Health club company Bally Total Fitness and certain affiliates have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the company said Wednesday.

Chicago-based Bally Total Fitness has five health clubs in the Milwaukee area, according to the company’s Web site.

Bally’s filed the case in the U.S Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.

In a statement, the company’s leaders said Bally’s will utilize the filing as an opportunity to restructure the company and reduce debt from its balance sheet.

Bally’s added, “It expects to accomplish these goals through either a sale of the business as a going concern or through a Chapter 11 plan of reorganization.”

Bally’s said certain parties already have expressed interest in the potential purchase of the health club company.

If Bally’s does not secure a buyer, the company said it remains confident Bally’s can successfully engage in a companywide reorganization under the Chapter 11 umbrella.

Bally’s confirmed it has existing cash reserves and cash receipts to keep operations going.

The company added, “If Bally successfully negotiates a sale transaction with its lenders, they would provide the company with debtor-in-possession (or DIP) financing as an additional source of liquidity to support Bally’s ongoing operations.”

It is not the first time Bally’s has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. In mid-2007, Bally’s filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as its membership base declined and mounting debt weighed the fitness club chain’s finances down. The plan designed in 2007 aimed to reduce the company’s debt by $150 million and bring in $90 million in new capital for investing in some of its 375 clubs nationwide. According to Bloomberg, Bally’s emerged from the 2007 bankruptcy filing with the court’s protection and funding supplied by hedge fund firm Harbinger Capital Partners.

Marshall & Ilsley Corp. has completed its acquisition of a majority interest in Taplin, Canida & Habacht Inc.

Milwaukee-based Marshall & Ilsley (NYSE: MI) said Wednesday that Taplin, Canida & Habacht will be part of the investment management unit within M&I’s Wealth Management business, which also provides trust, brokerage, and private banking services to individuals, institutions, and corporate clients. The business unit, under the name Taplin, Canida & Habacht, will maintain its headquarters in Miami.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Marshall & Ilsley has $63.5 billion in assets with 193 offices throughout Wisconsin plus locations in Arizona, Indianapolis, Florida, Kansas City, Minneapolis St. Paul and subsidiary Southwest Bank in St. Louis.

The Kalahari Resort will add 65 jobs in December with the opening of a $20 million, 110,000-square-foot indoor theme park at its Wisconsin Dells resort and convention complex.

The new theme park will provide management, security, maintenance, food service and concierge jobs to the Wisconsin Dells area. In addition to on-site employment, the indoor theme park will give local vendors more growth opportunities, said Todd Nelson, the president and owner of Kalahari Resorts.

“At a time when most employers are cutting back, we are excited to expand our entertainment offerings,” said Nelson.

The $20 million addition to the Kalahari Resort and Convention Center gives the resort more than 235,000 square feet of indoor water park space. The resort also has 742 guest rooms and suites, eight restaurants, Spa Kalahari and Salon, three shopping areas, and a 100,000-square-foot convention center. The complex also includes a 15-screen Desert Cinema.

Nelson owns a second Kalahari Resort in the resort town of Sandusky, Ohio.

ProHealth Care will begin construction in spring 2009 on a three-story parking ramp at Waukesha Memorial Hospital.

The $15 million ramp will have space for 964 vehicles and be located on an existing parking lot at the southwest corner of the hospital, near Dopp Street and Washington Avenue, said Sandra Peterson, spokesperson for the Waukesha-based ProHealth Care.

The parking ramp is expected to be completed by the end of 2009. During construction, employees will be shuttled to and from the hospital from downtown Waukesha, so patient parking will not be disrupted, Peterson said.

Waukesha Memorial Hospital, which is the state’s third largest hospital based on patient volumes, currently has 1,917 parking spaces.

Once complete, the new structure will be connected to the hospital via a tunnel for inside access.

Oak Creek aldermen on Tuesday approved plans for rezoning 64 acres at the southwest corner of College and Pennsylvania avenues, clearing the way for construction of a mail processing and distribution center for the US Postal Service.

The new 858,000-square-foot center will house all mail processing and distribution operations currently located at the US Postal Service’s downtown Milwaukee facility at 345 W. St. Paul Ave. The new processing center will serve 672 postal locations throughout southeast Wisconsin and will replace three processing facilities, including one at the downtown Milwaukee post office.

