Over the next three years, the program-"Pathways to Business Growth"-will give participating companies the tools to find new markets, customers, ideas, and products.

Personal bankruptcies in Minnesota increased in 2010, a trend experienced nationwide as families work to cope with unemployment and a struggling housing market.

In addition to the layoffs, Tyco Electronics is planning to relocate the remaining 200 employees at the former ADC Telecommunications headquarters in Eden Prairie to the Shakopee facility.

A new effort to attract businesses to downtown Duluth will award two businesses with free rent for a year, an advertising package, a loan, start-up business consulting, and more.

Christi Rowan, meanwhile, is requesting a sentence at the lower end of the zero- to six-month range she faces under federal guidelines.

Dennis Pap admitted in federal court to stealing approximately $1.8 million from two entities for which his firm provided agricultural insurance services.

The Minneapolis-based bank acquired First Community Bank, which was closed Friday by New Mexico regulators.

The company's first-ever Super Bowl spot will feature celebrities Ozzy Osbourne and Justin Bieber-and according to media reports, the 30-second ad will carry a price tag of roughly $3 million.

Shortly after wrapping up a criminal case surrounding several of the company's faulty defibrillators, the government has filed a related civil lawsuit.

A judge's ruling states that plans for the Central Corridor light-rail line don't adequately address the resulting loss in revenue to area businesses, but it is in the public interest to move the project forward.

A company spokesman said that the move will result in "some reduction in jobs," but a portion of the affected employees has already found other positions within the company.

Minneapolis is the first stop on a national tour that aims to help small- and medium-sized businesses break into new markets abroad.

According to the developer, the Ackerberg Group, the project is expected to be completed within a year.

Ten Caribbean nations are participating in the program, for which 3M automated a border-crossing process that enables faster and safer travel between them.

The state's rural phone companies say that cutting the "access charges" that they get from long-distance companies would force them to raise rates for consumers-but AT&T says those companies have to address a shrinking revenue stream anyway as mobile phone use displaces land lines.

Park State Bank, which operates branches in Duluth and Minneapolis, has agreed to comply with a consent order.