Mayo Clinic won't take a position on the proposed amendment to the Minnesota Constitution that would define marriage as between one man and one woman. But its CEO has repeated its stand that everyone has to respect differences among staff and patients.

An obesity expert at Mayo Clinic has gotten behind New York City's controversial new ban on sugary beverages in containers bigger than 16 ounces, the Rochester Post-Bulletin reports. “Understandably, people don’t like being told what to eat, but a limit like that isn’t unreasonable,” Dr. Donald Hensrud, a Mayo endocrinologist, says.

Labor officials say Mayo discriminated against an employee who made legally protected complaints about safety issues. The Post-Bulletin says James Seehusen shared concerns with supervisors about a vehicle's safety as well as the company's failure to conduct regular inspections. Supervisors later suspended Seehusen, a move they say was unrelated to his complaints, but the judge said Mayo failed to prove that.

The Supreme Court sided unanimously with Mayo in a patent dispute with California-based Prometheus Laboratories. The clinic had used a blood test developed by Prometheus until 2004, when it developed its own in-house test. Prometheus sued for patent infringement, but Mayo argued that using test to measure a natural bodily process is not patent eligible.

The Post Bulletin reports the Rochester-based clinic plans to spend $3.5 billion on capital investments system-wide over the next five years. Sixty percent of that money will be used for equipment, researchers and technology. The remaining 40 percent will go towards construction projects.

The Post Bulletin reports the Rochester-based medical facility is requiring about 900 desk employees to wear black pants and light-blue shirts, instead of scrubs. Employees have voiced frustrations, despite Mayo willing to reimburse workers for the new uniforms.

Rochester-based Mayo will share the grant money from the U.S. Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation to fund health-reform efforts aimed at improving patient care and management. Mayo Clinic expects the $60 million taxpayer investment to generate nearly $173 million in savings. The Post Bulletin has details on the three projects funded by the grant.