“The relocation of this postal facility from downtown to Oak Creek is consistent with our long-term vision for the airport corridor,” said Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker.

Earlier this year, the US Postal Service acquired the 64-acre parcel from Cobalt Partners in Milwaukee. Cobalt’s principals, Scott Yauck and James Heffernan, said they are “thrilled to be working with the Postal Service on a project that has so many benefits, both locally and regionally.”

Construction is expected to begin in the next 12 to 14 months, and will take about two years to complete. The center will bring 2,200 jobs to Oak Creek and will be one of the largest light industrial buildings developed in the region in recent years, Cobalt officials said.

M&I Marshall & Ilsley Bank of Milwaukee has entered into a seven-year agreement to renew its partnership with Visa Inc. for Visa to provide payment programs for credit, debit, prepaid and commercials cards, and merchant acquiring services. The agreement extends M&I Bank’s relationship with Visa that began in 1977.

“Over the past 30-plus years, Visa’s broad range of payment services has helped us deliver on our promise to provide high quality products and services to our customers,” said Brian Bieger, senior vice president of M&I Bank, an affiliate of Milwaukee-based Marshall & Ilsley Corp. (NYSE: MI). With $63.5 billion in assets, M&I Marshall & Ilsley Bank is the largest Wisconsin-based bank. It has 193 offices throughout the state.

Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) operates the world’s largest retail electronic payments network providing processing services and payment product platforms.

The U.S. economy shed 250,000 jobs from October to November, according to a new jobs report.

The ADP National Employment Report said that the U.S. job market shows weakness, with losses in the manufacturing, services and construction sectors.

The ADP report found that construction lost 44,000 jobs, manufacturing 118,000 jobs and services 92,000 positions during October.

Manufacturing has lost jobs in the U.S. for 27 straight months and the construction sector has sacked 521,000 workers since August 2006, according to the payroll company’s employment study.

A separate report from outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas also showed jobs took another painful hit in November. Job cut announcements by U.S. employers soared to 181,671 last month, up 61 percent from October, and 148 percent higher than the same period a year ago, when 73,140 job cuts were announced.

The report also showed that November’s total represents the second highest on record, shy of the 248,475 planned layoffs in January 2002, in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Tight credit, the down housing market, constrained consumer spending and troubles on Wall Street and with banks have prompted layoffs from big banks and other employers in recent weeks.

TCF Bank, the Illinois Council of the Blind, and Equip for Equality said TCF has launched an initiative intended to provide easier access to its banking services for individuals with visual impairments. The program will include the installation of Talking ATMs and greater accessibility to printed materials.

The bank said Wednesday it will begin installing Talking ATMs in less than nine months. Hundreds of TCF banking locations will have the devices by the end of next year.

Talking ATMs, which deliver audio information privately through any standard personal headset, make it possible for persons who are blind or who otherwise have difficulty reading an ATM screen to use the ATM independently.

In addition to Talking ATMs, TCF will enhance its current programs for communicating with customers with visual impairments. The bank will provide monthly bank statements for consumer accounts in Braille and large print, and will adopt a policy for ensuring effective communication of other banking documents.

TCF Bank, based in Wayzata, Minn., is a subsidiary of TCF Financial Corp. (NYSE: TCB) with $16.5 billion in total assets and 445 banking offices in Minnesota, Illinois, Michigan, Colorado, Wisconsin, Indiana and Arizona.

Blackhawk Bancorp Inc. of Beloit said Wednesday that it has declared the company’s 75th consecutive quarterly cash dividend.

Shareholders of record on Dec. 19 will be paid a dividend of 9 cents per share on Jan. 5, 2009. This amounts to 36 cents per share on an annualized basis, representing a yield of about 3.6 percent on the stock’s recent trading price, according to company president and CEO R. Richard Bastian III.

Blackhawk Bancorp Inc. (OTCBB: BHWB), with total assets of approximately $486.3 million, is the parent company of Blackhawk State Bank, which operates eight banking centers in south central Wisconsin and north central Illinois.

Blackhawk Bancorp’s stock was trading at $9.40 per share in midday Wednesday trading.

Donegal Insurance Group Inc. reported Wednesday that it had completed the acquisition of all of the outstanding capital stock of Sheboygan Falls Insurance Co.

