and the racing was close the whole 25 laps. Claire Decker lined up inside the #24 of Brian Weinfurter, who was looking to post his 3rd win on the year. Decker worked hard to stay next to Weinfurter, but could not gain any position, and followed Brian to his 3rd win. It looked like Team Decker was ganging up on the competition when Claire, Paige and Natalie Decker were all in the top 5. Unfortunately Natalie suffered from contact with lapped traffic and dropped from 4th to 14th on the final lap. Paige finished 6th, behind fast timer Ryan Hinner. 3rd place Matt Ciesielski is having a good year, and 4th runner Galen Manternach was fast all night.

Pure Stocks started 18 cars, Again with Cale Marzofka topping the field with a very fast time. Cale and Dean Ashbacker got tangled up halfway through because of lapped traffic, and Marzofka fought his way back to 7th by the end. Mark Kalata liked an early lead, but Ben and Jake Capek rolled up behind him and took the lead and 2nd place away in the final 5 laps. Kalata finished ahead of John Vanstedum, who edged Brent Weiland for 5th.

Next week Motorcycle Mania Weekend begins– Pig & Corn Roast – Racing Motorcycles, Cruisers, & 4CS, Trial Riders Performance & Free Style Biking (Gates Open 5pm)

Dumpster Available for Storm/Water Damaged Items

Beginning Tuesday, July 26, a dumpster will be available at the City Garage Drop-off Site for Stevens Point residents to dispose of items damaged by water in the July 19/20 storm. The dumpster will be available there for 10 days.

Update from Rep. Scott Krug

July 22, 2011 — Letter from the office of Representative Scott Krug

I’ve stated many times over that my main goals upon being elected to the State Assembly were fixing out of control taxing and spending and to create jobs for Wisconsin families. We have passed legislation that addresses how Wisconsin taxes and spends, including a 2/3 supermajority vote to raise taxes and our state budget that lowers taxes overall by $24 Million. Controlling taxing and spending isn’t hard to do through policy decisions, but creating jobs is not as easy.

To create jobs government needs to get out of the way and let the private sector lead. This is where the legislature has been there to help. We made sure to set up a favorable business climate for job creators to come to Wisconsin, from there we have let the market decide whether we are a good place to operate. Well, companies from all over the country have been coming to Wisconsin, including right here in Central Wisconsin. Along with the new arrivals we are blessed to have existing businesses start to trust us again and are now less worried of how government in Wisconsin will hamper their growth. They are expanding also.

To show in numbers that the growth is here look to the Department of Workforce Development’s June employment statistics. In the United States some 19,000 jobs were created between May and June, Wisconsin created over 12,900 jobs in that time frame (shedding some from government and adding much more in the private sector).

Manufacturing jobs continue to increase with 800 new manufacturing jobs in June. The growth in jobs in June is the largest single month increase since September 2003. The addition means that since January 2011, Wisconsin has added 39,300 jobs to our economy and our unemployment rate is lower than that of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and the United States as a whole. Job seekers are returning to the workforce and job postings on the Job Center of WI total 30,000 this past week.

Just right here in the 72nd District we are seeing increased job activity. Mariani Foods has relocated and will operate in the Urban Processing facilities. Companies are very interested in utilizing the Domtar facilities in Port Edwards, Frac sand companies are beginning to invest in our area, and tourism jobs are beginning to return to the Northern Adams County area. Farming and agriculture prices are doing well and we are seeing growth in this area in Adams County as well.

There are folks who are still not able to find employment and we have not forgotten about them. This past week I was pleased to vote for legislation that will extend unemployment benefits for those in need of assistance. It’s not enough for us to create jobs. We understand that it takes time for new development to take hold and that some families are still waiting. This extension will allow another 13 weeks of benefits for those who were eligible as of April 2011 and passed on a bi partisan vote of 81-16. The legislation doesn’t simply benefit struggling families it also protects small businesses from excessive costs that will kill job creation and slow down our economic recovery.

We are well on our way to adding 250,000 jobs by 2015 as promised. Wisconsin is definitely open for business. All without raising taxes…

FOR STOCK PRICES, EARNINGS MATTER

By Joel Sullivan, Partner Buena Vista Investment Management

Earnings reports for the second quarter of 2011 got started last Tuesday with the global aluminum company Alcoa reporting results. Alcoa’s profit more than doubled compared to last year. Companies in the S&P 500 are expected to boost net income by 19% in 2011, including a 13% gain in the second quarter, according to analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

Of the 42 S&P 500 companies reporting through July 18th, 34 had higher profits than last year and 31 of 42 exceeded analyst’s expectations. Earnings expectations for 2011 are about $100 per share for the S&P 500, which means the index is trading at 13 times earnings. This is 8% less than the average since 2006. It appears investors are still not convinced of the strength and profitability of corporate America. This is reflected in the current level of the stock market, as well as, the relatively low earnings estimates provided by many analysts.

Although it is still early in the reporting process, some major US companies have already reported. Google had a profit of $2.5 billion and earnings per share of $7.68. This represents a 36% increase over last year’s second quarter. Apple’s earnings soared up 122% to $7.3 billion. Consumers proved they are more than willing to spend their money on Apple products. In the past 3 months, people bought 9.3 million iPads and 20.3 million iPhones.

As far as the banks are concerned Wells Fargo and JP Morgan reported record earnings for the quarter of $3.7 billion and $5.4 billion respectively. Of course not all banks had record profits, but as a group, profits are improving over last year.

Here in Wisconsin, Harley Davidson reported profits rose 37% over last year to 81 cents a share. US sales are up 7.5% from a year earlier. In terms of manufacturing, Fastenal, a major industrial supplier, reported a second quarter profit of $94.1 million, which is up 36% over last year.

Although there remain several hundred S&P 500 companies that still need to report, it looks like we are seeing very healthy corporate earnings across a variety of business types. And when all the reports are in, it also likely that analysts will have under estimated the level of corporate profits. Ultimately it is improving earnings that drive the stock market higher. With many companies reporting increasing profits, that should prove a positive for the stock market for the second half of the year.

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Buena Vista Investment Management
241 3rd St. South, Wisconsin Rapids, WI 54494
715-422-0700
buenavistainv.com