Minneapolis Business News - Local Minneapolis News | The Minneapolis / St Paul Business Journal

Margaret Cargill named America's most-generous donor

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 20:39:37 +0000

A $6 billion bequest by the late Margaret A. Cargill was the largest charitable donation last year, according to a study of America’s Top 50 donors by The Chronicle of Philanthropy. Cargill’s largess constituted 57 percent of the $10.4 billion given by America’s wealthy in 2011 — up from $3.3 billion in 2010. Cargill, an heir of the Cargill Inc. fortune, left all her shares of Cargill stock to be split between the Anne Ray Charitable Trust and the Margaret A. Cargill Foundation when she died in 2006...

Steve Jobs' FBI file; Kodak to stop making digital cameras

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 20:13:01 +0000

(image) Steve Jobs' FBI file notes drug use, lying (Bloomberg) Minnesota expects up to $280 million from national mortgage relief deal (Star Tribune) Apple's iPad3 expected to be unveiled next month (San Jose Business Journal) The future cemetery: Invisible tombstones? (Portfolio) Kodak to stop making digital cameras (Reuters) Post Office lost $3.3 billion in first quarter as mail volume dropped 6 percent (Reuters) Top 10 counterfeit goods (CNN) Which credit card rewards does the IRS care about? (Daily Finance)

One lawmaker bets you'll drive to Duluth to watch Vikings

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 20:04:45 +0000

(image) Is Duluth about to become the new Green Bay of the NFL? In the latest of what seems like a bajillion stadium plans, a Duluth legislature presented a plan to Gov. Mark Dayton Thursday for building a new home for the Minnesota Vikings in the northeastern Minnesota city. The Duluth News Tribune reports that Sen. Roger Reinert, a DFLer, is proposing a Vikings stadium on a 500-acre site at a former U.S. Steel plant along the St. Louis River on the city's western edge. “If all this does is enhance Duluth as a prime (tourist) destination, then I’m fine with that,” Reinert said...

Hecker moved to more secure prison

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:25:42 +0000

(image) Imprisoned former auto dealer Denny Hecker has been moved to a medium-security prison in Wisconsin, possibly because authorities think he is a flight risk or a person who hasn't obeyed phone rules. The Pioneer Press reports that Hecker, 59, was moved from a minimum-security prison in Duluth to a prison in Oxford, Wis., which is about 60 miles north of Madison. The Duluth facility has no perimeter fencing and is considered one of the lowest-security facilities in the federal prison system. There were reports earlier this week that Hecker had lost phone and library privileges at the Duluth prison...

U-M is a national Top 20 spender on sports at $79 million

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:24:40 +0000

(image) The University of Minnesota ranks 20th in the nation in how much it spends on athletics, according to a new report. The Gophers spent $79 million on athletics last year, which was sixth in the Big 10, according to data compiled by the Memphis Business Journal. Joel Maturi, who has been responsible for the Gophers' athletic budget for the past decade, announced last week he was retiring June 30. The university is looking for his replacement. Click here to read John Vomhof Jr.'s take on the kind of job Maturi has done over the last 10 years...

How patent law changes are impacting startups

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:24:01 +0000

Will last year’s overhaul of the patent system help or hurt startups? The New York Times takes a look at the issue in a story published Wednesday. The paper interviewed several entrepreneurs and a few experts, including Minneapolis-based Fish & Richardson lawyer John Dragseth. The most significant piece of the overhaul is the move toward a “first-to-file” model. Patent protection was previously reserved for the company that first came up with an idea. Now, protection goes to the business that’s first to file a patent application with the government...

Minnesota Bank & Trust builds new mortgage unit

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 17:49:13 +0000

Minnesota Bank & Trust is building a residential mortgage group, the Edina lender said in a Thursday news release. The bank is hiring 20 mortgage lenders and other personnel to be led by Regional Manager Brett Toyne, who has already recruited Area Sales Manager Mark Kurth from San Francisco-based Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) and Private Mortgage Banking Manager Denny Bennett from Bridgewater, N.J.-based MetLife Bank to help him lead the group. The mortgage business will provide standard and specialty residential mortgage products and services...

Universal Hospital Services hires new president

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 14:53:08 +0000

(image) Growing medical-equipment provider Universal Hospital Services Inc. (UHS) said Thursday it has named William Mixon as its president. Edina-based UHS said Mixon will report directly to CEO Gary Blackford and will be responsible for the company's marketing and sales efforts. Mixon served as CEO at Falls Church, Va.-based US Investigations Services (USIS), which provides background investigations to the federal government, from August 2008 through November 2011. Before joining USIS in 2005, he was an executive at Philips Healthcare for about 11 years...

UnitedHealth raises profit goal after XLHealth deal closes

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 14:52:22 +0000

(image) UnitedHealth Group Inc. said Thursday that its purchase of XLHealth Corp. will add $2 billion to UnitedHealth's 2012 revenues and 5 cents to its profit per share. Minnetonka-based UnitedHealth (NYSE: UNH) said it now projects a per-share profit of $4.60 to $4.80 this year. That's up from earlier estimates of $4.55 to $4.75 per share. UnitedHealth restated its projections while announcing in a news release that it had completed the purchase of Baltimore-based XLHealth, which focuses on Medicare recipients with chronic illnesses and other special needs...

Curtis Carlson Nelson will stay millions in debt

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 13:21:40 +0000

(image) Curtis Carlson Nelson agreed to waive the opportunity to have his debts discharged during a court hearing Wednesday, effectively keeping the former Carlson Cos. executive on the hook for $41 million — at least for now. The Star Tribune reports on the hearing, which was something of a formality. The Business Journal reported in December that Carlson Nelson had stopped his bid to shed the debts. Carlson Nelson once was chief operating officer at the Minnetonka-based hospitality business started by his grandfather, but was fired in 2006 by his mother and then-CEO Marylin Carlson Nelson...

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