The acquisition consideration was approximately $12 million, which includes a surplus contribution of $8.5 million to support the future premium growth of Sheboygan Falls Insurance Co.

Sheboygan Falls Insurance, which operates only in Wisconsin, underwrites a broad line of personal lines products, including auto, homeowners, dwelling fire and umbrella coverages. The Sheboygan Falls-based company also underwrites commercial products, including commercial package policies, commercial fire, general liability and workers’ compensation.

Donald Nikolaus, president and CEO of Donegal Insurance Group, Marietta, Penn., said the acquisition represents a continuation of the company’s plans to expand into the Midwest.

A study to assess the global competitiveness of Wisconsin manufacturers shows that so-called “next-generation manufacturing strategies” serve as a powerful catalyst for world-class performance and success. More than 500 manufacturers took part in the study, which was conducted by the Manufacturing Performance Institute, a global research firm.

A key finding of the study is that top-performing Wisconsin firms are focused on deploying tactics and strategies consistent with next-generation manufacturing, said John Brandt, CEO of the Manufacturing Performance Institute.

“The good news we see in this data is that many Wisconsin manufacturers are making progress across the spectrum of next-generation strategies,” Brandt said.

Of potential concern, however, are state manufacturers that aren’t engaged in change or transformation, as well as firms that recognize the importance of next-generation strategies but are unable or unwilling to act, Brandt said.

The study found numerous manufacturers that are making limited progress across key performance metrics and that smaller firms are more likely to face these difficulties.

Next-generation manufacturing refers to a framework of forward-looking strategies that are driving manufacturing growth and profitability in the 21st century, said Mike Klonsinski, executive director of the Wisconsin Manufacturing Extension Partnership, which commissioned the study with several partner organizations.

WMEP is a Madison-based nonprofit consulting organization that assists small and midsize manufacturers in becoming more competitive and efficient.

The study identified key components of next-generation manufacturing strategies including: customer-focused innovation; engaged people/human capital acquisition, development and retention; superior processes/improvement focus; supply chain management and collaboration; green/sustainability and global engagement.

Manufacturers were asked to respond to seven or eight questions in each area.

The study revealed a worker training deficit, with 29 percent of Wisconsin manufacturers reporting that they annually provide eight or fewer hours of formal training per employee. Only one in 10 respondents provide more than 40 hours of annual training, a level considered world-class.

In general, smaller firms trailed the performance of larger firms in deploying next-generation strategies. Across all categories, small firms — those with less than $10 million in annual sales — were significantly more likely not to have measurement systems in place than large firms — those with $100 million or more in annual sales.

It’s essential for companies to invest in training and other initiatives in order to improve competitiveness even during difficult economic times, Klonsinski said at a press conference Wednesday afternoon at Proven Direct, a digital printing operation in Milwaukee’s Menomonee Valley noted for its efforts at embracing next-generation manufacturing concepts.

“It doesn’t always require a lot of money,” Klonsinski said. “If you don’t do things like training your workers today, you will be left behind when the economy comes back around.”

The study points to notable strengths and weaknesses in productivity, with 48 percent of Wisconsin manufacturers reporting that productivity has increased by less than 25 percent over the past three years, while 52 percent indicated productivity growth of more than 25 percent. Nearly one in five manufacturers, 19 percent, reported productivity growth of more than 50 percent.

Wisconsin is the only state in the nation to do a manufacturing study of this scope and magnitude that is focused on next-generation manufacturing strategies, Klonsinski said.

The 61-question survey provides a wealth of data for state manufacturers, business leaders, policymakers, economic development organizations and others, he said. The survey was sent to 10,000 Wisconsin manufacturers, with 531 responding for a 5.5 percent return rate.

“The results of this study are essentially a scorecard that will allow us to measure future progress on implementing these strategies,” Klonsinski said. “That’s an important first step to strengthen our competitive position and become a global leader in next-generation manufacturing.”

Klonsinski noted that the survey results are being revealed during a major economic slowdown and a severe crisis in the automobile industry.

“If there were ever a time to be talking about transforming our industries, it is now,” he said.

Wausau Homes Inc. in Rothschild has notified the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development of a permanent layoff of 81 production workers and office personnel beginning Jan. 30, 2009.

The company said all employees are receiving individual notices 60 days in advance of actual impact date.

