Employment slips in Twin Cities, other large labor markets: Private-sector employment declined in January in all of America’s 100 biggest labor markets, including the Twin Cities, according to figures released Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Los Angeles had the worst decline in raw numbers, losing 226,100 private-sector jobs between January 2009 and the same month this year. Wichita was hit with the worst drop in percentage terms, falling 7.7 percent during the past 12 months. Read full story

Minnesota exports down 6.3 percent in Q4: Minnesota manufacturers exported $3.9 billion in products in the fourth quarter of 2009, down 6.3 percent from the same quarter a year before, according to statistics released today by the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development. The decline, though, was not as bad as the double-digit percentage drops that the state experienced in the first three quarters of the 2009. Read full story

More senior housing under construction in Twin Cities: More senior housing is going up in Edina. It’s but another example of how assisted living and other senior housing is a bright spot for the construction industry as it emerges from the recession. Early this month, Fairview Health Services’ Ebenezer Management Services broke ground on the $17 million, 111,000-square-foot York Gardens. Hopkins-based Frana Cos. is the general contractor, and St. Paul-based Pope Associates is the architect for the project, expected to open in April 2011. Read full story

Dispute between Medafor, CryoLife heats up: A month after Medafor Inc. rebuffed a major distributor’s attempts to buy it, the Brooklyn Center-based medical technology firm has ended its distribution agreement with the company. Medafor said it has informed Kennesaw, Ga.-based CryoLife that it hasn’t properly performed its obligations under the two companies’ distribution agreement and that it would terminate the agreement and seek damages. Read full story