New Web site set to help Midwest compete globally

The Chicago Council on Global Affairs has launched a new Web site, globalmidwest.org, and blog, The Midwesterner, to connect individuals in the Midwest who are developing regional responses to today’s global challenges. Part of the Council’s Global Midwest Initiative, the site includes a calendar of events, links to critical reports covering global issues affecting the Midwest, and a database of experts and organizations undertaking work on key Midwest issues such as agriculture, economic development, energy and transportation.

“While Chicago seems to be thriving in a global era, much of the broader Midwestern region continues to struggle with the transition from an industrial past to a global future,” says Richard Longworth, a Chicago Council senior fellow, writer and lead blogger for the site. “What the Midwest needs, is a regional approach – new alliances that reach across state lines between cities, businesses, workers and universities to set a regional agenda and find regional solutions to the economic and political challenges of this new era.”

Also available on globalmidwest.org are the Council’s Heartland Papers, a new monograph series of original research that delves deeply into the challenges and opportunities of globalization for the Midwest, and Global Midwest Policy Briefs, short, timely briefs that offer policymakers recommendations for addressing some of the most pressing challenges facing the Midwest.

Oil Filters and Absorbents banned from Wisconsin landfills in 2010

A new bill signed into law on December 2 by Governor Jim Doyle prohibits the disposal of used automotive oil filters and materials that have been used to absorb spilled or used automotive engine oil from Wisconsin’s landfills. State Senator Sheila Harsdorf and Brian King, the president of Woodville-based CRI Recycling Service witnessed Governor Doyle’s ceremonial signing of the bill.

“I am pleased that we are taking additional steps to prevent oil from entering our landfills and ultimately getting into our water supply,” says Senator Harsdorf. “I have worked on this legislation for years, and believe new technologies make recycling oil filters and absorbents easier and more convenient.”

“This bill makes sure that material like oil filters and oil soaked mats and pads are not a risk to our groundwater, but instead, will be recovered in a safe manner and returned to our economy as recycled products,” adds Brian King of CRI Recycling, a pioneer in an oil and absorbent recycling service.

A 2008 study conducted by the University of Wisconsin-Extension Solid and Hazardous Waste Education Center found that approximately 11.4 million oil filters were sold in Wisconsin in 2007. Only 19 to 21 percent were recycled, potentially resulting in 900,000 gallons of waste oil being sent to landfills. An estimated 54.6 million pounds of oil absorbent material were sold in Wisconsin in 2007, but only 2.9 percent was recycled. The ban will take effect December 2010.

MOVERS

>> Discover Mediaworks has added sales professionals Dan Havens and Sydney Porter.

>> Godfrey & Kahn, S.C. has announced that James A. Friedman is the first Wisconsin attorney to be designated as an Accredited Insurance Receiver by the International Association of Insurance Receivers.

BUSINESS BRIEFS

NATIONWIDE: Baker Tilly Virchow Krause, LLP (Baker Tilly) and Beers + Cutler have merged, effective Dec. 1, 2009.  Beers + Cutler, based in the Washington, D.C. region, will serve as the firm’s east coast hub as Baker Tilly continues its national expansion. The combination of these two firms will result in a $250+ million firm with more than 1,400 team members, making it the 13th largest accounting and consulting firm in the United States. >> Aon Risk Services, the risk management and insurance brokerage business of Aon Corp., has announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Allied North America, one of the largest independent surety and construction insurance brokerage firms in the United States.

STATEWIDE: Nine industrial companies in Wisconsin will receive more than $14.5 million in energy grants to help the firms improve their energy efficiency.  Briggs and Stratton of Wauwatosa, Cambria-based Didion Milling, Domtar Paper of Rothschild, Kohler Co. in Kohler, NewPage in Wisconsin Rapids, Sussex-based Quad/Graphics, Thilmany Paper in Kaukauna and Wausau Paper Specialty Products of Mosinee and Rhinelander will each receive between approximately $500,000 and $5.5 million to help the companies complete energy efficiency improvements at their operations. The funding was provided from the U.S. Department of Energy through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

WAUKESHA: Neenah-based CRL Senior Living Communities opened its sixteenth community, Merrill Hills Manor, in Waukesha on November 19. Merrill Hills Manor is home to private and semi-private assisted living suites. The 111-bed community offers memory care for seniors with Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia.