Minnesota Commerce Department seeds $5M for St. Paul energy program: The Minnesota Department of Commerce announced that it is providing $5 million to the St. Paul Port Authority to kick off a revolving-loan fund for energy-efficiency improvements in commercial and industrial buildings. The program is being funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, also known as the 2009 federal stimulus bill. Read full story

Petters sentencing scheduled March 10: Tom Petters, a former Minneapolis businessman, will be sentenced March 10 at 9:30 a.m., following his December conviction for running a $3.6 billion Ponzi scheme. The sentencing will be overseen by U.S. District Judge Richard Kyle. Read full story

Ryan and Corval announce joint venture: Ryan Cos. US Inc. and Corval Group Inc. have formed a joint venture focused on building industrial gas projects in North America. Minneapolis-based Ryan is one of the largest general contractors and developers in the state. It had about $750 million in revenue last year and has about 690 employees. Corval Group, based in St. Paul is a mechanical contractor that had about 750 employees and $150 million in annual sales Read full story

Med tech firm Disc Dynamics shutting down: A decade-old medical technology startup called Disc dynamics has closed its doors and is selling off its assets, according to reports. The Eden Prairie-based company was developing a treatment for lower back pain but never got its product approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Read full story

Target gift cards now can be mobile: Target Corp. customers will be able to save their gift-card information online, letting them use their Web-connected cell phones to pay at the cash register. The Minneapolis-based retailer today announced the launch of the Target Mobile GiftCard, which allows customers to save gift card information to a secure account on the Target.com mobile site. Read full story