The Department of Workforce Development and its regional partner, the North Central Wisconsin Workforce Development Board, have formed a rapid response team, and the team has scheduled an orientation session with the affected workers. The state will assist dislocated Wausau Homes employees find new jobs or update skills and training.

Ethan Allen Interiors Inc. said Wednesday that it plans to open a 15,900-square-foot design center in late December at 425 N. Moorland Road in Brookfield.

The new design center will offer various furnishings as well as design assistance, financing and free local delivery.

“We are thrilled to bring our interior design expertise to a new community,” said Pamela Bemus, Ethan Allen’s regional design manager.

Based in Danbury, Conn., Ethan Allen Interiors (NYSE: ETH) has a network of nearly 300 design centers worldwide, including three other design centers in Wisconsin.

Credit card and bank account criminals have ready access to $8 billion worth of fraud value in the global underground marketplace, according to a new report on the underground economy by Symantec, a California-based data security company.

The one-year study, released just in time for the holiday shopping season, estimates that the value of total advertised goods available for sale on criminal servers is about $276 million.

Stolen financial accounts comprise 20 percent of the inventory, while stolen credit card numbers, which sell for between 10 cents and $25 per card, comprise 31 percent of total inventory in criminal servers.

North America has 45 percent of criminal underground servers, followed by Europe/Middle East/Africa at 38 percent. Online criminals from Latin America and Asia-Pacific conduct 5 percent and 12 percent of the world’s criminal activity, respectively.

Blockbuster Inc. will serve as the physical retail outlet for Live Nation 's new ticketing company, under a three-year deal announced Tuesday.

Live Nation tickets will be sold through 500 company-owned Blockbuster (NYSE: BBI) stores in markets that mirror the footprint of Live Nation's venues, according to a release from Live Nation.

The deal will see exclusive groups of tickets that will only be sold at the Blockbuster stores during the first four hours of a particular event sale.

"We want customers to know that whatever their entertainment needs - from DVDs and games, to accessing tickets to some of the biggest concert events - they'll find those needs answered at Blockbuster. Our mission is to be the customer's one-stop entertainment destination," Jim Keyes, Blockbuster chairman and chief executive officer, said in a statement.

The partnership will begin with the 2009 concert season.

Beverly Hills-based Live Nation (NYSE: LYV) is the world's largest producer of concerts, and sells about 45 million tickets to its concerts annually.

The SEED School of Wisconsin said Tuesday that the Elizabeth A. Brinn Foundation is pledging $2 million towards SEED’s campaign to bring a public, urban boarding school to the state.

The boarding school is being proposed by a local coalition of leaders, cooperating with The SEED Foundation, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that operates boarding schools in Washington, D.C. and Baltimore. Both schools are publicly funded and educate children who start, on average, with skills two to three years behind grade level. More than 98 percent of SEED school graduates have been accepted at a four-year college, according to The SEED Foundation.

“The children of Milwaukee and other challenged communities around the state will benefit from the Brinn Foundation’s gracious gift,” said Robert Sowinski, president of The SEED School of Wisconsin’s board of directors.

It is anticipated that the The SEED School of Wisconsin will be built through contributions of private philanthropists. A group of community leaders, organized as the Wisconsin Coalition for a Public Boarding School, is calling on the state of Wisconsin to operate the school with public dollars beginning in 2012.

“We’re proud to be making the first major gift to the effort to build The SEED School of Wisconsin,” said Richard Wiederhold, president of the Brinn Foundation, which is based in Brookfield. “The proposed school is right in line with our mission of helping underprivileged children achieve, and we look forward to joining with leaders across the state to ensure the school is built and succeeds.”

AirTran Airways’ traffic went down as passenger count dropped 7.3 percent in November.

The Orlando, Fla.-based carrier, which is one of the top three carriers at Milwaukee's General Mitchell International Airport, reported 1.83 million passengers during the month, down from 1.97 million passengers in November 2007. But year-to-date, the airline has flow 22,7 million passengers -- an increased of 3.8 percent over the same period of 2007.

Paying passenger traffic -- measured in revenue passenger miles -- fell 6.6 percent in November. It had a 7.1 decline in capacity as measured in available seat miles. Load factor for the month increased 0.4 points to 75.8 percent.

