Minneapolis group seeks to get homeless into permanent housing: The business and faith communities in downtown Minneapolis have formed a partnership to get 150 people out of homeless shelters and into permanent housing by early next year. The Currie Avenue Partnership — forged between the Minneapolis Downtown Council and Downtown Congregations to End Homelessness — is seeking to raise $350,000 by the end of the year. The plan is to use the money to pay for 10 new case workers. Read full story

Holiday visitor traffic up at Mall of America: The Mall of America says visitor numbers appear to be up.  As the weeks go by, people seem to be buying more, too. The Bloomington mall said that staffers saw sharp increases in the number of shopping bags per guest when they compared Saturday, Dec. 12, to Saturday, Dec. 5. Read full story

Need Magazine to close in January: Need Magazine — a Minneapolis-based quarterly magazine that said it wasn’t “out to save the world, but to tell the stories of those who are” — is closing its doors. The husband-and-wife team of Kelly and Stephanie Kinnunen, who started the magazine in 2006, said that they hadn’t been able to secure the subscribers, advertising sponsors or investors it needed to continue. Read full story

Bureau of Economic Analysis revises third-quarter real GDP downward: The nation’s gross domestic product rose at a lower annual rate in the third quarter than previously estimated, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reports. The most recent estimate — an annual rate of 2.2 percent — revises a previous estimate of a 2.8 percent increase from the second quarter, the BEA said. Read full story

Seven keeps its Skybar open for winter: Who says Minnesotans have to eat indoors in the winter? The downtown Minneapolis restaurant Seven says its rooftop Skybar will stay open. The sushi bar and steak house recently constructed a canopy covering a portion of the 6,000-square-foot Skybar. Seven owner David Koch claims the exterior fireplaces and heating units will help keep the summer feel going through the winter. Read full story