St. Cloud officials are expected to officially announce new flights to the Phoenix/Mesa area in Arizona on Thursday, the St. Cloud Times reports. The Greater St. Cloud Development Corp. has been trying to lure a new airline to the Central Minnesota airport for more than a year. Al Kremers, chairman of the GSDC Air Service Corps. tells the newspaper, “It’s not Chicago, but we were looking for business and leisure travel carriers to come in and out of St. Cloud and this is a step in that direction."

Police in St. Cloud are searching for a pair of thieves -- who they say, stole more than $3,500 worth of equipment from a locker room at St. Cloud State University over the weekend.

1,400 new construction jobs in the Twin Cities made for a three percent increase compared to a year earlier. While Rochester held steady, Duluth and St. Cloud saw declines of six and two percent, respectively.

Roughly a dozen new apartment projects are adding hundreds of units in central Minnesota, the St. Cloud Times reports. It is part of the nationwide trend of more people turning to multifamily housing.

The regional carrier will begin offering non-stop flights from the Central Minnesota airport to Phoenix/Mesa Gateway Airport in December, according to the St. Cloud Times. The newspaper notes the St. Cloud airport has not had commercial air service since December 2009 when Delta stopped its regional flights to the Twin Cities.

The Calgary, Alberta-based petroleum pipeline company is expanding its operations in the Twin Ports region. A company spokeswoman told the News Tribune it already has more than 550 employees and contractors. She says the new professional positions will include civil, electrical and environmental engineers and safety specialists.

The Greater St. Cloud Development Corporation hopes to raise $5 million for the effort. The idea is to attract an airline that would operate flights between St. Cloud and O'Hare Airport twice a day.