AirTran is a subsidiary of AirTran Holdings Inc. (NYSE: AAI) and flies more than 700 flights daily.

Delta Air Lines Inc. will trim its capacity by up to 8 percent in 2009 and suggested more jobs cuts are on the way due to the global economic slowdown and softening traffic.

The Atlanta-based airline revealed the cuts in a memo to its 75,000 employees from CEO Richard Anderson and President Edward H. Bastian. The memo noted domestic capacity would shrink up to 10 percent while international capacity will be down up to 5 percent.

Delta is the parent company of the recently acquired NWA Inc. , the former Northwest Airlines that is one of the top three carriers at Milwaukee's General Mitchell International Airport.

The memo said Delta (NYSE: DAL) might soon cut more jobs, noting the airline is “analyzing the impact on staffing as it pertains to these capacity reductions and, as in the past, we will offer voluntary programs to adjust staffing needs.”

The memo follows:

“To: Delta Air Lines Colleagues Worldwide

“From: Richard Anderson and Ed Bastian

“Subject: Delta to Manage 2009 Capacity Due to Global Economic Slowdown and Softening Traffic

“As always, we want to make certain that Delta people are the first to know about changes to our business. That is why we are sharing with you now that later this morning at an investment conference in New York, we will announce plans to decrease systemwide capacity, for both Delta and Northwest, during 2009. This action comes as a result of the global economic recession and weaker demand for air travel.

“Systemwide 2009 capacity will be down 6-8% year over year. Domestic capacity will be down 8-10% and international capacity will be down approximately 3-5%. These numbers include the full impact of previously announced 2008 capacity reductions.

“Delta has established itself as an industry leader. Once again, Delta must take the necessary steps to adjust our business accordingly and make certain seat capacity meets customer demand. These economic hurdles are difficult, and we remain committed to building our company on a durable financial foundation with industry-leading liquidity. Remember that speed wins so we will be decisive and not delay. As Rules of the Road states, ‘Speed in execution is the difference between success and failure.’

“Even with the economic recession, we are achieving significant benefits from our merger and will continue to do so. The merger has allowed us to develop growth opportunities as we connect the networks to create new revenue streams neither airline could have achieved independently. We will continue to follow the Flight Plan to invest in and further diversify our international network in the Pacific, Africa, India and the Middle East to help mitigate the risk from specific regional economies. We will remain focused on, and continue to adapt to, the rapidly changing global economy to better align supply with demand.

“We are taking these actions to secure your careers and return us to sustained profitability. In the meantime, we are analyzing the impact on staffing as it pertains to these capacity reductions and, as in the past, we will offer voluntary programs to adjust staffing needs. We will continue to make decisions that are in the long-term interest of our colleagues, customers, shareholders and the communities we serve.

“Thank you for your focus in executing on the Flight Plan, in spite of fuel at record levels earlier this year and now the unfolding economic recession. We have a solid cash balance, best-in-class cost per available seat mile (CASM) and your operational performance is head and shoulders above the rest of the industry. We thank you for the incredible work you do for our customers every day. Together, we will get through this new challenge and build a stronger Delta.”

Brookfield software company RedPrairie Corp. announced Tuesday it’s warehouse management system will manage Materialogic’s 340,000-square-foot St. Louis distribution facility.

Materialogic, St Louis, is a third party provider of literature and product fulfillment as well as warehousing and distribution services to companies, including Copper Peak Logistics, a direct-to-consumer wine shipping organization based in Benicia, Calif.

RedPrairie is providing Materialogic with a warehouse management system that allows third party providers to effectively manage product flow within the distribution center, and provide real time information, traceability and labor optimization, said Mike Mayoras, RedPrairie chief executive officer.

“Our fast-growing organization needed a warehouse management system that could easily and quickly integrate with our existing in-house system,” Milton Cornwell, Materialogic chief operating officer said in a written statement, “RedPrairie’s (warehouse management system) increased our speed to market and gave us additional functionality that allows us to stretch both our distribution and value-added service operations.”

Five percent of chief financial officers in the Milwaukee area expect to add accounting and finance staff during the first quarter of 2009 and 7 percent anticipate cutting personnel, according to a new survey by staffing firm Robert Half International.

The overwhelming majority of respondents -- 86 percent -- said they anticipate no change in hiring, according to the Robert Half International Financial Hiring Index released Tuesday.

