By JACKIE CROSBY, Minneapolis Star Tribune

The incidence of heart attacks and sudden deaths has fallen nearly in half since smoking bans took effect in southeastern Minnesota, according to new research from the Mayo Clinic.

The clinic said the data bolsters its fight to rid the nation's workplaces of second-hand smoke. It found a 45 percent decline in heart attacks and cardiac deaths.

In its first foray outside U.S. borders, Target Corp. is catapulting into the back yard of our neighbor to the north.

The Minneapolis-based retailer said on Thursday that it plans to open 100 to 150 stores in Canada over a two-year period starting in 2013.

With its sales lagging, Best Buy Co. Inc. is trying to lure consumers who may be putting off buying a new iPad, 3D television or other high-tech gadget for fear they'll soon become outdated.

The Richfield, Minn.-based retailer on Monday announced a new buyback program it said would act as a protection plan to give consumers a hedge against obsolescence.

SAINT PAUL, Minn. - Karla Rendon stood in front of the vending machine at Maplewood Mall in Saint Paul, Minn., staring at an assortment of items -- diapers, baby wipes, sippy cups, bottles, grape juice and diaper rash ointment.

Just what a mother shopping with her 13-month-old baby needed.

As the wealth of middle-class consumers hemorrhaged during the Great Recession, so did the retailers that catered to them.

Circuit City, Linens 'N' Things, KB Toys and Levitz Furniture have disappeared, while Starbucks, Blockbuster, Ann Taylor, Gap and Ritz Camera have closed hundreds of stores.

Robert Stephens recalls with precision the night he signed the deal that would put his sassy start-up, Geek Squad, under the massive corporate umbrella of Best Buy. Parked in an alley outside the lawyers' office in downtown Minneapolis, Stephens and his mentor, Platinum Group founder Dean Bachelor, toasted the future with a $400 bottle of champagne.

Most people want to sidle up to Oprah. Cinda Baxter took her on.

"Oprah, you've got it wrong," Baxter lashed out in a blog entry that would launch a thousand e-mails and a new business venture.

Need a holiday gift? There's an app for that.

Social media has become the newest holiday strategy for some retailers, who are hoping the technology can bring some luster to their efforts to reach customers who are holding tight to their money this year.

If you're hoping to pad your wallet by getting a part-time job for the holidays, good luck. Retailers are planning a conservative little Christmas when it comes to hiring seasonal workers.

They want to work when it's convenient to their lives -- not punch in at some 9-to-5 job and be stuck sitting in a cubicle. They relish a challenge more than a paycheck, and resent it when bosses look over their shoulders or fail to reward them for a job well done.