A coalition of agriculture, mining, labor and business groups is urging the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to promptly review the proposed Sandpiper crude oil pipeline project.

The group includes the Minnesota Agri-Growth Council, Minnesota Chamber of Commerce, Iron Mining Association of Minnesota, Union of Plumbers, Fitters, Welders and Service Techs, Minnesota Forest Industries and the Minnesota Petroleum Council. The coalition wrote to the PUC last week urging regulators to select a route by next summer.

Enbridge Energy wants to build the $2.6 billion Sandpiper pipeline through northern Minnesota to carry North Dakota oil to a terminal in Superior, Wis., that feeds refineries across the Midwest. The company's preferred route crosses the headwaters of the Mississippi River, northern rivers, lakes and wetlands. North Dakota regulators have approved the project.

In September, the Minnesota PUC ordered studies of alternate routes proposed by state environmental agencies and environmental groups. The industry-labor group last week said most of the alternatives "don't even connect with the proposed delivery points."

"The pressure on Minnesota's rail system to deliver oil has clearly impacted other sectors of our economy," said Agri-Growth Executive Director Perry Aasness, citing a University of Minnesota study that says rail delays — caused at least partly by crude oil trains — are costing the Minnesota agricultural sector more than $100 million this year.

"Sandpiper will displace the equivalent of over 2,000 rail cars per day," added Bill Blazar, interim president of the Minnesota Chamber.

Twin Cities executives worked last week on two Habitat for Humanity houses under construction in north Minneapolis.

JAMF software expects conference will top record

Fast-growing JAMF Software, which started in 2002 as a small, Apple-only software developer, expects a record 1,300 attendees this week from 19 countries at its three-day JAMF Nation User Conference at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis.

"It's crazy that we are selling out the Guthrie," said JAMF co-CEO Chip Pearson. "Five years ago we had 100 people show up in rented space above a bar.

"They have to pay to get here, but the conference is free," he added "We turn it over to the audience, the users, to tell us what they are doing with JAMF software."

JAMF says the user conference "is the largest gathering of the Apple IT community in the world."

The attendees range in size and industry from Pixar to National Geographic to State Farm Insurance, SAP, Indiana University and the Hopkins School District. Pearson said the six-figure cost of the conference is underwritten by sponsors.

"I hate to say it's philanthropic but we don't get a direct economic benefit," he said. "But it's interesting to see what customers are doing. Indirectly over time that helps us out as a company."

JAMF got its start in 2002 when founder Zach Halmstad worked in desktop support at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. Frustrated by the lack of tools for tasks like managing passwords and security, even keeping track of computers, Halmstad started developing software to manage iMacs. JAMF, which has added 95 people over the past 12 months, employs nearly 350 in Minneapolis, Eau Claire, New York, Hong Kong and elsewhere.

CEOs labor for Habitat for Humanity

CEOs Jay Lund of Andersen Corp., Trudy Rautio of Carlson, Mike Hoffman of Toro and other Twin Cities executives worked last week with a soon-to-be Minneapolis homeowner at 3026 Logan Av. N. as part of Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity's 13th annual "CEO Build Day."

Habitat, which requires extensive homeowner education and sweat equity in return for a lower-cost house, builds about 55 new houses in the Twin Cities annually, including eight this year in north Minneapolis. Twin Cities Habitat crews also will renovate or repair about 125 homes this year.

Much of the work takes place in north Minneapolis, and Payne-Phalen, Frogtown and Rondo in St. Paul, Twin Cities neighborhoods that were hit hardest by the foreclosure crisis.

Twin Cities Habitat spokesman Matt Haugen said that the Habitat "ReStore" in New Brighton, which sells donated building materials, supplies and furniture, is turning a profit.

"Two years ago it was barely breaking even," Haugen said. "We overhauled the whole store and brought in new leadership. Sales have skyrocketed. It's forecast to bring in several hundred thousand dollars in profits this year to help us sponsor more homes." More information at www.tchabitat.org

SHORT TAKES:

• Attorneys for convicted Bixby Energy CEO Robert Walker have filed a notice of appeal with the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Defense attorney Aaron Morrison said he is challenging Walker's conviction on charges of fraud, tax evasion, conspiracy and witness tampering as well as Walker's 25-year prison sentence. A briefing schedule for the appeal has yet to be set.

A jury earlier this year found Walker guilty of defrauding investors out of $57 million on false and misleading promises about energy technology, including a process to convert coal into natural gas. The company folded in 2012.

• The first Radisson Red, Carlson's new hotel concept aimed at millennials, will open in 2016 — in China. The Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group said the 300-room Radisson Red Shenyang Hunnan in northeast China would be the first of 60 Red hotels scheduled to be built by 2020. The Red concept is modern in its design and focuses on personal interaction and technology. Carlson said half of its new Reds will be located in the Asia-Pacific region, a key growth area for Minnetonka-based travel and hospitality giant.

DAVID PHELPS