The local results reflect a two-quarter rolling average based on interviews with 200 chief financial officers from a random sample of companies in the Milwaukee area with 20 or more employees. The studies were conducted by an independent research firm and developed by Robert Half International, which is based in Menlo Park, Calif.

“Many companies are maintaining current staffing levels, waiting for evidence of a stronger economy before expanding the size of their teams,” said Max Messmer, chairman and CEO of Robert Half International (NYSE: RHI). “In the meantime, some employers are opting to bring in skilled accounting professionals on a temporary basis to help maintain productivity and ensure high-priority projects are completed.”

Bucyrus International Inc. announced Tuesday that it has completed the acquisition of OKD Bastro A.S., an engineering services and manufacturing support company located in the Czech Republic.

The purchase price was not disclosed.

OKD Bastro’s primary capabilities will support Bucyrus’ long-term strategic initiatives in the region.

Bastro was acquired from OKD A.S, a wholly owned subsidiary of New World Resources N.V., central Europe’s leading hard coal producer. Bastro will continue to supply mining equipment support and engineering services to OKD.

“This acquisition is in line with our goal for adding support of strategic initiatives in key regional areas,” said Timothy Sullivan, president and chief executive officer at Bucyrus (NASDAQ: BUCY), a South Milwaukee-based manufacturer of surface and underground mining equipment. “We are pleased that we have been able to add Bastro in support of our underground equipment segment in Europe.”

The holiday shopping season’s traditional kickoff weekend turned out to be more cheerful than expected, as more people hit the malls and spent more than they did last year.

More than 172 million shoppers nationwide were out prowling for deals during the three-day weekend, according to the National Retail Federation 's 2008 Black Friday Weekend survey, conducted by BIGresearch. That is up from 147 million shoppers last year.

Shoppers spent an average of $372.57, a 7.2 percent increase from last year’s $347.55.

Weekend spending is estimated to be $41 billion.

The shopping blitz continued Dec. 1, known as Cyber Monday because it is the first business day after the holiday weekend, when consumers return to their offices and home computers to shop online.

According to a Shop.org survey, also carried out by BIGresearch, 84.6 million consumers plan to shop online Dec. 1, compared to the 72 million people who did so last year.

Green Bay Packers wide receiver Donald Driver released his first book Tuesday, a children's book about a young boy's effort to make a football team.

"Quickie Makes the Team," Driver’s first foray into writing, was conceived and written by Driver. He said it was inspired by his own bedtime storytelling to his children, Cristian and Christina. It also has inspirational comments from Driver to children.

A full-color, 32-page hard cover book, it is illustrated by Waukesha artist Joe Groshek and was printed at Worzalla Publishing in Stevens Point. Illustrations of the main character Quickie, are based on Driver’s son, Cristian.

Driver said he hopes the book is the first in a series.

The book is being published by Driver and Lammi Sports Management, a Milwaukee sports marketing firm that works with Driver. All proceeds will go to Driver’s charitable foundation.

U.S. construction spending continued to fall in October, signaling more weakness in the housing market and the economy as a whole.

The U.S. Commerce Department reported Monday that construction spending dropped by 1.2 percent in October, much more than the 0.9 percent many analysts expected.

The construction weakness was led by another major drop in home building, which has fallen in all but two of the past 30 months. Housing construction fell by 3.5 percent in October, following a 0.5 percent drop in September.

The Commerce Department report also showed nonresidential construction dropped by 0.7 percent in October, the third decline in the past four months.

Government building projects showed strength in October, rising by 0.7 percent. State and local construction was up 0.3 percent, while federal construction activity increased by 5.5 percent from September.

Super Steel Schenectady Inc. will close early next year, eliminating up to 200 jobs.

The company is a division of Super Steel Corp., headquartered in Milwaukee. The company opened its 180,000-square-foot facility in Glenville, N.Y., in the mid-1990s, initially building $70 million worth of trains for General Motors Corp.

“In the past few months, we have seen dramatic and unprecedented reductions and cancellations of orders,” the company said in a statement, referencing a “dramatic downturn” in the national and global economies.

“Without substantial new orders, we cannot sustain the employees at the plant,” the Dec. 1 statement said.

The company plans to start laying off workers on Jan. 31, 2009, with the closing process to be finished in early April.

