General Mills, Andrew Zimmern Announce ‘Munchies’ Winners

Twenty winners in three groups were chosen.

Golden Valley-based General Mills and TV personality Andrew Zimmern on Wednesday announced the winners of “The Munchies: People’s Choice,” according to a news release. Zimmern and an expert panel of 26 “celebrity chowhounds” first selected a list of nominees for the second-annual competition. People could then vote on those nominees. A total of 20 winners in three groups—“Terrific Tastemakers, Best Bites and Delicious Destinations”—were selected. *** Terrific Tastemakers Best Bites Delicious Destinations  

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WATCH: General Mills VP Named to MNsure Board

Tom Forsythe will serve on the board overseeing the new state-run health insurance marketplace.

Gov. Mark Dayton on Tuesday named General Mills’ vice president of global communications as one of six appointees to a board that will oversee the new state-run health insurance marketplace. Tom Forsythe has been with the Golden Valley-based company for more than two decades, according to Politics in Minnesota. He’s also been on the boards of the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce and Twin Cities Public Television. Forsythe and others on the board will oversee the new MNsure health insurance exchange that will manage health care coverage for about 1.3 million Minnesotans under the federal Affordable Care Act. Enrollment begins Oct. 1. Coverage starts Jan. 1, 2014. Watch Dayton’s announcement of the MNsure board in the video above.

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General Mills Ranked as 33rd Best Corporate Citizen

Corporate Responsibility magazine chose the Golden Valley-based company for its annual list after grading corporations in seven categories.

Corporate Responsibility magazine ranked Golden Valley-based General Mills 33rd on its 100 Best Corporate Citizens 2013 list. The magazine scored companies in seven categories: General Mills scored highest in employee relations (in which it ranked 16th) and philanthropy (in which it ranked 22nd). Corporate Responsibility put the list together by reviewing publicly available data on Russell 1000 companies. Click here to see full details on the company’s methodology. The company was ranked 44th overall last year, Twin Cities Business reported. Click here to see the full list. Click here to read the Twin Cities Business story on the five Minnesota-based companies that made the list.

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Students Protest, Principal Out and Restaurant Unexpectedly Closes: Pick of Our Patches

This week's compilation includes the death of a grocery chain's namesake, Chelsea Clinton presents top prize to student and a manufactured home fire.

Editor’s Note: Every week we bring you a sampling of stories from Patch sites in the west metro: Eden Prairie, Edina, Fridley, Golden Valley, Hopkins, Lake Minnetonka, Maple Grove, Minnetonka, Plymouth, Richfield, Shakopee, Southwest Minneapolis, St. Louis Park and St. Michael. (UPDATED) Washburn HS under Code Yellow as Students Protest AD Firing Students taking part will be suspended, school administration said. The Star Tribune reported that Athletic Director Dan Pratt was or will be fired in connection with the purchase of a new playing-field scoreboard. UPDATED: SW Journal Reports Principal Carol Markham-Cousins Out at Washburn HS Robert McCauley is now substitute principal at Washburn, a Minneapolis school district spokesman told the …

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WATCH: General Mills Pledges $1M to Hunger-Free Minnesota

The pledge follows another $1 million the Golden Valley-based company made earlier.

Golden Valley-based General Mills has pledged $1 million to Hunger-Free Minnesota on top of $1 million it previously pledged to the statewide coalition, Minnesota Public Radio reported Thursday. Hunger-Free Minnesota is a group of 100 non-profits and corporations that aims to close Minnesota's gap of 100 million missing meals a year by 2015. General Mills CEO Ken Powell told MPR that Hunger-Free Minnesota has done a good job at increasing donations to food shelves and increasing food stamp enrollment. Click here to read the full story. In related news, Hunger-Free Minnesota announced recently that Second Harvest Heartland Food Bank of St. Paul and Golden Valley received one of 20 grants the organization awarded with funding from General …

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General Mills Among '38 Things Minnesotans Are Too Nice to Brag About'

The list singled out the Golden Valley-based company’s cereal.

Cereal takes its place beside tater tots, Bob Dylan and butter sculptures in one of BuzzFeed's trademark lists: 38 Things Minnesotans Are Too Nice to Brag About. The list puts cereal from Golden Valley-based General Mills—“The Best Breakfast Cereal,” according to Buzzfeed—as No. 19 on its list of things that make Minnesota great. See all 38 things here.

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What Would General Mills Be Without The Mills?

One analyst wonders if the Golden Valley-based company is preparing to spin off its flour milling business.

What Would General Mills Be Without The Mills?

One analyst wonders if the Golden Valley-based company is preparing to spin off its flour milling business.

A Bank of America-Merrill Lynch analyst is asking whether General Mills would consider spinning off the flour milling operation that links the Golden Valley-based company to its 19th century roots, the Pioneer Press reported Wednesday. Rivals have done something with their milling operations, which have low profit margins, and analyst Bryan Spillane wondered if there was anything keeping General Mills from doing the same thing. Check out the full story on the Pioneer Press.

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General Mills Partners with Coborn's to Deliver Betty Crocker Meals

The Minneapolis St. Paul Business Journal reported that the Golden Valley-based company will begin producing frozen meals for CobornsDelivers.

According to an article published Monday, Mar. 11, The Minneapolis St. Paul Business Journal reported that General Mills will work with Coborn's Inc. on a new pilot line of frozen Betty Crocker meals. Writer Mark Reilly sourced the Star Tribune, saying that General Mills has developed 25 meals under the “Betty Crocker banner.” Meals include comfort food like pot roast. “The key thing we are trying to do here is learn,” Martin Abrams, a General Mills marketing director, told the Star Tribune. “We haven’t done something like this on a major scale in the past.” To read the full Minneapolis St. Paul Business Journal article, click here. To read on the in Star Tribune, click here.

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Recap of Business Woes and Successes at General Mills

The Star Tribune reports that while some General Mills business is thriving, the company is working to "correct missteps in other key areas."