Out of the top 108 cities in the United States, 98 charge consumers more in sales taxes than residents of Milwaukee pay, according to a report from the Tax Foundation. The city of Milwaukee's 5.6 percent sales tax – consisting of a 5 percent state tax and 0.6 percent Milwaukee County, tourism and stadium district tax – ranks 99th in the country among the largest cities in the country. Madison ranks 100th with a 5.5 percent sales tax. After that, sales tax rates drop to 5 percent, a rate shared... ... Read More

The state of Wisconsin gained 8,300 jobs from January to February, including 4,000 new private-sector jobs, the state Department of Workforce Development said Thursday. The state unemployment rate remained at 6.9 percent. National joblessness was at 8.3 percent for the month of February. Both figures are adjusted for seasonality. “Wisconsin’s preliminary February unemployment rate remains below 7 percent, the lowest it’s been since December of 2008, and well below the national rate,” DWD... ... Read More

MILWAUKEE — The moment Master Lock was mentioned in President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address, company executives had to have a sense a presidential visit was a possibility. It will be on Wednesday.

President Obama will tour the Master Lock plant and speak to workers. He’ll commend the company for bringing jobs back to this country from China.

Master Lock CEO John Heppner says he never expected the attention his company is gaining.

“Absolutely not. It’s been great to have that type of notoriety,” said Heppner. “We just wanted to deliver for our employees because they’re the ones that worked so hard to make this plant more competitive and that’s something we’ll continue through 2012 this year and again into 2013.”

Heppner says big things are planned for Master Lock in the coming years. What exactly that will be is still under lock and key.