A spokeswoman at the company’s Milwaukee headquarters said Monday that company president James Schmelzer visited the Schenectady plant today to announce the plant closing.

She declined further comment, saying that Schmelzer would make more announcements about the plant closing on Tuesday.

Super Steel Schenectady is located in the Scotia-Glenville Industrial Park. Officials at the company could not be reached for comment on Monday.

World Class Health, Fitness, and Sports Performance of Hartland has acquired Kidzhaven, a gym that caters to children.

Terms of the deal, which was announced Monday, were not disclosed. World Class Health will be relocating to Kidzhaven’s headquarters at 1055 Cottonwood Avenue in Hartland.

Ray Lilly, owner of Kidzhaven, will stay on and assume the position of vice president of operations at World Class Health. World Class Health offers youth sports training and training academies, as well as adult classes including Pilates and kickboxing.

New research shows the nation’s manufacturing activity fell in November to a 26-year low.

The Institute for Supply Management, a purchasing management group based in Tempe, Ariz., said Monday its manufacturing index declined from a reading of 38.9 in October to 36.2 in November.

It was the lowest reading for the index since May 1982. Any reading below 50 shows manufacturing activity is shrinking.

A reading below 41 typically is associated with a recession in the broader economy. The National Bureau of Economic Research said Monday the U.S. economy is, in fact, in a recession.

The part of the index that measures prices paid by manufacturers for raw materials plummeted 11.2 points in November, to 25.5. It was the lowest reading in nearly 60 years, since it registered 20.1 in May 1949.

The index also showed new orders for manufactured goods fell 4.3 points, to a reading of 27.9 in November. New orders have declined for 12 months in a row.

The U.S. economy has been in a recession for all of 2008, the National Bureau of Economic Research said Monday.

The Cambridge, Mass.-based organization dates business cyces, basing its decisions on the consensus of economists. The current recession declaration follows a conference call Friday, the NBER said in its statement Monday.

The expansion that ended in December 2007 began in November 2001, the NBER said.

The NBER based its conclusion in large part on measures of gross domestic product and gross domestic income.

The organization said in its statement Monday: “Many of these indicators, including monthly data on the largest component of GDP, consumption, have declined sharply in recent months.”

After a bump in automobile-mileage deduction rates for the second half of the year, the Internal Revenue Service is lowering some rates for 2009 to coincide with falling gasoline prices.

The 2009 rates, used to calculate the deductible costs of operating an automobile for business, medical or moving purposes, are slightly lower than rates for the second half of 2008, which were raised in response to a spike in pump prices, the IRS said. The standard rate for business use beginning in January will be 55 cents a mile, down from 58.5 cents since July.

When the mid-year deduction rate took effect, a gallon of gas cost an average of $4.05, up nearly $1 from the beginning of the year, according to data from the Energy Information Administration.

Prices in recent months have plunged, falling to a national average of $1.82 a gallon Monday.

Other standard mileage rates set to take effect Jan. 1 are:

• 24 cents a mile for medical or moving purposes, down from 27 cents since July.

• 14 cents for miles driven in service of charitable organizations, unchanged.

In addition to gasoline prices, the mileage rate takes into account other fixed and variable costs, such as depreciation. For information, visit www.irs.gov.

Iverson Language Associates of Milwaukee said Monday it has finalized a merger with TransPerfect, the world’s largest privately-held provider of language services.

Iverson Language Associates Inc. will become a division of TransPerfect and will continue to operate in its current office on Milwaukee’s east side. All full-time employees are expected to remain with the company.

Founder Steven Iverson will join the TransPerfect senior management team, while continuing to lead Iverson Language Associates. Iverson founded the Milwaukee firm in 1986. In August, the company was named for the second time to Inc. Magazine’s 5,000 Fastest Growing Private Companies list.

Last week Iverson Language Associates promoted company veteran Hélène Pielmeier to the role of chief operating officer.

“I am very pleased that this business I founded 22 years ago is entering a new chapter and I am very optimistic about our future together,” Iverson said.

TransPerfect will provide Iverson Language Associates access to the resources of a “truly global organization,” Iverson said.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

TransPerfect, which is headquartered in New York City, will record 2008 revenue exceeding $200 million and has more than 1,000 full-time employees.

