NWA applies for new Detroit-China routes

Northwest Airlines said it asked the U.S. Transportation Department on Monday for permission to fly from Detroit to Shanghai and Beijing, possibly with new Boeing Co. 787 airplanes it has ordered. Eagan-based Northwest said it could start service "right away." If the routes aren't permitted until 2009, Northwest said it would use the new Boeing planes for those flights. New China flights are being made available under an aviation accord reached in May between the United States and China. The awards for all 56 flights will be made at once, the DOT said in June without giving a timetable. FDA approves Medtronic neck disk

Medtronic Inc. said Monday U.S. regulators approved its artificial cervical disk to relieve neck pain, allowing some patients to avoid surgery and preserve range of motion. The Prestige Cervical Disk is the first artificial disk available for sale in the U.S. for use in the neck, Fridley-based Medtronic said. The device, made of steel, cushions the tissue between vertebrae in the neck. It relieves what can be "intolerable" pain in the neck or arms, the company said. Medtronic agreed, as part of the approval by the Food and Drug Administration, to conduct a seven-year study after the Prestige reaches the market to evaluate safety and effectiveness in the long term.Minnesota 9th in high-tech exports

Minnesota exported $6.2 billion in high-tech goods last year, finishing ninth among states for technology exports, according to a survey released today by the AeA, the nation's largest technology trade association. The state's two leading exports were in the categories of computers and peripheral equipment, with $1.8 billion, and electromedical equipment with $1.4 billion in exports, according to the AeA's Trade in the Cyberstates 2007 report. Nationwide, high-tech exports totaled $220.2 billion last year, which was up 10.5 percent from 2005's $199.3 billion, the AeA reported. California led the states with $51.8 billion in high-tech exports, followed by Texas with $38.6 billion and Florida with $12.4 billion.Most of state's topsoil short of moisture

More than two-thirds of the topsoil in the state was short or very short of moisture last week, according to the weekly crop and weather report from the Minnesota field office of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Moisture supplies in the northwest and southwest corners of the state were generally adequate but, in the state as a whole, 68 percent of the cropland was too dry, the report said. Fifty percent of the corn crop was in good or excellent condition and 61 percent of the corn acreage was silking, more than the 17 percent for the five-year average for that week. For soybeans, 53 percent of the crop was in good or excellent condition and 65 percent were blooming, compared with 50 percent for the five-year average.

NAMES

UnitedHealth Group, Minnetonka, named Judah Sommer senior vice president, government affairs, effective July 30. Sommer formerly was with Goldman Sachs & Co. ... EBay Inc. said Monday it named former U.S. Bancorp chief financial officer David Moffett to its board. He will serve on eBay's audit committee.

BRIEFLY

NightHawk Radiology Holdings Inc., Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, agreed to acquire the business services unit and a teleradiology subsidiary of St. Paul Radiology for $62.5 million in cash. St. Paul Radiology will have a warrant entitling it to buy 300,000 NightHawk shares ... Attorneys for the Pioneer Press and the Star Tribune filed written closing arguments Monday in their months-long battle over publisher Par Ridder's jump from St. Paul to the Minneapolis-based paper. Judge David Higgs is expected to rule later this summer. ... The Minneapolis Grain Exchange set yet another trading record, selling a membership for $170,000, the organization said Monday. The price tops the previous record of $140,000 set in June. ... The New York attorney general's office said Monday it has asked Minnetonka-based UnitedHealth Group's UnitedHealthcare unit not to introduce a doctor-rating system in New York that would rank physicians by quality and cost-effectiveness. ... St. Jude Medical, Little Canada, said it received Japanese regulatory approval for two cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillators. ... St. Paul-based Arkray USA Inc. said it has begun selling its PocketChem EZ blood-glucose monitoring system. The company received 510(k) clearance from the Food and Drug Administration to market the system earlier this year. ... Medwave Inc., Arden Hills, said that, beginning today, shares of its common stock will be quoted on the Pink Sheets, rather than the OTC Bulletin Board. The stock fell below the Nasdaq Capital Market's minimum bid price. ... Pronto Sports Inc., Andover, was named sole North American distributor for the Italian-based Fila in-line skate brand.

- Staff and wire reports