Target appoints U.S. Senate staffer as head lobbyist: Target Corp. has appointed a U.S. Senate staffer to be its next chief lobbyist. Matt Zabel, the chief of staff for Sen. John Thune, R-South Dakota, will become Target’s new vice president of government affairs. Zabel will be based in Washington, D.C., and will oversee teams in Minneapolis and D.C. He will replace Nate Garvis, Target’s longtime vice president of government affairs, who left the company in May. Read full story

Vascular Solutions misses Q2 EPS estimate: The stock of medical device manufacturer Vascular Solutions was trading down about 10 percent in early trading today, after the company reported earnings per share that were one cent below analysts’ consensus estimates. Charles Haaf, senior equity research analyst at Minneapolis-based Dougherty & Co. blamed the stock’s drop on a bad reaction to the company missing its estimates. Vascular Solutions blamed the penny-per-share miss on one-time FDA costs of about $250,000 that it incurred during the quarter that they weren’t expecting. Read full story

Strong Mosaic Q4 points to industry recovery: The Mosaic Co. earned $396.1 million, or 89 cents per share, in its fiscal fourth quarter ended May 31, beating analysts’ estimates by 2 pennies as its CEO said the industry was recovering. Fourth-quarter sales were $1.9 billion, a 17 percent increase from $1.6 billion in the same period last year. Read full story

Liz Claiborne outlet in Albertville to close: Liz Claiborne Inc. is planning to close its Liz Claiborne outlet store in Albertville, along with all 86 of its other its outlet stores around the country. The New York-based apparel retailer announced this week it will close its name-brand outlet stores to cut losses and redirect capital. Read full story