Wisconsin residents overwhelmingly oppose raising taxes on businesses, a new survey of statewide policy issues found.

The survey, commissioned by the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute Inc., found 73 percent of people oppose raising taxes on business profits, while 19 percent supported a tax increase.

Geographically, most of the support for raising taxes came from central and western Wisconsin with 58 percent of responds living in Madison and La Crosse.

Only 10 percent of Republicans favored raising taxes on businesses, while 25 percent of Democrats agreed.

Ideologically, 31 percent of people who labeled themselves as liberal said they would favor raising taxes on businesses, whereas only 9 percent of conservatives agreed with that.

The survey was conducted on Nov. 9 and 10 of 600 Wisconsin residents by telephone and has a 4 percent margin of error.

Located in Thiensville, the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute was established in 1987 to examine issues of public policy facing Wisconsin, using a nonpartisan approach.

Diversified Research, Irvington, N.Y., conducted the survey.

Federal bailouts, equity buys into banks and investment houses, liquidity infusions by the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank, loan guarantees and economic stimulus checks now total $8.5 trillion, according to various estimates.

That equates to about 60 percent of U.S. gross domestic product, which will come in around $14 trillion, according to economists.

The $8.5 trillion total in bailouts is nearly twice the size of annual GDP in Japan and accounts for more than the annual GDP of every national economy except the U.S., European Union and China, according to federal data.

The $8.5 trillion includes the $700 billion bank and Wall Street bailout; federal takeovers of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, individualized bailouts for Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) and American International Group Inc. (NYSE:AIG); and various cash infusions into financial and lending markets by the Fed. The $700 billion includes federal equity buys into Bank of America Corp. (NYSE:BAC), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) and other financial institutions.

General Growth Properties Inc., owner of Mayfair Mall in Wauwatosa, has received a two-week extension on $900 million in mortgage loans that came due on Friday.

The company says it is seeking a longer-term extension.

In mid November, General Growth said it might seek bankruptcy protection from its creditors as it sought to refinance its debt.

Last week, General Growth disclosed that New York-based hedge-fund manager Pershing Square Capital Management bought 20.1 million shares of General Growth stock, giving it a 7.5 percent stake in the company. Pershiing Square also has options on an additional 33.4 million shares for a total stake of a nearly 20 percent.

Chicago-based General Growth (NYSE:GGP) owns about 200 malls nationwide.

Well, it's here -- the final day for submitting nominations for The Business Journal's 2009 Forty under 40 awards program is today, Dec. 1.

The Business Journal will publish its annual Forty under 40 section on March 6, 2009. The section profiles Milwaukee-area individuals under the age of 40 who are making a difference in their professions and communities. Past winners of this prestigious award include Laurie Bebo, president and CEO of Assisted Living Concepts; Milwaukee philanthropist Chris Abele; Andrew Petzold, president of Concord Development; and Julie Krey, vice president-U.S. finance at Manpower Inc.

Eligible candidates will not have turned 40 before March 6, 2009, and must work within Milwaukee, Kenosha, Ozaukee, Racine, Washington or Waukesha counties. Send nominations to Todd Bragstad at tbragstad@bizjournals.com or visit our Web site at http://www.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/nomination/1214 to fill out a nomination form.

Sorry, but we will not be able to accept nominations after today. Questions? Call Todd Bragstad at 414-908-0575.

Roundy’s Supermarkets Inc. will close its Copps Food Center in the northern Wisconsin community of Hurley.

The Milwaukee-based grocery chain, which runs Pick ‘n Save in southeast Wisconsin, said the closing will result in the permanent layoff of 29 full-time and 27 part-time employees for a total of 56 affected workers by January 28, 2009.

Roundy’s filed a closing notice Friday with the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development.

The state agency said that its regional partner, the Northwest Wisconsin Workforce Investment Board, is contacting Roundy’s officials and will provide services directly to the employees.

“The state stands ready to help these dislocated workers find new jobs or update skills and training so they can support themselves and their families,” the Department of Workforce Development sad in a statement.

Roundy’s owns and operates 152 retail grocery stores in Wisconsin and Minnesota under the Pick ‘n Save, Copps and Rainbow Foods banners, according to the company’s Web site. In addition, Roundy’s operates three distribution centers, all in Wisconsin.