Twin Cities building activity picks up in June: Home building activity in the Twin Cities picked up slightly in June, compared with the same period last year. Builders pulled 246 permits for 341 housing units during the month, up from 238 permits for 332 housing units in the same month of 2009. The number of permits pulled year-to-date is up 62 percent, compared with the year-ago period, according to the Builders Association of the Twin Cities. Read full story

Wings Financial Credit Union merges with Highgrove: Minnesota’s largest credit union, Wings Financial, has reached a deal to merge with Highgrove Community Federal Credit Union. Apple Valley-based Wings Financial is the state’s largest credit union, with about $2.7 billion in assets and 126,000 members. Highgrove, based in St. Paul, has $41 million in assets and 8,600 members. The combined institution will operate under the Wings Financial name. Read full story

Best Buy ups dividend by 7 percent: Best Buy is raising its quarterly dividend by 7 percent to 15 cents per share, the retailer announced Thursday. Previously, Best Buy’s dividend totaled 14 cents per share. Read full story

NBC won’t sell stake in ValueVision: NBC Universal won’t sell its stake in ValueVision Media after all, the company announced Thursday. Eden Prairie-based ValueVision, which operates the ShopNBC home-shopping network, reported in May that NBC planned to sell its 20 percent stake in the company. Read full story