St. Paul's Ford plant and state officials apparently got so many calls from recruiters that they set up a job fair. The Star Tribune says 3M, trucking companies, temp agencies and many others showed up to talk to the hundreds of workers about to lose their jobs. Ford is closing the plant Dec. 22nd.

Company officials say they'll be cleaning up the site and going through environmental reviews before they can put the property on the market. About 800 workers will lose their jobs when the plant closes next month.

The Pioneer Press reports Ford officials have set Dec. 19 as the close date for their assembly plant in St. Paul. The closing impacts nearly 800 workers. Ford has planned to close the plant for some time, but has delayed setting a shutdown date.

St. Paul's Ford plant finally closed its doors last month. But, many of the workers that powered that plant for years are having trouble finding work that pays as well as Ford did. The Associated Press talks with union leaders who worry that many of the laid off workers at the plant waited too long to begin looking for new jobs.

The Post Bulletin reports Rochester Public Utilities officials could decide to shut down some or all of the generators. Another option is converting the generators from coal to natural gas. RPU just completed a nearly $40 million upgrade to keep its newest generator in compliance with new EPA regulations.

While a discrimination case against a Le Center food manufacturing plant is just getting started, another state agency is trying to determine whether the estimated 40 Somali workers who claim discrimination led to their departure from the business are eligible for unemployment benefits.

Workers at the Hormel Foods plant in Austin are being screened for tuberculosis after one employee there was identified with the contagious disease, KAAL TV reports. Tuberculosis is a health issue for the workers at the plant, but not a threat to food safety, the station reports.

The job cuts are part of 800 layoffs around the country. Most of the Minnesota job cuts will occur at the grocery giant's corporate offices in Eden Prairie, though some workers at distribution centers and Cub Foods offices will also get pink slips. Store-level employees are not included in the downsizing.