Marketing chief Michael Francis is leaving Target and will become president of J.C. Penney. Francis has been overseeing Target's plans to expand in Canada, where the company hopes to start opening stores in 2013.

Following a review by the Canadian government to see whether Target's "cultural" sales contain enough Canadian content, the Minnesota-based retailer Friday was given an OK to open stores in the country. With the approval, Target plans to open at least 125 stores in Canada starting next March.

McNeilus Steel, based in Dodge Center, Minn., has broken ground on its 96,000-square-foot expansion in Fond du Lac. General Manager Greg Head tells the Reporter the coil processing facility will also add 50 jobs within the next five years. The $15 million plant expansion is expected to be complete by next summer.

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency approved water quality permits needed for the expansion of the U.S. Steel plant. The $300 million expansion is estimated to create 500 construction jobs followed by 120 permanent jobs.

The Minneapolis-based company plans to hire up to 200 people at each Canadian location. Target is getting ready to open more than 120 stores in Canada next year, with the first 12 in Quebec.

The institute says the $27 million expansion will create 125 high-paying jobs. The Austin Port Authority would pay for half of the expansion and lease it back to the institute. The other half would be paid through state bonding funds.

The Valspar Corp., a maker of paints and industrial coatings, plans to spend $30 million to expand its research and development campus at its former headquarters building in downtown Minneapolis, the Pioneer Press reports. The project is expected to create up to 135 new full-time jobs over the next two-years. It will also add 87,000-square-feet of laboratory, meeting and office space. The expansion is scheduled to be finished by early 2014.