Night Read (Minnesota): Pine Island approves financing plan for Elk Run bioscience project; University of Minnesota president has cancer

News and notes from a day in MedCity, Minnesota:

The Pine Island city council voted Tuesday to create a tax-increment financing district for the Elk Run biotechnology project, clearing the way for the ambitious development to launch, according to the Post-Bulletin in Rochester. Steve Burrill, a San Francisco-based investor, is trying to raise a $1 billion investment fund to back the project.

University of Minnesota president Robert Bruininks says he has prostate cancer, according to the Star Tribune in Minneapolis. Under Bruinincks, the school has overhauled its technology transfer programs and is building a nearly $300 million biomedical research park.

Two former top health care executives in Minnesota offered their thoughts on health care reform Tuesday:

Former Mayo Clinic CEO Denis Cortese said the health-reform bills making their way through Congress fall short because they focus too much on insurance reform without emphasizing quality health care, according to the Arizona Republic.

Ex-Medtronic CEO Bill George thinks that government at some level will have to raise more money to pay for future health care in the U.S, according to Minnesota Public Radio. But he said taxing treatments such as pacemakers, stents and other medical devices would be counter productive.